Wagner James Au / New World Notes

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Play in VRChat: Incredibly Detailed Driving Sim With Multiuser Support & Real Foot-to-Virtual Pedal Control

I didn't think this would be possible but there's now a driving simulation in VRChat with an insane level of detail. (If you have VRChat installed, click here to play)

"It's very well scripted and a great example of the types of interactions that are possible with the Udon language [VRChat's scripting system] when close care and attention is taken," my top VRChat source Adeon tells me. "I also didn't know the feet trackers in full-body [VR] could be used as an input device".

As that suggests, yes: In this sim, you can drive a standard shift in VR and control the car's clutch, brake, and acceleration with your actual feet.

More details from its creator, Varneon:

VRChat driving simulation game

"The system can simulate the operation of a clutch on a basic level when using manual transmission… In simple terms I wrote a script that simulates a vehicles drivetrain in a perfect mix between realism and arcade, so in the end none of the calculations are completely physically accurate, but still makes them highly enjoyable experience in VR. You can use real specs from existing vehicles like the engine torque curve, RPM range, transmission gear ratios and final drive. Using the system in combination with other specifications like the mass and center of mass of the vehicle you should be able to get reasonably close to a real life equivalent of that vehicle."

And you can of course drive in his space with other drivers in other cars — and also, with passengers in your own car:

"[T]he core idea of everything is social interactions," as Varneon explains, "and I've paid careful attention to every detail when it comes down to syncing data between users and making sure that if someone interacts with the vehicles in a certain way, the other user will see it, hear it and feel it. The highest number of users we have reached while driving the vehicles was 80 users. All of the passenger seats are functional and you can fill the cars with your friends and enjoy a cruise together."

Quest support is coming soon, as will the code for the cars themselves: "[It will be] released for free on GitHub so everyone will have a chance to create their own fully interactive and drivable vehicles in VRChat using my system in combination with their own car models and sounds," says Varneon. "Also I'm personally looking forward to releasing more public worlds focused on different themes like truck driving, drifting, etc."

Which is an amazing amount of work that Varneon's doing to benefit the community, which is another story in itself — but more on that next week.

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2 responses to “Play in VRChat: Incredibly Detailed Driving Sim With Multiuser Support & Real Foot-to-Virtual Pedal Control”

  1. Pulsar Avatar
    Pulsar

    It looks so good that at first glance someone could think it’s a big download, instead the whole thing is just less than 60 Mb and low poly, so it can handle a bunch of cars (and all the avatars) well.
    In 2018, VRChat vehicles were a joke, but the platform kept improving, while still encouraging optimization, and Udon allowed a load of extra possibilities to creators.
    Varneon did an awesome job. I enjoyed the experience, the cars drive pretty well, but above all this kind of interaction with the vehicle gives another level of immersion.

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  2. global trucker Avatar
    global trucker

    “Also I’m personally looking forward to releasing more public worlds focused on different themes like truck driving, drifting, etc.” YEAH !!!

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