Horizons The ping pong ball...errrr, I mean buggy....errr, SRV....

[Bacalao]

So I have really enjoyed the SRV since 2.0 and played around in it on some high G (>0.6, rocky) worlds post 2.1 and it felt okay, much more rear end heavy, but okay. Last night I took a mission to kill some skimmers and hopped down to a gorgeous ice world with low G....what a horrible experience, it was fun to slide around uncontrollably for about 30 seconds and then it got really old, really fast. It wasn't just the ice either. The thing is nearly unmanageable on any low-G planet, which wouldn't be a problem if 90% of the worlds that are land-able weren't low-G worlds.
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Can we please get the buggy tuned a bit better? Scratch that, a lot better? I don't particularly care how true to physics it is that it's back end swings around at the slightest unevenness in the ground, or that ice is slippery or that low gravity is...low. If I want to deal with all of that then I'll turn drive assist off (which makes almost no difference that I've been able to detect) the same way I'll deal with all of my ship's movements with FA off. With drive assist on how about all those fancy thrusters (one on each wheel and 2 on top) give me more grip and better handling. How about drive assist makes it fun and functional to drive the SRV, because it just isn't.
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Anyone else feeling the same?

 

[[HJ]-RedRaven]

You need more time learning. The SRV is pretty nimble, even at speed.

It does take some getting used to ice and slippery rocks on low-g worlds. It does get easier with time; then you learn how to flick the SRV around just like a front-wheel-drive car.

You will get to see the differences in the ground after a while, some parts are more slippery (generally looking like exposed rock rather than powdered snow or dirt).

Learn which size rocks will trip the front wheels, and if faced with several while you're on the move, just jet-jump over them. That way you can maintain your speed and heading.

I normally set the weapons to 0.5 pips, with engines at 3.5 and shields at 3. The guns can recharge slowly, while the extra ENG gives you lots more jump boost.

I've done nearly 2000km so far, mostly on small low-g rocky and ice worlds, but that's only a scratch compared to some CMDRs out there.

 

[Bacalao]

You need more time learning. The SRV is pretty nimble, even at speed.

It does take some getting used to ice and slippery rocks on low-g worlds. It does get easier with time; then you learn how to flick the SRV around just like a front-wheel-drive car.

You will get to see the differences in the ground after a while, some parts are more slippery (generally looking like exposed rock rather than powdered snow or dirt).

Learn which size rocks will trip the front wheels, and if faced with several while you're on the move, just jet-jump over them. That way you can maintain your speed and heading.

I normally set the weapons to 0.5 pips, with engines at 3.5 and shields at 3. The guns can recharge slowly, while the extra ENG gives you lots more jump boost.

I've done nearly 2000km so far, mostly on small low-g rocky and ice worlds, but that's only a scratch compared to some CMDRs out there.

More practice.....you're talking about investing hundreds of hours to become proficient at a niche skill in a game. At the end of it all it still won't be fun. It isn't fun to wrestle a slick pig every night so you can have bacon the next morning, it's tedious and exhausting. Every now and then it's fun to go to a hoedown, get wasted and jump into a pit with a lubed up pig, but not when it gets in the way of just living your life.
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The point is that while the SRV is manageable on some surfaces in some gravity environments with a very high degree of care and exhausting attention, it isn't fun. ED is a game and should be fun. There is an easy, already implemented way to manage those that want to drive around and enjoy the experience because it gets them from A to B and those that want to deal with no grip, wild turns and nausea inducing rolls, it's called drive assist, it just needs to do something, anything.

 

[Stupid_hippy]

Low-g = low grip. One of the few bits of physics that actually works in this game. I'm happy to adapt my driving to local conditions and I like it that way. Sorry.

 

[Hell Razor5543]

Something I found helps is to turn OFF Flight Assist when driving the SRV. Sounds wrong, but it does work, as the 'FA' tries to counter any skids, which, in low G, just spins you out.

 

[Bacalao]

Low-g = low grip. One of the few bits of physics that actually works in this game. I'm happy to adapt my driving to local conditions and I like it that way. Sorry.

Then by all means adapt, I'd like to be able to use those giant thrusters to do more than just float. If you want to fly FAoff all the time, go for it, be a purist. Want to drive DAoff all the time, it's all yours. Oh and if I recall, it isn't really working within the laws of physics, the SRV passively floats more than it should so collision isn't so punishing.

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Something I found helps is to turn OFF Flight Assist when driving the SRV. Sounds wrong, but it does work, as the 'FA' tries to counter any skids, which, in low G, just spins you out.

Yeah, it just doesn't make a measurable difference to me, I've had it on and off and all over. Sometimes I think it's on so think "I gotta turn that off, it's screwing with me" only to look up and see it on, so I switch it anyway and off I go fighting the damn thing.
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Lets be clear here, I can drive, it's just such an unenjoyable fight the whole time. Maybe if I had VR or headlook so I could look in the direction my SRV was deciding it should go it would be better, but I don't.

 

[jdaliix]

My experience doesn't sync up with yours at all. I find them to be perfect, in fact, and I for one don't want FDev making anything easier, especially after the whole game got so thorough nerfed after this last update, unless I'm the only Dangerous in a Python that can destroy Deadly FASs before my FSD even cools.

 

[AH_ImADot]

Just slow down. If you drive around full throttle like you're in a race, you will lose control all the time. There is nothing wrong with the SRV.

 

[Othniel]

I am with you all the way.. it can be very frustrating especially when trying to beat the Data point countdown.

Don't pay attention to the fanboys, they think everything hard or frustrating is good because they live in the game and just want you to feel like they are better than you. Or, they just want to be the counter-point, whether they are wrong or not- and they are wrong in this instance.

The biggest issue is the throttle and steering.. it is WAAAAY too touchy. Contrary to the throttle/yaw/pitch settings and movements in space, the SRV has the whole range between 1% and 45% of the actual.

If an all-wheel drive car with torque vectoring and throttle control can prevent spinouts on the ice today, an SRV built 300 years from now should definitely have this technology.

I use a X52 Pro HOTAS (which seems to be especially built for ED).