Powerboat VR News

Quick update which adds volumetric boat wakes which actually forms physical waves in the water. It's fairly processor intensive so I can only really add one trail per boat.

Adds a little extra dynamic to the racing as crossing a wake can destabilise your boat or even allow you to gain a little air!

The new opt-in beta test update includes full "pancake" (or none VR) support so you can play it on a standard monitor. You can switch between VR and Pancake mode by pressing the "v" key.

Please ensure you opt in to the "nonevrtest" beta to get the new updates. Once I'm fully happy that everything works I'll push it to the live build in the next few days.

Other updates include...
1. 3 new race tracks. 2 with crowds and crowd sound effects
2. New unified menu system
3. Race results leader board
4. Update racing AI
5. AI boats now have a visible crew
6. Various other tweaks and fixes

Getting pancake mode into the game has been fairly time consuming, but with that part now complete rapid progress should be made on all parts of the game so you should see new tracks/boats/game modes every week!

Minor clean up of a few things.

There is an annoying bug where sometimes you'll suddenly see a water trail appear in front of you. This is something to do with the floating origin resetting and I haven't found a solution....yet!

- Fixed low engine power on some of the boats
- Removed the visible physics force point markers
- Optimised the floating origin calculations
- Fixed some of the missions where the cargo spawn point was incorrect

Ahoy there, Skippers!

I am very pleased to announce that the new physics engine is now live. I can thoroughly recommend checking out the boats and having a go at the races. Definitely try out the "Typhoon" racing catamaran if nothing else!

The new physics make the boats much more lively and will take some skill to control correctly - case in point would be the Typhoon which can get a little out of shape even in a straight line.

Here's a quick break down of the boats and how they handle...

1. Buzzard - A fairly heavy day cruiser/powerboat. It handles well in all conditions and is perfect for new boaters.
2. Mako - Newly uprated engine makes this R.I.B. a beast to handle well. Not really suited for rough weather as there's a real risk of flipping it over!
3. Bluefin - Excellent handling and as happy skimming along the top of the water as it is flying through the air.
4. Fury - quick and light and can be a handful in rough conditions as it will likely "chine walk" if pushed too hard.
5. Typhoon - all out, bonkers quick, racing catamaran/tunnel hull. Will hit 115kts+ in flat water and has a tendency to powerslide in turns which can be bad news if you catch a wave at the wrong time.

Feedback on the boat handling is, as always, very welcome.