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Driving the car

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Adding Controls

Section titled Adding Controls

To drive the car, you’ll need to map these four inputs:

  1. “Forward” -> W key.
  2. ”Backward” -> S key.
  3. ”Left” -> A key.
  4. ”Right” -> D key.

Adding a Script

Section titled Adding a Script

You’ll need to add a script onto your VehicleBody3D so you can customise and control your car.

car.gd
extends VehicleBody3D


# Constants that control how the car behaves
var STEER_FORCE = 0.3 # Controls how strongly the car will steer left or right
var SPEED = 500       # Controls the maximum driving speed of the car


var max_torque = 500  # The force applied by the car's engine (acceleration)
var max_rpm = 2500    # Maximum revolutions per minute (RPM) for the wheels


var steer = 0.0  # Current steering angle (starts at 0, meaning no turn)


# Called when the node is added to the scene (for initialization)
func _ready() -> void:
  pass


# Called every frame, but we don't use it here since we're using physics
func _process(delta: float) -> void:
  pass


# Called at every physics frame (handles the car's movement and turning)
func _physics_process(delta: float):
  # Get the player input for turning left and right
  # 'Right' and 'Left' are inputs defined in the Input Map
  # This gives us a value between -1 (full left) and 1 (full right)
  var end_steer = Input.get_axis("Right", "Left") * STEER_FORCE


  # Smoothly adjust the steering angle based on how much time (delta) has passed
  # `lerp` smoothly moves `steer` toward `end_steer` at a speed of `steer_speed`
  var steer_speed = 5 * delta
  steer = lerp(steer, end_steer, steer_speed)


  # Apply the calculated steering value to the car's wheels
  set_steering(steer)


  # Get the player input for accelerating and decelerating
  # 'Backward' and 'Forward' are also inputs defined in the Input Map
  # This gives us a value between -1 (full reverse) and 1 (full forward)
  var acceleration = Input.get_axis("Backward", "Forward")


  # Control the force applied to the left rear wheel
  # The force decreases as the wheel reaches maximum RPM
  var rpm = abs($BackLeftWheel.get_rpm())  # Get the current RPM of the wheel
  $BackLeftWheel.engine_force = acceleration * max_torque * (1 - rpm / max_rpm)


  # Same logic as the left wheel
  rpm = abs($BackRightWheel.get_rpm())
  $BackRightWheel.engine_force = acceleration * max_torque * (1 - rpm / max_rpm)

Play the scene and drive the car!

Section titled Play the scene and drive the car!

If the speed and steer force still doesn’t feel like a race car, you can change the VehicleBody3D’s mass, or all the VehicleWheel3D wheels, suspensions, or damping properties.

If the Ground isn’t big enough, set the scale to 2 (or however big you need it to be).

Checklist

Section titled Checklist

I know how to…

Section titled I know how to…
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