The SRV - Why is it so bad?

[LazyCalf]

i'm sure there's been many discussions about it, and i dont know what it is about the SRV thats so bad,
does anyone know?
because i've been testing it, trying to wrap my head around it.
i tested all sorts of planets with different g's, and it doesnt really make a difference, the only practical difference in terms of the SRV is how long it stays in the air before landing back at the surface, and doesnt affect the SRV in terms of handling.

but at ~20metres per second, it handles like a wet noodle. which is weird because around 16-18 metres per second, the SRV handles completly fine. but the moment you get to 20, the slightest turn means an insta 180.

i know there will be people saying "oh but you have to learn how to use it" and be in complete denial that there is actually something wrong with the game mechanics.
because there is.
this SRV has 12 wheels for god's sake.
if anyone hasnt noticed, the reason why the SRV has a dual wheel setup is for increased stability, and weight distribution, so these things don't happen.

well they don't bloody work do they?
and don't say that's because of low gravity in some cases. i know that is physically impossible. no amount of gravitational pull would affect the fact that i'm sliding across the ground, doing donuts at any turn, when i'm only going a few metres per second faster than before and then i had complete control, and now, like i said, wet noodle comes to mind.

thoughts?

oh, and why doesn't the bloody shield take impacts from the surface after i've been boosting in the air for a few seconds? it happens so on ships, but not on SRV's?
because i feel cheated when i'm going only 10 metres per second 5 metres above the ground and lose 20% of my SRV hull for barely moving, and landing almost perfectly.

what annoys me the most is that i actually like roaming around on the surfaces of planets, mindlessly collecting resources for my next mod. it's quite peaceful, except for when it's frustrating because i can't maintain control of my SRV for longer than 10 seconds. i'm honestly scared to put full pips into engines if 20 metres per seconds is the breaking point for this vehicle.

 

[Riverside]

The SRV has 8 wheels.

Arguably you have a point about the shields, but really you are talking about driving a Dakar truck off-road at 100mph. It's not easy

 

[Stealthie]

I do like driving the SRV a lot, just cos it's fun but the modelling of it is deeply flawed.

The main thing I notice is the way it will, for example, swap ends really easily when you steer or brake while going downhill - which suggests that most of the weight is somewhere in the back - but then it'll do exactly the same thing when you're going uphill as well - suggesting that the back end is really light.

To digress for a minute...

Years ago, I got involved in a project to create racing karts for R-Factor.
The karts were designed and so were the tracks.
We just couldn't get the karts to handle correctly.
In fact, the handling was totally bonkers, with them being almost uncontrollable and flying up into the air when hitting curbs or even just cresting hills on a track.
We'd set the karts up with the correct horsepower, the correct weight and the correct levels of grip but they just didn't handle as expected at all.

To cut a long story short, it turned out that karts were obviously at the very limit of what R-Factor's engine could simulate properly and all the flaws in it's engine were hugely magnified due to the low weight of a kart.
In the end we had to "fiddle" all the data for the karts by, for example, giving them weights of around 350kg (instead of the 80kg they actually weigh) and then increasing the power of the engine, decreasing the grip of the tyres and placing the CoG underneath the kart.

Point is, I suspect (assuming the ED SRV isn't just deliberately programmed to be a bit bonkers) ED's engine is intended to model the way ships weighing hundreds, if not thousands, of tonnes operate in different gravitational conditions and applying that model to a vehicle which weighs a fraction of that causes some rather "extreme" outcomes.

 

[lemon cup]

The SRV does have a hull like tissue paper, and a suspension made by Ikea. I can only imagine a new planetary vehicle hanger comes stocked with like 50 spare tie rods and axles.

As far as driving the thing goes, have you tried Driving Assist ON? It is a bit funny to get used to, but I find it very useful for cruising across the surface when you need to cover some distance. DA-ON gives you lots of useful assists like auto-braking, traction control, steering correction, etc. Simply set your speed and let it cruise, your SRV will never slide out from under you.

Keep in mind it isn’t perfect and you need to adjust your speed based on the terrain. Rough/hilly terrain should be taken around 15mps, and vertical thrusters are still adviced for avoiding rocks. Once you’ve gotten to your next point of interest/mineral deposit, you should switch DA-OFF as it becomes a detriment for scooping.

 

[MottiKhan]

Yeah, and when you start to spin, you'll always spin out at exactly 180 degrees from your previous heading. It would make more sense if you wound up pointing in some random direction, but it's always 180 degrees.

It's kind of like when an NPC tries to interdict you. You always end up facing exactly 180 degrees from your previous heading after you defeat the interdiction.

 

[Bob Lighthouse]

Don't drive it, fly it; 4 pips to eng and boost/fly everywhere.
Turn drive assist off as well.
Handling actually seems quite improved in 3.x.
You can drift the srv now.

 

[metascrawl]

I really hate driving the damn SRV. And maybe it's my fault, maybe I'm just rubbish at it. But I seem to be okay with plenty of other vehicles in games, I can even pilot my Python pretty well in this one. And yet I've never enjoyed one second of SRV time.

 

[nanite2000]

i tested all sorts of planets with different g's, and it doesnt really make a difference, the only practical difference in terms of the SRV is how long it stays in the air before landing back at the surface, and doesnt affect the SRV in terms of handling.

but at ~20metres per second, it handles like a wet noodle. which is weird because around 16-18 metres per second, the SRV handles completly fine. but the moment you get to 20, the slightest turn means an insta 180.

Do you use keyboard and mouse? If so, the default X-Axis mouse movement is the problem - it doesn't re-centre the mouse (steering wheel) automatically, so it always oversteers by default.

Change your 'Relative Mouse X-Axis Steer' to 'ON' - this will help prevent oversteer dramatically, especially on Icy bodies.

 

[metascrawl]

Do you use keyboard and mouse? If so, the default X-Axis mouse movement is the problem - it doesn't re-centre the mouse (steering wheel) automatically, so it always oversteers by default.

Change your 'Relative Mouse X-Axis Steer' to 'ON' - this will help prevent oversteer dramatically, especially on Icy bodies.

I didn't know about this - I'll give it a go.

 

[Terry Bruge-Hiplo]

It's been mentioned before (sorry, can't remember who pointed it out) that there appears to be a steep curve on the steering axis input, meaning that the more fully you steer, the sharper the wheels turn toward the top end. You can see it in action if you slowly steer up to the max - watch the wheels begin to turn more sharply as you max out your control input. It can be mitigated somewhat if you use something like the Joystick Curves utility.

I think that explains, in part, why the SRV seems to spin out and end up 180'ing a lot, because it's very easy to accidentally over-steer and then over-counter steer, which is exacerbated at high speeds (like you say, over 20 m/s it gets way out of hand quickly)

 

[mtt9999 [Parabolus]]

It's been mentioned before (sorry, can't remember who pointed it out) that there appears to be a steep curve on the steering axis input, meaning that the more fully you steer, the sharper the wheels turn toward the top end. You can see it in action if you slowly steer up to the max - watch the wheels begin to turn more sharply as you max out your control input. It can be mitigated somewhat if you use something like the Joystick Curves utility.

I think that explains, in part, why the SRV seems to spin out and end up 180'ing a lot, because it's very easy to accidentally over-steer and then over-counter steer, which is exacerbated at high speeds (like you say, over 20 m/s it gets way out of hand quickly)

Is there a cure for this? Or some type of setting to alter this in controls? That would be very helpful.

 

[Zeeman]

It's because the rear wheels steer in the opposite direction to the front wheels - which is bad at high speeds. Look at any 4ws car, the rear wheels move in the same direction as the front above a certain speed (though to a lesser degree) to achieve a good turn.

Apparently, wheeled vehicle design has gone backwards in the future. Too much focus on FTL travel...

Z...

 

[Terry Bruge-Hiplo]

Is there a cure for this? Or some type of setting to alter this in controls? That would be very helpful.

Unfortunately not, since there's no input curve editor in game, which is why I suggested the Joystick Curves utility (it's freeware). But that's only useful if you're playing on Windows...

 

[Cmdr Tel]

Bad!? The SRV is awesome.

It can climb up the steepest of cliffs, jump 7/8th of the way across any canyon, tumble like a Chinese gymnast and can stop on a dime by finding the nearest suitable sized pebble.

Ability to steer is just way over rated.

 

[Suvi Anwar]

Biggest problem with the SRV, IMO, is the 4 wheel steering. The rear steering wheels cause 99.9999999% of all spinouts. If we were able to lock the rear wheels, that would solve a lot of drivability issues.

 

[Bob McBobblehead]

I enjoy driving the SRV, the only extra options I'd like to see are...

A) Down thrust so you have to option of sticking to ground on low gravity planets.
B) SRV has extra ship recall function to fly down to the planet surface and grab you SRV with a hook, so no need to land.
C) Option to launch you SRV up to 30m above the planet surface so you don't need to land ship.

 

[Hedy]

I like the SRV but the relationship between the steering and wheels seems a bit off at times, resulting in sudden loss of stability and traction, even at lower speeds. Of course hitting a rock the size of matchbook is bound to launch your space truck into the air and spin it all about. Totally realistic.
Other than that, it's fab. Could use a better scanner though.

 

[mastermaniac]

The big flaw with how most people seem to drive the SRV is the application of throttle. Mashing the throttle down to an instant 100 percent is going to cause a lot of oversteer. You've got to apply a more gradual creep up to that upper threshold. Get good at doing that, and you'll find that the SRV is much, much more controllable.

The same thing would happen in real life if you were driving a decently powerful car, and you just floored it from idle. You'd spin out pretty badly. It's how a lot of people with more money than sense wreck their Ferraris.

 

[nanite2000]

I didn't know about this - I'll give it a go.

Let us know how you get on.

It's like trying to fly our ship with Flight Assist 'OFF' - unless you also change your mouse input to "Relative", it's impossible to fly because it never re-centres the mouse.

 

[Bortas]

i know there will be people saying "oh but you have to learn how to use it" and be in complete denial that there is actually something wrong with the game mechanics.
because there is.

Personally I like the handling of the SRV.

Oh, and you just have to learn how to use it!