Powerboat VR News

Audio Update
This update adds extra water audio effects to all the current boats and is a straight to live build release so you should get it when you next log in to Steam. Make sure you've opted out of any other Betas.

The audio update falls into 2 main categories...

1. Stationary Audio
This is ambient audio played around the boat when it is stationary or nearly stationary. These include water lapping at the side of the boat, gurgles, bubbling and other sounds you would expect on a stationary boat.

2. Moving Audio
This includes water noise from the engines/props and slaps, bangs and splashes as the hull hits the water. The intensity of the noise is dependant on speed.

I shall be building an audio mixer so that you can adjust the volume of different sound channels. I've got the scheduled in for next weeks update.

Bug fixes
1. Fixed the flickering "Tropical Island" biome terrain. May see a little performance improvement from that too.
2. Fixed scaling on some of the boats which looked a little off.
3. Adjusted the forward drag on the "Bluefin" so that it slows down faster when engine power is reduced.

Next Update
Please let me know in the forums what you would like me to work on next. Should I concentrate on new boats, new races, race championships, wild life, etc

Let me know in the special pinned forum thread marked "We want this next!"

A small content update. This update is now live on the main build so please opt-out of any BETAs to get it.

1. Added a new tight track for the Canyon biome called "The Narrows". It does get quite narrow in places which can result A.I. crashes as they need a bit more training!
2. Added a new radio station "Canyon FM" for suitable themed music.

Updates & Fixes...
1. Fixed the map courses not showing up on the MFD for Canyon biome races.
2. Opened up various routes on the Canyon biome so that you can more easily travel between the Tropical Islands biome
3. Various performance tweaks. With a 2080ti you can expect 200fps+ at 1080p. I hit 130+ at 5120 x 1440p. VR should see around 90fps

In progress...
1. Audio SFX for the boats. e.g. water splashes and slaps.
2. Ambient audio e.g. rock falls in the Canyon biome, crickets etc

This is an OPT-IN BETA!

Quick update to hopefully increase performance....

1. MFD map now uses a prerendered image. Update rate has been increased.
2. Water reflection layers have been altered. Not all buildings are reflected - only skyscrapers.
3. Typhoon has been optimised with water reflection layers
4. Typhoon has a custom & optimised foam trail.
5. Typhoon water buoyancy update rate reduced by half and now uses interlacing.

Overall races with the Typhoon should run much faster! I will update the rest of the boats as quickly as I can.

Stops the boat initially spawning under an island!

This update moves the new biome into the standard release and includes the following updates...

1. New 5km x 5km Canyon biome with 1 new race course.
2. New 5km x 5km Tropical Island map with 3 re-worked race courses
3. New Radio Station
4. New rudder physics for all boats
5. Various optimisations to keep things running smoothly.