Best Vehicle creators in SL

[Istelathis]

I think in addition to the vehicle itself, the viewer has a lot to do with how well your driving experience is going to be.  I haven't a clue why this is, or if it is just coincidence on my part, but when using Alchemy sim crossings are usually fine.  When I last tried Catznip it worked wonderfully as well, every other viewer I tried would leave me frustrated.

The vehicle I have been spending most of my time in as of late is the G&D MOTORS M-G Spider 1930, which has a few quirks that I put up with.  I love the look of it, but the scripting uses ACS and it took a bit of fiddling with the menus to get the steering just right, as well as the gravity for when climbing hills.  Mouselook is just frustrating in it though, as it uses the mouse to steer and accelerate - I haven't found a way to disable that. 

It seems to do well enough for solo exploring the mainlands for an hour or more at a time.  I rarely find myself having a problem with most sim crossings, corner sim crossings can get a bit wonky if I don't slow down,  the main problems I have with this vehicle is that the sitting position often gets buggy as well as the camera angle. For an inexpensive vintage looking vehicle, I really do enjoy it though.

I love the look of older cars like this:

 

 

The most stable driving experience I have had is with a free car though

https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Taxi-Bug-31-prims/6255911

My experience with cars is very limited, because I haven't the money to really give each car a long test drive so I'm afraid I can't offer that much advice other than try different viewers as well and see if that helps with your driving in SL.  

My style of driving is exploratory, averaging 45-60 kph with a lot of sim crossings and solo.  I can easily drive an hour in most instances, so long as I keep an eye on corner crossings to slow down without losing control of the vehicle.  Which both vehicles I listed above are great at, and provide a satisfactory ride imo,  for an inexpensive price tag.  As far as realism, racing, and so on I wouldn't know the first thing about what to look for.

 

Edited November 23, 2022 by Istelathis

[Jules Catlyn]

If you want some nice, independent, opinions from people who almost drive cars in SL daily, look at the "Drivers of SL" group inworld. They also do car related events such as navigation drives on the mainland. Almost weekly. 

https://gyazo.com/6d1735d1a8b6039ad19845f45f7f425f

[MissV82]

17 hours ago, steeljane42 said:

I really am not much into vehicles for the driving reasons as I don't enjoy exploring mainland, but still have a few for the decor purposes. I do have a little track in the skies in my region, however.

They (ACS scripted vehicles) are not just bad, they are between bad and unusable. One bike creator sent me a few "ultra slow" versions of ones I bought from him to mitigate the problem. Still far from good, but at least they've stopped to accelerate at worst possible moment. I'd rather have some arcade-ish control, than this.

I checked and the car that I got is ACS!! So I should avoid these???

[Atomic Infinity]

There are some that set up ACS well, I have a bike from Wicked Motors which is a delight as he spent the time to set it up properly. But he is a minority unfortunately.

It depends what you want from it too - vehicles set up for racing are compromised on some bumpy old mainland roads, and vice versa. A long distance floaty cruiser is more relaxing but you won't win any races in it.

The best thing with ANY vehicle is to try the in-world Demo first and see if you like it.  If there is no demo, well there is probably a reason for that.

 

[Jules Catlyn]

ACS being bad is basically an urban myth. It came to be because  around 2014-2015 there were a lot of creators who started doing vehicles. Most of them just bought the KCP/ACS script set and put it in a car without properly setting it up. This lead to an abundance of poorly handling cars which in turn gave the ACS scriptset a bad reputation. Just like with everything, it is the care and attention given to a product that makes it good or bad.  The scripts themselves are the basic tool, it is up to the creator to do the final work. 

See it as paint: One person slaps it on a fence sloppily and calls it a day. The other person uses it to make a beautiful mural. You can look at that fence and say the paint is bad when the way it was applied was the thing that made it bad. 

[Orwar]

4 hours ago, Jules Catlyn said:

ACS being bad is basically an urban myth. It came to be because  around 2014-2015 there were a lot of creators who started doing vehicles. Most of them just bought the KCP/ACS script set and put it in a car without properly setting it up. This lead to an abundance of poorly handling cars which in turn gave the ACS scriptset a bad reputation. Just like with everything, it is the care and attention given to a product that makes it good or bad.  The scripts themselves are the basic tool, it is up to the creator to do the final work. 

   ACS is great if you want to have the ability to fine-tune a vehicle to suit you just right, but I don't think most people care about the ability to set up every aspect in such high detail (with GEMC you still can adjust the turning ratio which is basically the only one the vast majority of users will care about), or even understand what half of the options in those menus actually do. It's also a very large script which makes it handle really poorly with region crossings - it's fine if you're driving on a track without crossings (or with very few ones), but if you want to drive across 200 region borders, those extra seconds are going to add up to a whole lot of time staring at your vehicle not moving (or flying off into space, if you've got region crossing movement prediction set to unlimited - which is the first tip I'll give any aspiring virtual vehicle enthusiast; turn it off!). That, coupled with the mouse-look controls and the extremely temperamental cruise control which will put the petal to the metal on a slow crossing (of which, in those vehicles, there will be many), you're very likely to regain movement just in time to watch your car speed off into a ditch or someone's garden (or a ban-line, if you're unlucky).

   I do have a fair few ACS vehicles, both old and new ones, some I've tuned to Hell and back so that I can sweep through race tracks at high speed with great control - but I've tried most of them on Grid Drives and most of the time I did, I ended up having to reach the checkpoint on horseback. 

[HeathcliffMontague]

Tried them all. OK, maybe not all, but pretty darned close. Got and old Bull God Chopper ACS bike that does SIM crossings better than any JFC or Moto Bazzi.  Got an IK Cafe (KCP/ACS) racer which is dirty fast on tracks and still very good at SIM crossings.

Seems individual scripting makes a big difference. Biggest difference it how well you drive, though  

[Jules Catlyn]

57 minutes ago, Orwar said:

I do have a fair few ACS vehicles, both old and new ones, some I've tuned to Hell and back so that I can sweep through race tracks at high speed with great control - but I've tried most of them on Grid Drives and most of the time I did, I ended up having to reach the checkpoint on horseback. 

As a creator i test regularly on the mainland. I don't do racing speeds there but at cruising speed i can do GTFO! runs just fine and take long drives. Even while using the ACS system. Which is what i use for my vehicles I get very few mishaps

[HeathcliffMontague]

50 minutes ago, Jules Catlyn said:

As a creator i test regularly on the mainland. I don't do racing speeds there but at cruising speed i can do GTFO! runs just fine and take long drives. Even while using the ACS system. Which is what i use for my vehicles I get very few mishaps

Which is  whyI  I still recommend your vehicles. Got me into driving in SL in the first place  

[HeathcliffMontague]

But a bit more seriously, what are you looking for? The fastest and still controllable cars you'll most likely find in SL  are at 2RAW , fastest bikes are IK and Deezul, although MOTO is the new TAMA in a way. Just stupid fast.

Just depends what you are going for  

 

[AlexandriaBrangwin]

Indulge seems to be the new king of the hill.

Edited November 26, 2022 by Quartz Mole
Removed possibly libellous reference to another content creator

[Stephanie Misfit]

6 hours ago, AlexandriaBrangwin said:

Indulge seems to be the new king of the hill.

Pretty sure they can't use the Mercedes insignia like that.

[Orwar]

On 11/26/2022 at 8:34 AM, AlexandriaBrangwin said:

Indulge seems to be the new king of the hill.

   I've never tried them, so I'll have to go have a peek. But there's no shortage of vehicles out there that look nice but perform like a soapy potato. 

[animats]

M's R&D on Robin Loop in Neumogen hsa some nice newer vehicles. Try the newer ones with the purple demo rezzers on the ground. I just drove the demo Honda S800 all the way around Heterocera without problems. The motor scooter is fun, but not as stable as the S800. Plus some unusual vehicles, including a rickshaw.

12 hours ago, Orwar said:

But there's no shortage of vehicles out there that look nice but perform like a soapy potato. 

True, but today there's no shortage of vehicles that can stay on the road and get you some place.

[PheebyKatz]

The best motorcycle I've ever bought is a modified, sidecarless Ural M-72, I paid 200L$ for it, and, for me at least, it outperforms things I've paid over 500L$ for. It's even a better ride than some really expensive things I've won on Midnight Mania boards. So at least I know they can't really be judged based on price, you have to ride them and find out how they do for you.

That said, the best-running and best-handling vehicle I own is a little scooter I made from scratch to fit myself, with 5 speeds ranging from turtle-speed to OMG-I-just-crossed-a-whole-sim-in-a-split-second-speed. Depending on the terrain, obstacles, etc., I just toggle gears really quickly with my pinky finger, because of how my keyboard is set up.

There are fantastic creators out there, and there are prolific creators, too. Sometimes they're one and the same, sometimes not. But the only way for a really picky person to get exactly what they want is probably to make it themselves. So far that's been my experience, and so far that's been my take-away from this thread.

If you're limited to what you can buy, you'll be settling for what someone else made and decided was good enough to sell to you. If, like IRL, you get under the hood yourself and learn what makes it go, a lot of the mystique blows away and you can learn to make your vehicle do what you want it to, the way you want it to.

[LorrieMadison]

Hello everyone, well i stumbles across this forum and seen some interesting comments as a bike and car builder myself an owner of Maison customs here is my take on the ACS being bad or not. No ACS isn't a bad script if you take your time in setting it up I personally use ACS scripts as it gives you great flexibility to tweak an allows you the person who buy the vehicle to tweak it to your liking, remember everyone in sl drives differently remember most builders build not for cross sim rides but instead for bike or racetracks which is all on one sim. Now that being said I personally hate suddenly seemingly sit in oblivion going over a sim crossing during a grid drive that is why i spend long hours just like many other builders in setting up their vehicles to give it that smooth riding experience  About vehicles sticking and sinking  yes it is a problem as some builders seemingly slap scripts in and sell without testing Again like many other amazing builders i spend long hours trying to get vehicles not to sink stick or float off into the void however we must remember the golden rule of SL if you go fast enough or hit something hard enough you will get stuck or go through. I love building and trying to perfect my builds I do not claim to be the best out there in fact i am not i simply love building and reading posts like these to inspire myself to become better An yes never buy a vehicle if you cant test drive it first. Also if you like a vehicle and tested it but dont like the way it rides speak to the builder most of us will be happy in assisting you in setting it up so it fits your driving style

 

[Catrie]

On 11/22/2022 at 3:54 AM, Orwar said:

Drove the demo all the way down to the northern part of Sansara with four or five people in it without any issues, until we ran into a ban line that chucked us off. 

Wait.  Was that the trip with you, me, Momo and that other chick?  That was fun!! 

I have no idea about cars, but I recommend BBX Designs for boats.  I'm a newb with them and they handle well, especially for sim crossings.  Also the customer service is awesome. 

[Orwar]

21 minutes ago, Catrie said:

Wait.  Was that the trip with you, me, Momo and that other chick?  That was fun!! 

   Yep! .. Though I can't remember who the fourth was ..

[ThunderRick97]

My opinion: SA-Items. Less than 40LI and simple driving. 

[Crim Mip]

Infinity Motors, Lisle Larson, Lusch, Prostreet, SZYM all make good vehicles. If you edit a display vehicle at a maker and check the contents and see 'ACS' in the script list, you'll know it's using the same generic crap script the one you don't like was. You'll find those in vehicles costing from 10L to 10,000L. In a lot of cases the so called creator didn't make the model themselves either. the just downloaded it, tossed in the script, and dumped it on the marketplace. I'm sure somebody will come in saying that if it's properly set up and adjusted for the vehicle and the root prim is in the right place, ACS can be ok. That may be true, but few bother doing that.

[Ezbeharra]

People can argue about scripts and root prims all they want but I have a simple guide that, in my opinion, avoids the flame bait:

If you're looking for a sim crosser, shop at places that aren't afraid to have a mainland demo rezzer right by the road. If you're looking for a racer, shop at places that have a good demo track.

This is also really fun, even if you're not looking to buy a vehicle.

[tako Absent]

For me, the best land vehicle to drive in SL is from the NTBI group (Lusch, Szym, Astaro). Although they don't have the most eye candy car in sl, Their vehicle script is incomparable. Stella is my favorite by Lusch. Paladin by Szym is the most popular because of the mods and add ons.

[Orwar]

14 hours ago, tako Absent said:

Although they don't have the most eye candy car in sl

   They've got a flipping Volvo V70 (Lusch's Nordic), doesn't get more eye candy-er than that!

   Also, as the EXP Super 80 is now out on the market I can strongly recommend giving it a whirl. By far my favourite car in SL to date.

[Donovan Michalski]

11 hours ago, Orwar said:

   They've got a flipping Volvo V70 (Lusch's Nordic), doesn't get more eye candy-er than that!

   Also, as the EXP Super 80 is now out on the market I can strongly recommend giving it a whirl. By far my favourite car in SL to date.

The Super 80 is a fun car, no doubt.  I recommend it to everyone just because of how well-made and unique it is.

 

[Donovan Michalski]

On 11/29/2022 at 2:58 AM, animats said:

M's R&D on Robin Loop in Neumogen hsa some nice newer vehicles. Try the newer ones with the purple demo rezzers on the ground. I just drove the demo Honda S800 all the way around Heterocera without problems. The motor scooter is fun, but not as stable as the S800. Plus some unusual vehicles, including a rickshaw.

True, but today there's no shortage of vehicles that can stay on the road and get you some place.

I'll second the M's R&D recommendation - Myuki's cars got me into mainland driving in the first place.

While I'm here, I should also point out to those of you reading this that are into motorcycles, animats has one that's pretty much the gold standard when it comes to mainland riding.