This is the biggest update for NEODRIVE so far! It contains a giant new area, a completely new car, and new tracks for both the city area and the Lancier specifically.
3-1 Lancier Test Track
Depending on how much the community likes the Lancier, I may skew the rest of the campaign towards tracks for it instead of the muscle car.
Also new to this update is the base track area of Vapor City. Several new and existing tracks have been set in it. It contains two main islands (in different stages of completeness), moving trains, and many twisty streets.
3-14 Blossom Rush
I homogenized the driving model in edge cases, like where the car's front two wheels are off the ground. I'm cheating physics a bit in favor of the player and still applying steering traction as if all wheels are planted.
Another big change is to nitro gain. It's now harder to rush to third gear and farm nitro, and I may revisit this more before 1.0 depending on community feedback.
The demo has also received all the same optimizations and quality of life changes as the base game.
Now, on to all changes.
Added a completely new car, the Lancier. Its physics are different from the muscle car (internally, the Exo-v2), so enjoy pushing it to its limits in new ways! It only has five forward gears, and is much less stable in a drift, but rewards clean driving at the edge of its tires’ grip.
Added grip limit effects for the Lancier
Added a new base area, Vapor City
Added an optional voice for when the boost is ready
Added a third-person replay camera, similar to the default third-person chase camera
Added a new track, Lancier Skidpad
Added a new track, Lancier 8
Added a new track, Lancier Test Track
Added a new track, Blossom Rush
Added new default available wheels, Tokohama
Added a new tow hook charm, 全村的希望 (unlockable via the Locally Hated achievement)
Moved the Exo-v2’s peak power closer to the redline
Improved car behavior on magnet tracks
Standardized car behavior when the steering axle loses ground contact
Only proc the Clean Landing effect if the car has performed a stunt that airtime
Give nitro for stunts
Made it easier to perform a burnout if holding handbrake
Removed clutch kicks (holding handbrake to widen a drift is more controllable and reliable)
Only give nitro while upshifting if the needle is within 500 RPM of the redline
Only give nitro while downshifting if braking, or downshifting to a higher point in the power band
Use a prop hitter proxy for the car to avoid minute slowdowns when hitting kickable prop objects with mass (e.g. cones)
Disable automatic boost upshifting if the player downshifts before boost ends
Standardized transmission behavior when boosting in reverse
Increased Exo-v2 suspension travel distance
Updated car turtling behavior to allow easier flipping back onto wheels
Updated ground type-based handling changes at runtime
Updated all tracks in the Docks area to be set in Vapor City
Updated the Water 8 track
Updated the Overhang track
Updated the Hydroplane track
Updated the Monument Loop track (track spline is unchanged, start was moved back, it’s a route track now)
Updated the Rockfall Ring track
Updated the Night Loops track
Updated the S Bends track
Updated the Water Snake I track
Updated the Water Snake II track
Updated the Halfpipe Route track
Fixed bugs with flying respawn
Fix chase camera distance calculation when car is drifting sideways
Fixed bugs with interactive tutorials
Fixed black centerlines on orange tracks disappearing at low LODs
Fixed some visual distance calculation issues with car suspension
Fixed a bug where tire skid noises would play on replay pause
Fixed ghost car and replay car brake lights not lighting up
Added a logo fade when moving between any scene
Render rings on stunts along with vapor trails
Embedded handbrake data in replays
Show speed/gear stats in replay
Made the replay car play a shift noise when shifting
Fade audio when moving between levels
Added brake disc glow when holding handbrake
Use real-time calculated suspension pose on replay cars
Softened tire skid noise attack/decay on the replay car
Only show replay brake/boost flares on the chase camera
Updated the ocean water material
Optimized wheel raycasts by 2x
Optimized motion blur
Optimized polycount and batching on black-border wall-less track pieces
Optimized polycount and batching on red-rail metal grating track pieces
Optimized polycount and batching on eight-lane street track pieces
Optimized water in the docks area to not use real-time reflections
Optimized shader for the dark tarmac track
User feedback has unanimously priced this game at $15. I don't think NEODRIVE is there yet, but I will be increasing the game’s base price to $7.49 USD soon. Since the launch of Early Access in June, I’ve added:
A completely new car
A completely new area
Over a dozen new tracks, with more on the way
The ability to upload, download and race Steam leaderboard ghosts
The 1.0 launch will also have a decent launch discount.
Thanks for following this NEODRIVE’s development with me and providing so much feedback already. If you’ve still only played the demo and are thinking of picking up the full game, get it while it’s still under $5! Tell your friends etc.