I have a vehicle rig with four wheel colliders controlling the movement. For most of the development process, it seemed to be a pretty capable solution. The torque of the wheels is rather high with an equally high friction setting in order to prevent slipping on the difficult terrain in the scene.
However, as of recently, I’ve noticed some very odd behavior. What was previously a terrain with sloping hills, I’ve started adding more cliffs and sharp edges. I should mention that my terrain is a mesh imported and using a mesh collider with smooth sphere collisions turned on. What I’ve started noticing is a big burst of power forward when the vehicle goes over edges. The vehicle has four wheels that each can turn and apply movement, so not every wheel needs to be touching the ground for the vehicle to continue forward. However, these big bursts of speed (which sometimes send the vehicle flipping through the air) only occur if I go over a high point in the ground. What I’m worried about is the front wheels are lifting off the ground and the back wheels are suddenly pushing the vehicle with considerably less friction, causing the car to propel forward. I would have assumed that only 2 wheels on the ground = half the power but also half the friction, but I’m wondering if this isnt the case after all.
If anyone has run into this issue or can think of a reason for this behavior, I’d be really appreciative of the help!