Kart speed, acceleration and turning

These settings decide how fast the Kart gets, how quickly it gets there and how it steers. You find them in the details panel of your Kart Blueprint under Kart Base Settings.

Speed and acceleration

These variables can all be tweaked inside the Blueprint’s details panel or class defaults (Kart Base Settings > Acceleration) and should be largely self explanatory.

If you are wondering what the Air Acceleration Coefficient is: It basically scales the acceleration down by this factor when in air. A value of 0.0 means that the Kart can’t accelerate while in air.

Acceleration is calculated in a specific way, such that it takes a bit of time for the Kart to reach its Max Speed. This is essentially done by reducing the acceleration the closer the Kart is to the Max Speed.

The Minimum Acceleration Coefficient is a number that is used such that even at higher speeds, an increase in speed is always guaranteed (with this value), such that the Max Speed is reachable. When reducing this number, it is possible that the Max Speed cannot be completely reached. When making this number too large, you will always have constant acceleration, which is also undesirable.

Acceleration settings

Speeds are in cm/s, the Unreal unit (3700 cm/s is about 133 km/h). Default is the value of the C++ class. BP_KartPawn ships with its own tuned values for some settings, shown in the second column.

Setting	Default	BP_KartPawn	What it does
Max Acceleration	50	50	How fast the Kart accelerates forward.
Air Acceleration Coefficient	0.4	0	Share of the forward acceleration kept in the air.
Minimum Acceleration Coefficient	0.3	0.3	Lowest acceleration near top speed, so Max Speed stays reachable.
Max Speed	3200	3700	Normal top speed.
Reverse Acceleration	30	30	How fast the Kart accelerates backwards.
Reverse Max Speed	1500	2200	Top speed when reversing.

A boost replaces the top speed and acceleration while it lasts. See Boosts and items.

Steep slopes

On ground steeper than Max Ground Slope (averaged over the wheels that touch it), gravity pulls the Kart and it gets less acceleration and grip. These settings are in Kart Base Settings > Tires.

Setting	Default	BP_KartPawn	What it does
Max Ground Slope	45	30	Steepest slope in degrees that the Kart drives on normally.
Slope Acceleration Coefficient	0.5	0.1	Scales acceleration on steeper ground. 0.5 = half.
Slope Adherence Coefficient	0.1	0.1	Scales grip on steeper ground. 0 = no grip, lots of slipping.

Turning

Turning is done by evaluating a curve, the Turning Curve. You can edit the curve, or insert a new one, similarly to the drifting curves.

The curve is evaluated from 0.0 to the Max Speed that is set for the Kart. You can, for example, set a low turning rate at low velocities and a higher turn speed at higher velocities.

• When the Kart moves slower than In Place Turning Threshold Velocity, it won’t be able to turn at all. This is useful so that the Kart won’t be able to turn in place.
• Turn Speed is just a turn speed multiplier.
• Max Air Turn Speed is like Turn Speed, but when the Kart is in air.
• Max Angular Velocity is the maximum angular velocity the Kart can ever have. Having an upper max angular velocity will make the Kart robust to sudden bumps and spins (for example with walls or other Karts), which can be very disorienting.

Turning settings

All of these are in Kart Base Settings > Turning.

Setting	Default	BP_KartPawn	What it does
Turning Curve	None	FC_TurningTorqueByVelocity	Turn strength (y-axis) by driving speed in cm/s (x-axis). If it is empty, the Kart cannot steer outside of drifts.
In Place Turning Threshold Velocity	100	300	Below this speed (cm/s), steering does nothing.
Turn Speed	8	8	Multiplies the Turning Curve on the ground.
Max Air Turn Speed	10	4	Multiplies the Turning Curve in the air.
Max Angular Velocity	5	5	Upper limit for how fast the Kart can rotate, in radians per second.

Next steps

• Shape the drift itself in Drifting.
• Tune how the Kart sits on the ground in Suspension.