Hi all.

I just would like to know what kind of physics used the old school 3D racing games on the PSX.

On the PSX time, was there any 3D physics available ?
I feel like all thoses 3D physics engine are kind of recent (I may be wrong).

The 2 examples i would like to know especially are

Gran Turismo 1 & 2 and
Driver 1 & 2

Does GT used 2D physics with raycast cars ?

Is there any distinguishing sign to recognize if a game use raycast cars or 3D physics ?
Also, does Raycast cars simulation are considered as 3D physics ?


Thank you very much for any kind of informations or answers.
Regards.

Hello Jujunosuke,

The PSX has built in vector functions on its CPU to perform physics computations
as those in the driving games you mention.
This is somewhat identical to the 3DNow! instruction set on modern PC CPUs.

Although I don't have a definite answer as of to the methods that those games
actually use, I'm sure raycast cars was possible to implement albeit more expensive than simpler dynamics. I believe most driving games for the PSX would've used some
basic relative momentums for the wheels, and a general force of direction to the car, maybe pitch, yaw and roll rotation also.

Raycast cars are 3D physics unless you abstract away a dimension,
making it 2D physics. It's like that with many things.

Why don't you check gdnet's articles on racing games:
http://www.gamedev.net/reference/list.asp?categoryid=28

What are you trying to achieve with raycast car physics?

have a nice day,

Hello all !
Thank you for your very fast answers.

@beaumep : Thank you for the video links ! It looks very interesting.

@SuperVGA : Thanks for theses informations !
Yeah, actually i have to say that i am a little bit lost.

I am developing a 3D car game with Flash AS3 and Away3d.
I followed the Marco Monster car physics tutorial for all the basics physics.

My knowledge about physics are pretty weak at the moment.
I ended up to get very good straight line physics with gear change etc. (gamedev's forum helped me a lot).

But about steering i stopped at "Steering at low speed" chapter, because, high speed steering looks really hard to understand for me right know.
I am stuck with Tire model Pacejka and all these stuffs.

So, i thought that using steering at low speed physics only would be good idea.
My steering model was like :
For very low speed, the steering angle is almost at max (25), and more you go faster and more this number decrease.
So that way, you need to brake to regain some more steering angle.

Unfortunately this model is very poor. I just realize that after testing it...

So, i am trying my best to find a solution to get some descent physics for my game project.

Right know i am looking at Box2d physics engine (2D physics) to get some top down car physics and adapt it to my 3D environment.

THAT IS WHY i was wondering if the old school car games used a kind of 2D physics.

You know everything right know !
Thank you for reading.

Regards.