Slow in the Corners

Lesson 14 of 20 in Coddy's Godot Game: Neon Circuit course.

The rival takes bends flat out, which no driver would. Make it brake for corners. track.turn_ahead(progress, 70.0) says how much the track turns over the next 70 pixels, in radians.

The sharper the bend, the lower the speed it aims for, by up to 18 percent. Then it eases toward that speed, as a car speeds up and slows down:

var turn: float = track.turn_ahead(progress, 70.0)
var target := top_speed * (1.0 - clampf(turn / 3.0, 0.0, 0.18))
speed = move_toward(speed, target, 160.0 * delta)
progress += speed * delta

The rival now starts from a standstill, like you.

Challenge

Easy

Add var speed := 0.0 to rival.gd.
Replace progress += top_speed * delta with the four lines above.

Try it yourself

extends Node2D

@export var accel := 260.0
@export var max_speed := 200.0
@export var turn_speed := 3.2
@export var drag := 0.6
@export var grip := 7.0

var velocity := Vector2.ZERO
var boost_time := 0.0
var boost_charge := 0.0
var active := true

@onready var track: Node2D = $"../Track"


func _physics_process(delta: float) -> void:
	var throttle := 0.0
	var steer := 0.0
	if active:
		throttle = Input.get_axis("move_down", "move_up")
		steer = Input.get_axis("move_left", "move_right")
		if Input.is_action_just_pressed("action") and boost_charge >= 1.0:
			boost_charge = 0.0
			boost_time = 1.0
	boost_charge = minf(1.0, boost_charge + delta / 10.0)
	$"../HUD/Boost".scale.x = boost_charge

	var forward := Vector2.RIGHT.rotated(rotation)
	var speed := velocity.dot(forward)
	var top := max_speed
	var grip_now := grip
	if boost_time > 0.0:
		boost_time -= delta
		top = max_speed * 1.3
		velocity += forward * accel * delta
	for pad in get_tree().get_nodes_in_group("boost_pads"):
		if position.distance_to(pad.position) < 22.0:
			boost_time = maxf(boost_time, 0.4)
	for oil in get_tree().get_nodes_in_group("oil"):
		if position.distance_to(oil.position) < 20.0:
			grip_now = grip * 0.12
	if not track.is_on_road(position):
		top = max_speed * 0.45
		velocity *= 1.0 - 2.5 * delta

	if throttle < 0.0 and speed > 10.0:
		velocity += forward * throttle * accel * 1.6 * delta
	else:
		velocity += forward * throttle * accel * delta
	rotation += steer * turn_speed * delta * clampf(absf(speed) / 90.0, 0.0, 1.0) * signf(speed + 0.01)

	var side := forward.orthogonal()
	velocity -= side * velocity.dot(side) * minf(1.0, grip_now * delta)
	velocity *= 1.0 - drag * delta
	if velocity.length() > top:
		velocity = velocity.move_toward(velocity.limit_length(top), accel * 2.0 * delta)
	position += velocity * delta
	$Exhaust.emitting = throttle > 0.0 or boost_time > 0.0
	$Flame.visible = boost_time > 0.0