Drifting in cars

[Kavukamari]

This may sound silly, but hear me out.

I think cars should be able to drift by holding the back key for a time while driving forward. The cars currently have a large turn radius, if we could drift, we could come to a stop faster and make sharper turns (and look awesome while doing it)

I think it would make driving cars a whole lot more enjoyable as well.

If you just held the back button while driving forward, you would start to slow down as normally, but if you started to turn while in the slowing-down state, after a certain angle, the tires would "lose traction" and enter the drift state. if you stop holding the button, your drift will continue, and you can add power to the drift to go further by pressing the forward key more, making sure not to lose your drift by keeping the turn going. If you stop holding your turn, the car would probably straighten out and stop the drift, so you'd have to tap the turn button to sustain the drift, furthermore, if you simply hold forward without sustaining, you'll straighten out and drive normally again. If you had kept holding the back and turn keys during the drift, it would keep slowing down and turning, as in a power slide, until it stopped (you can do cool parking maneuvers, of course, if you aim it right)

I'm being very descriptive about this because there's a certain feeling I imagine in my mind about how it would be to drift in the cars, and it seems like it would be really fun. Obviously, it's the dev's decision as to how the mechanics should work.

I think the most important part about this is that it would make the cars feel really fun to play around with. I could imagine people even setting up race tracks with some friends just to have fun in the cars while nothing important is happening in their bases. The other important factor here is it would add another layer of maneuverability to the cars that's slightly skill based. Rather than making the cars have a smaller turn radius, they can keep their normal statistics, and have a new mechanic for easier dodging of obstacles and enemies.

I understand that this isn't a game about cars, and this suggestion isn't really a quite important factor to the game, but think about how tactile it would be to learn how to control your cars in a new way. I think there's a certain charm in having driving mechanics that go beyond the simple "go straight and turn" that most games with craftable cars do.

Quick explanation (tl;dr): Drift in cars by holding backwards while driving. make sharper turns with it and use it to dodge obstacles and look cool! Learn to sustain longer drifts and be the coolest factorian on the block.

[Psycix]

Actually, why not have cars always drift a little?
I hate how the car has perfect grip. Making it slide when turning, and adding slightly faster steering to compensate for this will make driving the car feel a lot more realistic.
As an added bonus, colliding into something semi-sideways can make it easier to unstuck and go on your way as you are already partly facing away from the object.

Instead of changing the direction of the velocity to the facing direction, turning the car will allow it to slide in it's original direction, and apply limited sideways force (based on grip) until we're driving forward again.

[Kavukamari]

I agree, that also sounds fine, I think holding backwards should definitely make the effect more pronounced, though. like if you're drifting a little and you jam on the breaks and turning you'll do a nice powerslide to a stop

[ssilk]

For completeness and cause it is so crazy: https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... f=6&t=6149

[Kavukamari]

I don't really support that idea, it seems more like a joke. I've seen that meme already. It's a funny meme but no place for it in factorio, I think.

I would much rather the cars drift than the trains