Recommendations for vehicle for cruising mainland roads

[Knutz Scorpio]

I'm looking for a car that I can drive on the mainland roads and be able to enjoy the scenery without losing control of the vehicle.  I've tried several freebies and most were just too ugly, found two that looked nice enough to be seen in but the controls were so terrible I spent considerable time dragging the car back onto the road.  Guess I prefer controls where I can set the speed like a cruise control and if I hold a steering control key for a bit longer then a microsecond it doesn't throw the steering wheel hard over.  Maybe I could get a script and put in a car I make myself, wouldn't be the best looking one on the road but I'm sure I could do better then most of the freebies I found.  Thank you for any suggestions

[ArgontheDevil Ormega]

I've found that wearable vehicles are the best.  You don't have the excessive speed which makes control difficult and you don't have to worry about rezzing.  You just wear the vehicle and drive off.  The downside is you cannot carry passengers very well, if at all, depending on scripting, but for just driving yourself around, they are the way to go.

[AnnMarie Otoole]

Check out the nearly free vehicles at Endurance Car Sales,  http://slurl.com/secondlife/Putiki%20Fold/29/97/49

They navigate SL roads at a speed slow enough to allow the scenery to rez.  Simple controls START/STOP and TURN ROUND.  If you see one on the road, just click on it to go for a ride.

[Phoneix Dreamscape]

I invite you to try my checker cab, a modified version of an Arcadia Asylum creation. It was scripted specifically for driving on mainland roads and it's FREE 

You can find it here.

[Knutz Scorpio]

Thank you all for the recommendations and I've finally had a chance to try them all out. The one I have settled on is the taxi from Phoenix, although a taxi doesn't make for the most stylish ride it by far had the best controls for cruising mainland roads and I'll be looking for something with the same controls when I'm ready to spend more on my ride.  Again thank you all.

[Estella Beningbrough]

I would strongly recommend the Szym Metro made by Will Szymborska.  It is a $99 Citroen 2CV but is the best car I have driven.  Admittedly, I have not driven many but friends with more SL driving experience agree that it's a good one: fun, bouncy suspension; realistic turning circles whether going forwards or in reverse; takes four people; and it does not get ridiculously out of control.

[Poenald Palen]

I don't believe my TRez is the best for mainland, but it does handle it and has a low first gear and turn speed settings very gentle to very extreme, extreme is in case you get into racing and for the racers they might want to gently cruise. It will work on mainland alright though. The reason why I don't think it is the best is because I have not tried all mainland freindly vehicles, so I assume there must be one because I spend 80% of my time at tracks at mid range speeds to high speeds..

I can change the engine sound to just idle or maybe do some quick sound work to get a loop of a slightly higher RPM to loop. The one that is in there goes through the gears and is a bit fast, race sounding. So, I can maybe get a higher RPM idle to work in there. But cruise control? No, that is not a easy and free add-on, I would have to maybe charge. Plus, the car is a bit....strange. It is a super trike, a reverse trike to be exact! This is not a regular road car lol.

My Sport 7 is not a one with turn control off the shelf, but I have a modified version with an menu scripted into it to allow slower turning or faster. Off the shelf? Forget it, it is mainly for the track but I have drove it on the mainland before. Way to twitchy as is, but free menu added if you want. Same free service of changing the sound loop to a higher RPM type of idle. No cuise.

There is one car I can remember has cruise control and it is called the Dominus. You can most likely find it in world, and might even find a demo rezzer. It rezzes in like third gear, so remember to hit page down a couple of times if you do test drive it. I am not sure if it had turn speed adjust. But it does have a HUD that it offers you. I can't remember where there is a test drive rezzer...in fact, maybe there simply isn't one any more at any track. hhhm. I beleive they still sell it though.

I will go test drive a few of my cars and if I find any that work alright, I will post back here. But I will post now with my offer and the only car I can think of that has cruise....for some reason I remember I have encountered at least two. But this is the only one I can remember. I would think the marketplace.secondlife.com search would lead to some that have this, if there is any. But you might get cruise missiles or boats lol. Boats do this type of thing, you set the speed and then just steer (well, at least one I tried did....I dont' do nearly as much boating as I should!) and...uh, yeah....I can't remember any more with cruise!

I used to sell RD cars through thier affiliate...some of thiers had a turn control. I can't remember much of them. I will test drive the one I have that is recent. I have some older ones that might not be sold anymore. Very old ones lol. Like, first few years he was building! But I wil get back with some findings.

 

EDIT: oops, it says I responed to estella...this is meant for the Original Poster! Sorry, this forum confuses me.

EDIT2: Ok, I checked a few out. Not all the ones I have, but a few that I could find and remember. The issue I noticed was some of the cars I have are not on the market any more! So, here is a few I know are still out there:

ACCC Catrice. I used to have thier affiliate at my store, for any disclosure...I don't any more and I am not a personal freind of the guy. But, the car worked alright enough, but was not the best I have for mainland. It seemed to be alright enough though. Had a tiny bit issue lining it up in a lane. It didn't appear to bounce on prims at the place I was at, but it was a newer road on Route 3, seemed a smoother stretch than the older roads.

AOBA Impact. This one is pretty good, it can turn sharp but rounds and arcs and doesn't swivel or skid as much. It is very responsive to lifting OFF the forward key. This helps it line up and I was easily able to line this one up and keep it in a lane. This one has pretty good physics all around and the steering seems to cover a few styles with no changes needed in a menu. But, if you hold the button for like 2 seconds, you will be 90 degrees+ but will arc to that pont. I mean, 2 seconds is a rough estimate from menu. You sort of tap it to keep it straight.

(RD) Challenger. This one was alright, but not as easy as the AOBA to keep in the lane. But was not so wild as some of the old RD cars I like to drive at race tracks. It seems pretty smooth and worked well enough and went slow enough to not get all crazy.

Old Race Car model of the Solstice. I bought this or won it from a person who was once with the old Pontiac thingy. It is a bit to fast, but I had it in automatic. I am not sure if the one floating around is even legal though, and this one I got might not be available any more. So, it will keep in the lane alright BUT you have to pulse the forward speed if you are in automatic mode, not sure of the geared mode because I got distracted and moved on. But steering was the issue, and it was slow enough at first, so I never went back and tested and assumed you might not like any of these due to lack of cruise control! So, my testing ends.

I also found the XT-1000 whatever it was model from Burnout to be great and the RD Triple was not so bad. Both have steering control choices and worked. But, these are motorcycles and I am not sure that is what you wanted....plus, I don't remember any cruise control. I think there is another maker that does this, but I am yet to find them again and seem to not have any of there stuff and don't use cruise control...so, might not remember it if I did have.

[Knutz Scorpio]

The Pontiac Solstice is the first car I've tried, I picked it up as a freebie at the vehicle market area at the vehicle sandbox.  Had fun playing around with it on the race track doing burn outs and drifting and such, but on mainland roads it was a mess.  Even with the car set to manual and stuck in first gear hit a sim crossing with mismatched sim versions and there was nothing for me to do but to sit back an watch the car do aerial acrobatics.

 

For cruising and site seeing having to fluctuate the forward key while steering just doesn't work for me, it works great for me in RL with a gas peddle and steering wheel but it's too much to deal with on the keyboard.  That's why I'm looking for something like a cruise control.

 

When I've got the chance I'll check out your suggestions, cruising on a bike can not be worse then cruising in a taxi 

[Rabid Cheetah]

Something called "The Frog" (sorry, not able to bring up SL at the moment), an all-terrrain vehicle.  Good price, handles well, and can drive on both land AND sail on the sea.  Has an extra seat for a friend to join you.

[Chris Kuhr]

it's been a while since the last post but i thought i'd add my two cents, hoping that someone may find it helpful.  i purchased a Black Widow Motors Stealth model chopper (seats 2) that i've been riding on route 8 most of the eveining and it's been pretty easy to handle, despite heavy lag and my relative inexperience.  the only time i've lost control has been when the lag completely overtook me (in one instance i got logged completely out of SL).  now for the best part...the bike was 10L .  this isn't a typo and i don't work for them, i stumbled across it on the marketplace and figured, why not?  the best lindens i've spent in the 6+ years i've been in SL.

[Daria Linette]

Thanks for the review. I had noticed this car quite a while ago, but I've never dared to purchase it yet, by lack of having made a test-drive to see how it behaves. :matte-motes-smile:

BTW, there's no hesitation to have now: I've just noticed it costs 0 L$ at marketplace. Almost too good to be true. :matte-motes-oh-rly:

https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Szym-Metro-Sedan-FREE/415633

Another good 2CV replica is available at Apolon Motors, but costs 800 L$. Anyway, I had the luck to "borrow" it at a public driving land and it behaves quite well for cruising. :matte-motes-smitten:

To remain in "French touch", my first vehicle on SL was the freebie Concolor Moped: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Concolor-Moped/319744

Quite good for exploring SL by road too. It has just the right cruise speed for that, but lack of off-road abilities. Sometimes embarrassing if you get out of the road due to sim-crossing lag. :matte-motes-stress:

About cars, I've recently found an interesing and original model called KGS 1600 GT. It's a superb and quite affordable (300 L$) remake of the 70's Toyota Celica GT, that can be purchased here (main store inworld): http://slurl.com/secondlife/Walker%20Town/28/32/2

I find its road-handling and reactions perfect for cruising. Plus, it has seven gears: the 1st and 2nd are perfect to travel the grid, while the 7th one earned me several speed records in front of speed traps. :matte-motes-bashful-cute:

However, despite its top speed, it's not so good at racing cause lack of handling in curves. But on public roads, this makes it easy to control even with keyboard.

Sometimes, you just may ask yourself: why pay more? :matte-motes-sunglasses-2: And this thread makes me want to try several of the other vehicles previously mentionned. :matte-motes-delicious:

[Daria Linette]

Your cab is quite good, Phoneix. Very original handling, a bit puzzling at first but I finally got accustomed with your "cruise control" system. It allows some kind of enjoyable look-no-hands cruising.:matte-motes-whistle:

However, I have issues with the included info notecard. It keeps telling me I'm not allowed to view it. What am I supposed to do? :smileysad:

[Pussycat Catnap]

There's a super sheap motocycle I use for a couple alts that drives very smoothly:

Steamercycle from Ichabod Gausman, 20L.

It has a cruise control mode. Set a speed and it will keep going. Steering is a little 'delayed' so that when you turn you won't be suddenly facing 227 degrees in another direction... Instead it seems to steer like a big heavy river boat - which means that in things like sim crossings, you just plow on through, and can even be turning during that crossing and make it over fine.

- The quality of the scripts on it warrant a price of about 800L. If I knew then what I know now of how smooth it drives, I would have been willing to pay that much for it. At 20L though, its the sort of thing you get for any old alt and toss to a gifted copy to a friend if you want to talk them into trying out cruising around in SL. The only problem is they'll have trouble finding one that drives better when they decide to 'upgrade'...

 

On Pussycat I have a car:

Forb Model H by Trent  (yes, Trent Resident). Drives really well, looks really snappy in an old fashioned sort of way. Its the only thing in my inventory that might work on that 1920 Berlin sim.

- Not too pricey at 100L (I think its cheaper now than when I bought it). Again, if you want to convince a friend to try driving in SL, this is a great choice. It seats 2, I think, so you can start by driving them around...

 

Looks like I made a screenshot in these forums of me in it last year, on my older avatar look: