New tire inflation system

[Unster 369]

What is the purpose of it?  I see visual changes in the tires (they don't look very good I must say, tire deformation needs more vertices), but there's virtually no difference in the feel between max and min pressures, maybe just a very subtle change in rolling resistance which should be much bigger.

[Unster 369]

I don't know what those tires are made of, but I don't think that's rubber.  Alien slime?

[DeltΔV 134]

Animation at its peak 

I mean, it would be pretty difficult to get that to work properly, I think.

[Unster 369]

8 hours ago, DeltΔV said:

Animation at its peak 

I mean, it would be pretty difficult to get that to work properly, I think.

No, you need to have higher standards.  There are other games on the market now that do tire deformation much much better.  Even MR has better tire deformation than this.  The deformation needs a higher resolution, i.e. more tire points to move and move them reasonably.

I don't know if ST's deformation was always this bad or if it got worse with the new inflation system.  This was with full pressure on a vehicle that doesn't even have the inflation option, so it's not like I was trying to make it look bad.  This is just what I came across by chance on the newer proving ground.  Even on normal ground the deformation at times goes too far out, as if the tire is losing its structural integrity.  For example, the 2nd tire from the front in this official screenshot:

Edited August 15, 2020 by Unster

[PressureLine 1,733]

Doesn't look that different to how it looks IRL:

[DeltΔV 134]

tbh I don't find this issue comparable to the general disorganisation of updates and lack of beta branch recently.

[Trackrod_ST 94]

I'm more interested in the effects on performance.

Military vehicles have this system as standard, to aid in off road traction and to spread load to prevent sinkage, but I can't find this happening.

In fact it seems to have a detrimental effect when the pressure is lowered.

I take a few pounds off for realism sake, but after about 30 hours messing with it, I find it better to be fully pumped.

 

..

[gothmog 3]

Here are my thoughts, which are just a summary of things said in this thread.
The tire inflation system is welcomed. Real trucks have it, it is essential for their performance. But...
1) Tire deformation looks horrible, except for Sherp.
2) The effect of tire pressure is hard to notice. It is unclear when you should change it. Never feels like a critical thing.

Sherp has a unique tire, much softer than other tires represented in the game. Obviously, the Sherp wheel was modeled with tire the pressure effect in mind. That why it looks more realistic. Other wheels have to be remodeled to allow big realistic deformations. 

Edited August 16, 2020 by gothmog

[gothmog 3]

It seems that a solution is to increase the effect of tire pressure on mud performance but decrease visual deformation. I think the deformation of offroad tires (c4320, for example ) is reasonably realistic at mid-high pressure. Maybe make it correspond to low pressure? And for high pressure, make them perfectly round?
Another option: create some kind of penalty for low pressure? Higher fuel consumption from higher rolling resistance? Lower speed? Damage when speeding on hard surfaces? 
Also a bigger offroad penalty for high pressure ? Fully pumped tires on the loaded truck just cut through soft surfaces(even grass). 
I would make default pressure in the middle of the gauge. If you are on the paved road and want to go fast - pump the tires. Going offroad loaded - deflate them or sink instantly. Trucks without the inflation system always have an intermediate pressure(like the driver manually deflated them), they can't speed too much, but with double wheels they don't sink as much on grass, only in the mud.

Edited August 16, 2020 by gothmog

[Unster 369]

14 hours ago, PressureLine said:

Doesn't look that different to how it looks IRL:

It looks very different to me.  Here, the low pressure tires get compressed as you'd expect.  They don't bulge sideways like a balloon that's about to pop.  Also, IRL you don't see those two points in the tires with an upward arc between them on flat ground.