I will remember this topic was up back when the game was released, but my extended search failed to find any topics about it. as of now all materials have its own grip level which is good, but that is a grip level that is uniform across the board. The suggestion is that the materials would have its own grip/slip ratio unique against each other. Exempel: Rubber x Grass = 0,45 (or what grass have, can't remember atm) Metal x Grass = 2.1 Which simulates that the metal digs down into the soil and catch it. even more impressive would be if the angle of attack could even be added to simulate for exemple: Metal x Grass (having rims in mind) Forward; super slippery, 0.1 Sideways: digs down instant, 6.0 But atleast more unique grip ratio between materials so rollover crashes get better simulated.
This is a totally doable thing. Infact, Rigs of Rods actually had this exact feature implemented way late in the development cycle. (the directional friction difference's thing) Here is a real old video of it in action. It's short but you can see he has side to side friction set very low while front to back friction is set very high.
I think Beam have something like that now aswell. When I play around with the Grip Editor you have multiple factors to edit, two which is sliding and stationary. Aka slip or non slip grip level.
I see what your saying. Not quite the same thing. This allows for simulation of different types of tread styles... among other things. The easiest example I can think of is sand tires. Currently, no matter what you do, side to side vs front to back traction is going to be the same. As you can see with these paddle tires, they are going to have tremendous front to back traction (at least in sand and mud) but virtually no side to side traction. They will just slip sideways along those paddles very easily. Now for the front tires. sorry for the low res picture... for some reason its the best I could find. Anyways, as you can see here, this tires has virtually no tread other then that one rib running up the center. Basically it acts as nothing more then a ski to steer the front of the vehicle... it just happens to have the ability to roll. This tire clearly will have good side to side traction (in sand anyways) but virtually NO front to rear traction. I can imagine just breathing on the brakes would probably lock this up (not that it would really matter as that ski like style means you can still steer in sand). currently these can't easily be simulated without literally building your own types of tires with custom geometry's. Your own example is another good idea for how this can be used, like when blowing out a tire, the rim will act just like the front sand tire. Front to rear traction is nonexistent while the side to side traction on soft surfaces would be VERY high due to the rim edge digging in.
