Loop- Wallride- and Dirt Physics and Turning Radius

[xanatos.chimera]

My main complaint with the game currently is that the car is too prone to fishtailing when trying to make minor adjustments in loop or wall-ride, it makes it hard to orient the car when coming out of them because even the most minor correction causes the car to fishtail.

Ditto for dirt. It's nearly impossible to make minor adjustments to direction on dirt because the car just fishtails out of control at the first tap of a turn button. If you are going to make the car turn nearly as quickly and sharply as United's Island car, give the corresponding level of control so that minor adjustments can be made without losing control.

The car's turn radius at speed is comparable to Stadium, but some of the block elements require sharper radius, and trying to brake a bit while at speed makes it too easy to start fishtailing which usually means clipping the railing or rocks on the side of the road for the road option. The desert road tiles need to be a bit wider or the car a little narrower or fix the issues with control and turn radius so that it's a challenge and not being frelled over by the game physics.

[EvaShark]

I completely agree.

[Andi1996]

I agree too, but your post would fit better here: http://forum.maniaplanet.com/viewtopic.php?f=245&t=3967

[Jet777]

This just makes it more realistic imo - how easy would it be, really, to turn the car when you're upside down in a loop, or driving through dirt at 300 km/h?

[xanatos.chimera]

With indestructable cars (the damage is cosmetic, it doesn't seem to actually slow the car appreciably), insane jumps, sticking to walls like you're spiderman on wheels (just as long as you don't try to correct your vector). The lack of control on the walls and loops is out of character with the rest of the game where you can come blazing at a set of right-angle turns after a turbo-booster and go blazing through on a drift, some more leeway to make minor adjustments on these blocks would improve the gameplay without nerfing the challenge. There are plenty of other ways to make difficult and challenging transitions without having to screw you over for not hitting the loop at exactly 24.21 degrees left of vertical.

[zixxiz]

Just because Canyon is part of Trackmania doesnt mean that the dirt and loop physics will be like they have been in the past. Regardless of how "realistic" or "unrealistic" those driving physics are.

[xanatos.chimera]

Just because Canyon is part of Trackmania doesnt mean that the dirt and loop physics will be like they have been in the past. Regardless of how "realistic" or "unrealistic" those driving physics are.

I'm not saying that Canyon physics need to behave like other titles in the TM series. I'm saying that the utter lack of control on the loops and walls, and, to a degree, dirt is out of character with the rest of CANYON. I don't mind the ability to drift in loops, it has some potential, but I would like it toned down just a bit so that some minor adjustments can be made to vector while in the loop. TMU has different physics for different environments, that's not the problem.

To a degree this is already present in dirt. If you tap the turn keys lightly enough you can gradually affect your vector on dirt and a bit of pre-planning is possible (but only if you're coming off a GP section of track), while if you're coming off a narrow section you're more or less locked on the vector that the narrow section had. The problem for fishtailing is more pronounced at low speeds or if one is trying to accelerate in a new direction.

In the loops and on the walls even light taps to turn keys that work on dirt while blazing along at 400+ do not work. The car immediately starts to drift but often doesn't change the vector, just the orientation. If I'm facing nose up towards the edge of the wall, and try to get the car oriented parallel to the top edge to drive along the wall, the nose moves down to put the car parallel but the car is now drifting up and losing speed. The tendency to drift on even the most minor corrections (that don't cause you to spin out on dirt), means you either risk falling off the top of the loop or smashing off it at fullspeed because you didn't manage to get the orientation exact on entry. It makes learning new tracks a real pain. All iterations of Trackmania had you crash if you really screwed up the entry on a loop or wall, but they did allow for minor adjustments to trajectory. Canyon, on the other hand, punishes you for not having the entry angle perfect before entering the loop. As I also said elsewhere the handling in loops and walls doesn't even feel like Canoyon's handling elsewhere. Tipping on a GP section is more forgiving, and even the dirt is more forgiving and feels more like Canyon.

Same is true on a pad. If you nudge the analog controller just a little you should be able to gradually correct your direction just as you can with a cool head and some patience on dirt.

[EnaiSiaion]

Loose handling elsewhere means loose handling in loops, even more so because gravity works against you. The platform loops were only added because people complained about their absence.

Loops and walls worked great in stadium because the car was unlikely to slide. Walls in bay completely sucked, and walls in island would randomly choose between the following options:

• - drive through perfectly and transition well to the upcoming track (rare).
  - drive through perfectly, then slide sideways off the wall at the end and come to a near halt.
  - oversteer and dive into the ground at high speed.
  - shoot over the edge of the turn no matter how much you steer.
  - detach from the wall for no reason, turn upside down and drop like a brick.

At least the slide after a canyon wallride is expected so you can build for it.

[xanatos.chimera]

Enai, yeah, I'd more or less come to the conclusion I'd use walls maybe like they are in the Dam map, but not much in the way of loops on platform blocks. I didn't realise the platform loops were added due to user-outcry. Given the physics here I'd probably just never use them.

[Azranos]

I think the loose handling in general is shit all-round, you can't expect to have a free creation game with stunt pieces included with loose handling.

People didn't buy tm2 for a life-like experience or drifting game, there are many FAR BETTER games if you want a driving experience like that.

You should fix the handling to the same as it was in TM1, or you should rename the game, it doesn't deserve the TM tag on it with the current state of driving.