Quick answer: Unreal Chaos Vehicle sliding without grip or drifting forever? The default tire friction curve is too flat — configure rise + fall regions on the Wheel Config asset for realistic feel.
A racing game prototype with default Chaos vehicle settings has cars that drift indefinitely once they break grip. The friction recovery curve is missing.
Lateral Slip Curve
Wheel Config → Tire Friction Lateral. The curve maps slip angle to grip multiplier. A flat 1.0 means same grip everywhere; realistic tires peak at small slip then fall off.
Longitudinal Curve
Same for forward grip during acceleration / braking. Peak around 10-15% slip for street tires; race tires later.
Tire Type Differentiation
Pickup truck = high lateral grip with progressive fall. Racing slick = sharp peak with steep falloff. Tune curves per vehicle archetype.
Suspension Tuning
Wheel grip also depends on load (suspension compression). Stiffer suspensions transfer load violently in corners — tire curves alone don’t fix bad suspension.
Verifying
Vehicle handles transition from grip to slide smoothly. Recovery from drift feels predictable; lap times are consistent.
“Default Chaos tires are flat. Author lateral and longitudinal friction curves per archetype.”
Reference a real-world tire data sheet (Pacejka curves) once — gives you the shape, after which feel-tuning is fast.