Getting started

Welcome to Edy's Vehicle Physics! The best vehicle kit for developing fun and realistic vehicles in Unity 3D.

Import the package in the Unity Editor. You may either create an empty project, or import it into any existing project (it's completely harmless). All content is imported into the folder EVP.

The simplest scene

Load and play one of the demo scenes:

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Play around with the vehicle. Check out the keys below:

Key Function Key Function
leftright Steering R Repair vehicle damage
up Throttle T Toggle slow time mode
down Brake / Reverse P Pause vehicles. Camera and vehicle selection can be used while in pause.
space Handbrake Y, shift-Y Show / hide telemetry, change telemetry mode.
enter Reset vehicle E Throws the gray stone in the air (useful for load tests)
C Change camera Esc Reset scene
Tab, Page upPage down Select vehicle (Vehicle Manager scene)

Vehicle components

The component providing the vehicle behavior is VehicleController. The vehicle in the scene contains this component. The vehicle gizmo shows visual hints for the most relevant settings:

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These settings configure the behavior of the vehicle and the gameplay in a variety of ways. Feel free to play with the settings in Play mode and observe the effects on the fly.

VehicleController
The only component required for a vehicle to be a vehicle. Other vehicle components provide additional features and are optional. You may use them directly, or take them as base for writing your own.
VehicleAudio
Plays the audio effects: engine, transmission, wheel skid, impacts, wind... Note that the engine RPMs are calculated by this component just for audio, as VehicleController doesn't simulate the engine nor the gearbox.
VehicleDamage
Deforms the vehicle meshes and colliders on impacts.
VehicleStandardInput
Reads Unity standard Input and applies throttle, brakes, and steering accordingly.
VehicleRandomInput
Applies random input to the vehicle. It's a demonstrator of writing an custom input component. The green pickup truck in the Vehicle Manager scene contains this component.
VehicleTelemetry
Shows the numeric values from the vehicle in real time. Useful while configuring the vehicle.
VehicleVisualEffects
Provides visual effects such as the rotation of the steering wheel and the brake lights.

Camera

The camera is a stand-alone GameObject containing the VehicleCameraController component and a standard Camera component.

Note! The Camera component should be in a child GameObject for supporting VR properly.

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Check out the Camera Controller object in the demo scenes. A prefab Camera Controller is included with the controller and the camera ready to be used.

VehicleCameraController
Provides the different camera modes and the camera collision feature (prevents the camera to go through other geometry).
VehicleViewConfig
Add this component to the vehicle for specifying certain camera settings. VehicleCameraController looks for this component in the vehicle and apply the settings to the camera if present.

Ground Materials

The Ground Material Manager is a stand-alone GameObject containing the GroundMaterialManager component, and the components for drawing the tire marks (TireMarksRenderer) and the particle effects (TireParticleEmitter). It manages the available ground materials for providing different friction, drag, tire marks and particle effects on each ground type.

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Each ground material is bound to a specific PhysicMaterial in the scene. The parameters of the physic material affect the impacts and the collider - collider interaction (friction, bouncing). The associated ground material defines the properties applicable to the vehicle's wheels: grip, drag, tire marks, particle effect.

Check out the Ground Material Manager object in the demo scenes. A prefab Ground Material Manager is included containing the ground material manager and a set of tire marks renderers and tire particle emitters for the most common ground types (asphalt, offroad, sand, grass).

GroundMaterialManager
The list of ground materials available and their properties. Each ground material references a PhysicMaterial (or None for affecting the colliders without a physic material), grip and drag coefficients, the surface type and the components for rendering tire marks and particle effects.
TireMarksRenderer
Component for drawing tire marks based on different parameters
TireParticleEmitter
Component providing the particle effects based on different emission parameters. Requires a standard ParticleSystem component for defining the particles.
VehicleTireEffects
Add this component to the vehicle for the tire marks and particle effects to work in the scene. It defines the vehicle's specific settings for tire marks and tire smoke.

Multiple vehicles

You may include any number of vehicles in the scene, and manage them your way. The Vehicle Manager scene is an example of a simple vehicle management.

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VehicleManager is a simple component allowing the user to select among different vehicles. Controls the vehicle's input (i.e. leaves unselected vehicles braked) and changes the camera's target to the selected vehicle. You can also use VehicleManager as base for writing your own.

VehicleManager also demonstrates how to use a single VehicleStandardInput component for all vehicles, instead of each vehicle having its own input component. Same with VehicleTelemetry.

Is everything clear here? Then head to "building scenes"!