About the project

Description

VDrift is a cross-platform, open source driving simulation made with drift racing in mind. The driving physics engine was recently re-written from scratch but was inspired and owes much to the Vamos physics engine. It is released under the GNU General Public License (GPL) v3. It is currently available for Linux, FreeBSD, Mac OS X and Windows.

Features

This game is in the early stages of development but is already very playable. Currently the game features:

• Over 40 tracks based on famous real-world tracks
• Almost 40 cars based on real-world vehicles
• Very realistic, simulation-grade driving physics
• Mouse/joystick/gamepad/wheel/keyboard support
• Fully modeled tracks, scenery and terrain
• Several different camera modes
• Basic replay system with Skip Forward/Skip Backward
• Fully customizable controls
• Joystick, mouse and keyboard input filtering
• Brake and reverse lights
• Driver aids: automatic shifting, traction control, anti-lock braking
• Experimental force feedback
• Race against up to 3 AI with variable difficultly
• Engine and road sounds

Goals

The goals of the VDrift project are:

• to be a high-quality, open source racing simulation featuring enjoyable and challenging gameplay;
• to take advantage of modern computing hardware to accurately simulate vehicle physics in rich and immersive racing environments; and
• to provide a platform for creative experimentation to a community of developers and artists.

History

VDrift was created by Joe Venzon in early 2005. A fan of Gran Turismo, Joe had a lot of fun trying to drift in GT4, though he was disappointed with GT4's physics after loss of traction. Looking around online, the open source Vamos Automotive Simulator performed much better, although the graphics and features were minimal. Building around Vamos, using code adapted from his earlier 3D engine experiments, Joe created the first version of VDrift.

So far, every release has been a testing/development quality release. For this and other reasons, dates are used instead of version numbers.

For a more detailed history look at the Release Changelogs.