Introduction
Richard Burns Rally incorporates an unprecedented level of physics programming in pursuit of achieving the most accurate simulation of real life rallying to date. We have built a physics model that produces real-time vehicle dynamics to a quality unseen in existing rally titles. Our aim has been to create a gameplay experience that comes as close as possible to driving a real life 300 horse power A8 class rally car. We have approached this aim with three fundamental design goals in mind � a realistic handling system, realistic wear and a damage model that actually affects the handling of the car.
To achieve this we have identified the key components of a real life rally car, and modelled them as close to reality as possible. What follows is an explanation of each of these components and how they impact on the player�s experience.
Multi Body System
Existing rally games are largely based on a single body system. This presumes that each tyre doesn�t have its own individual mass; therefore a tyre will stick to the ground until enough force is generated to lift the entire car off the surface
Our model is based on a multi body system, where each wheel is given its own mass and therefore moves realistically over uneaven road surfaces. Each wheel works independently, reacting individually to the ground features it is driven across.
For the player, this means that the slightest change in road surface will be detectable in the car's handling, so the player will feel potholes, rocks and even road camber as they drive.
Tyre Model
Our game engine uses a slip-based model, often used within the vehicle industry. This accurately calculates the amount of �slip� a tyre will incur when cornering. The engine in Richard Burns Rally calculates this slip in real time, factoring in wear on the tyre, ground surface material and tyre pressure.
The result is a realistic handling experience in all driving conditions. Additionally, if the player makes changes to the tyre specification of his car, or if he wears his tyres as he progresses through a rally the effects on handling will be calculated �on the fly�, rather than according to pre-set calculations.
Material Maps
Richard Burns Rally uses a very different map generation technology to other rally titles. Often rally games use one material per polygon.
The ground surface in our game is build up by texture-mapped polygons � each texture has its own material map. This means that on any given piece of track, we can realistically model a variety of ground textures � from different depths and states of gravel, grass, rock etc. This also allows us to accurately model the complex transitions between each road surface, making our stages accurately reflect the real life events the game is based on.
What this means for the player is that wherever he places his tyre on the track, the road surface at that spot will impact onto handling and wear models. The player can maximise his speed by reading the road and positioning his car where the most grip is. A slight deviation from one surface to another will affect his performance.
In addition, our model allows for changes in the road surface to be made according to dynamic weather conditions and the performance of other cars over the track. Emulating the experience of a real life rally driver, your performance will be affected by when you race � drivers racing first will �sweep� the track of loose material for those that follow.
This image shows a top down view of one section of track and how different ground textures are mapped onto it.
Suspension Model
Suspension is a crucial part of a car�s performance. Conventional games model suspension as a wheel moving up and down on a prismatic joint, a very coarse approximation of reality.
Richard Burns Rally models an accurate suspension system, notably geometrically correct MacPherson Struts � an oversized suspension strut used in most modern cars. This enables the model to calculate the following important variables on the fly:
Camber � the angle of the car in relation to the road surface
Caster Radius - The angle between the vehicle's steering axis and a vertical line, as viewed from the side
Scrub Radius - The distance between the extended centreline of the steering axis and the centreline of the tire where the tread contacts the road.
The resulting effect feeds directly into the car�s handling. Should any damage occur to any of the suspension models, the driver will instantly feel the effect and have to steer accordingly to compensate.
Drive Train and Active Differentials
Differential is a geared mechanism that allows the transmission of motion between axles, giving one axle the ability to spin faster than another. In real life rallying this is an essential component in a car�s set up. By changing the power given to each axle it is possible to control how much spin occurs on each wheel as it corners. This has one of the most direct influences on handling, both in real life and in our game.
Richard Burns Rally models three active differentials controlled by differential maps responding to throttle, brakes and speed. The differential maps will be available to the player to fine-tune the cars handling.
The resultant effect on gameplay is a handling experience that comes closer to real life than any previous title.
Brakes Modelling
Our brakes are individually modelled to take into account the temperature of the brake discs when the pads are applied to the brake discs. This information is relayed to the rendering & damage engine, so that the colour and performance of the brakes changes accordingly. The result is that the player must use his brakes wisely � too heavy on the brakes and they will overheat, losing efficiency and require replacement at the end of a stage or rally.
Internal Combustion Engine Model
The engine model in Richard Burns Rally simulates all of the working parts of a four stroke internal engine and each individual combustion cycle. This cycle is comprised of the following stages, each of which are accurately modelled;
- The amount of fuel + air sucked into the engine
- How the air reacts to being compressed
- How quickly the fuel burns once ignited
- The resistance of pushing exhaust fumes out of the cylinder
Such a complex level of modelling enables us to calculate a wide variety of factors in real time. If you damage one cylinder, you will instantly feel and hear (as the engine audio is also calculated in real-time using the software model) the effect on the engine�s performance. If you are racing in a stage that is higher than sea level, the air pressure will change and affect the engine�s performance.
In addition, our model incorporates the following crucial elements of a real life rally car engine.
Engine Cooling
We have accurately modelled the waterflow through the engine, the heat flow and the oil & temperature. Also linked to the damage model, if you damage your radiator, the car will lose water and overheat.
Turbo Injection
Turbo injection feeds the engine with charged air from the exhaust, increasing the energy created when the fuel is ignited. We have used information used by the turbo industry to programme the correct flow of this air. This has not been done in previous games.
The result is an accurate turbo model, closely linked to the damage engine. Should you damage any part of the turbo you will instantly feel a loss of performance from your vehicle.
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Comments :
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| Author: Sunny Delight |
28-06-2004 |
dude. This game looks a waste of time. I mean, what's the point in modelling all of this stuff when you can just go and buy a real Scooby? Best of luck with this WH ;)
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| Author: Cherub |
28-06-2004 |
WOW, sound incredible. I'm waiting to see it in action on my PC ;-)
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| Author: Virx |
28-06-2004 |
wow s**t... i knew there is more to this game than CMR.
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| Author: Dark John |
28-06-2004 |
Turbo injection (huh? what is that?) feeds the engine with charged air from the exhaust... WHAT? With the AIR from the EXAUST?! LOL... I hope that whoever wrote it has nothing to do with the game development. Overall a good text. But a PC demo would be nicer.
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| Author: simracer |
28-06-2004 |
I suppose it could be a waste of time if you wouldn't shed a tear wrapping a $25k WRX around a tree. For other 99.9% we'll enjoy playing the game and enjoy the occassional autocross or rallycross event knowing our WRX will safely return to the garage under its own power.
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| Author: UrQuattro |
28-06-2004 |
amazing thought that went into this game. Superb.
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| Author: Tristan |
28-06-2004 |
Yeah, it is an advantage to use the exhaust gases again, as they tend to burn better. It sounds odd, as most of the time we want cool dense air in the cylinders, but at high revs and boost pressures like in WRC, the advantage becomes real...
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| Author: AK-47 |
28-06-2004 |
OH MY SATAN!!! This game will be so real, that I won't need to drive my car anymore! Just joking, but that game will be the greatest sim over all. I can't wait anymore.....I'm going to my car to start making "vroom" "vroom" noises :) That Material Maps are stolen from my mind........anyways it's the best idea to model the terrain's materials
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| Author: Tarmac Terrorist |
28-06-2004 |
Fantastic! So glad to see a manufacture making a simulation that (sounds like) thats going to act like a simulation. I think that in years to come this kind of tecnology will become very useful, as maby, just maby there are a few people out there who would love to push a MK1 Escort Cossie Mexico to its limits, but cant do so even if they own one, because pushing a car to its limits inevitably comes with a high chance of crashing it. With technology like this you won't have to worry about not being able to get hold of the parts for a classic car. For me, any rally car accurately simulated is great, cauz i cant afford to crash anything at the mo. But the whole point of this sim (it seems) is to have an accurate damage model to promote better driving. Great. other sims/ganmes that dont incorperate this are like FSP's that dont kill you when u get shot in the head with an ossie...Whats the point in that! Hope this game turns out to be as real as it sounds!
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| Author: Howie |
28-06-2004 |
this sounds great. Someone trying to make as serious an attempt at making a realistic a sim as possible. As for the critics, stuff it, you ungreatful fools who could never be made happy to you yourselves are made God!
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| Author: mike beauchamp |
28-06-2004 |
You know, not a lot of game developers (publishers or whatever) would go through the time to actually EXPLAIN the physics of their games. This definately shows a lot of class...
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| Author: gram |
29-06-2004 |
I have no words for this, this is amazing :O .
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| Author: massivechicken |
29-06-2004 |
*FAINT*
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| Author: Simon |
29-06-2004 |
I need a new pair of boxer and pants.
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| Author: 2re |
29-06-2004 |
Finaly a developer brave enough to go all the way. I can't wait to lay my hands on this SIM. Thank you Warthog
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| Author: BigMan |
29-06-2004 |
Hmmm. I get nervous in every game where you can change things like limited slip diffs. I want to be a driver not a mechanic. Can someone write a game with a virtual mechanic to explain this s**t to me :)
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| Author: Munir |
29-06-2004 |
I love games that try to simulate as many components as they can. Games like this and GTR should go far. The level of detail sounds incredible, but I still think the track surfaces on the screenshots look a bit flat, compared to real life or even the photos they gave us on this site to compare. As Id rather spend �30-40 on a sim like this that crash a �30-40k Scooby, Im grateful for the amount of time and effort thats going into this title, and cant wait. Thanks WH!
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| Author: SaintViper |
29-06-2004 |
Exaust gasses are used to power the turbo which compresses clean cool air from outside. Exaust gasses are never sent back into the engine because any oxygen in them should have been depleted the first time it went through the engine.
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| Author: AZone |
29-06-2004 |
I like it!
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| Author: mlracing |
30-06-2004 |
I think he is talking about CMR on "single body system". but i think RallyMasters already has "multi body system". so far from the preview videos, I don't see the suspension of RBR better than RM.
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| Author: VxDError |
30-06-2004 |
I thought camber was not the angle of the car but the tyre in relation to the surface.... Not as wild as the exhaust gases into the engine by the turbo, but WH should seriously spank this guy writing the explaination. Other than the article, I will most likely love the game :)
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| Author: vcorp |
30-06-2004 |
I'm waiting to see it!!! i want it!
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| Author: tobe |
01-07-2004 |
RBR sounds amazin, and the screens look great. I think with the amount of attention to detail that has been put into this rally game, it'll kick CM5.
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| Author: Dan Leach |
01-07-2004 |
Anyone seen a cockpit shot yet? And hows the online code?
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| Author: Steve |
02-07-2004 |
Cant' wait...although those are valid questions Dan, cockpit view? Also : settings, handling and controller settings, and last but not least: What kind of computer will be needed to run this with a decent framerate?
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| Author: Woz |
04-07-2004 |
I agree about cockpit view. They need to show what it will look like. Unless its an LFS style cockpit view where you look while you turn I will give this one a miss. The half baked Toca RD2 cockpit view just sucks big time. Sounds like it has potential though
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| Author: allen |
04-07-2004 |
Wait and see... It's only words... Just want to play to see it. No demo for a summer issue, it's suspect.
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| Author: Tony Tutton |
05-07-2004 |
Awesome
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| Author: Supermaitro |
05-07-2004 |
Damn, don't you people know how a Turbocharger works? Gases that come out of the exhaust manifold pass through a turbine which in turn makes another turbine spin, this other turbine sucks air into the intake manifold and injects pressurized air, which has more air molecules resulting in a possibilty to add a richer fuel mix and this gives us the power we see in turbo-charged cars.
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| Author: TxRC |
05-07-2004 |
Looks really promising, GTR but for rallying purposes only ;-) Almost all rally titles I've tested so far were truly crap compared to GPL, GTR and N2k3 IMO Willing to try this sim
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| Author: Turbo Dude |
06-07-2004 |
How Turbos Work ( https://auto.howstuffworks.com/turbo.htm ) The review sounds interesting enough to at least try the game. PC requirments will be 486Mhz, 16Mb Ram, and 4Meg Video Card - I DONT THINK SO :P
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| Author: Henry |
07-07-2004 |
Played it with the Driving Force Pro wheel on PS2 for a couple of days now. I like the detail in the model, could have used about another 6 weeks' development making it more driveable.
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| Author: Eryo |
11-07-2004 |
Very good article, i get lot information. thx
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| Author: keilok rally team |
28-07-2004 |
I'm waiting for demo ...
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| Author: Sandy |
14-09-2004 |
I purchased it Monday The read up is OK I do not like the camera views of the car or bonnet or interior. Going back to older games. It looks a game which if you get stuck in driveing school you can not go any further. Colin Mcrae is a much better game in my opinion.
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| Author: murkz |
16-09-2004 |
Excellent read. Thanks
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| Author: alan |
22-12-2004 |
This was so informative, im away to buy the game screw wrc4 n colin mcrae.
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| Author: v |
17-03-2005 |
h
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| Author: BWX |
14-02-2006 |
QUOTE-Author: SaintViper 29-06-2004 Exhaust gasses are used to power the turbo which compresses clean cool air from outside. Exhaust gasses are never sent back into the engine because any oxygen in them should have been depleted the first time it went through the engine. /QUOTE except an EGR (exhaust gas recirculation) valve.. Never say never! https://www.misterfixit.com/egrvalve.htm
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| Author: Lyubomir Tzekoff |
20-04-2006 |
Great Article! Also verry nice present on information... keep goin with good articles about RBR. peace...
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| Author: Erkki |
17-10-2007 |
This article gives us an idea how much great work has put into the game. Even today october, 07 in my opinion this is still the most accurate wrc simulation of all time.
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| Author: mrhorsepower |
27-02-2008 |
nice !
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