Modern games use a few different approaches depending on the game style, performance budget, and how realistic the driving needs to feel. Most games do not just “add speed and rotate the wheels” anymore — but visually, that’s still part of it.

There are usually two separate systems:

1. Vehicle physics (how the car moves)
2. Wheel visuals/animation (what you see)

Common approaches

1. Arcade/simple approach

Used in:

• arcade racers
• mobile games
• older games
• many indie projects

The game:

• moves the car body directly
• applies acceleration/steering manually
• rotates wheel meshes based on speed

Example:

wheelRotation += vehicleSpeed * dt / wheelRadius;

Steering:

frontWheelYaw = steeringAngle;

This is cheap and easy.

The downside:

• weak suspension
• poor collision realism
• fake drifting
• wheels may clip terrain

A lot of open-world games still fake large parts of vehicle behavior because full physics is expensive.

2. Raycast wheel physics (VERY common)

This is the industry standard for many modern games.

Used in:

• many racing games
• Unreal Engine vehicles
• Unity WheelCollider-style systems
• GTA-like vehicles
• BeamNG-lite systems

The wheel is not actually a physical rolling cylinder.

Instead:

• each wheel is a suspension point
• a ray is cast downward
• suspension compression is computed
• tire forces are calculated mathematically

The visible wheel mesh is then positioned and rotated afterward.

So internally the wheel is often:

• just a point
• plus suspension data
• plus tire friction equations

How it works

Each frame:

Suspension

Cast a ray downward:

car
 |
 O  <-- wheel attachment point
 |
 | raycast
 |
ground

Measure:

• distance to ground
• suspension compression
• surface normal

Then apply spring force:

F = springStrength * compression

And damping:

F -= damping * suspensionVelocity

Tire grip

The game computes:

• forward slip
• sideways slip
• traction

Then applies forces to the rigidbody.

This is where drifting and handling come from.

Most modern games use variants of:

• Pacejka tire model
• simplified slip curves
• custom friction models

Wheel visuals

After physics:

• wheel mesh moves vertically with suspension
• wheel mesh rotates visually
• front wheels yaw for steering

The rotation itself is usually still:

rotation += linearSpeed / radius * dt;

So yes — visual wheel spinning is often just speed → rotation.

But the vehicle movement itself comes from physics forces.

3. Full rigidbody wheel simulation

Used in:

• hardcore simulators
• soft-body sims
• research
• military simulators

Examples:

• BeamNG.drive
• some robotics sims

Here:

• wheels are real colliders
• suspension is physically constrained
• tire contact patches are simulated more accurately

This is expensive.

Problems:

• unstable at high speeds
• lots of solver tuning
• hard to make “fun”

Ironically, more realistic physics often feels worse for gameplay unless carefully tuned.

Why raycast wheels dominate

Because they are:

• stable
• fast
• predictable
• easy to tune
• multiplayer friendly

A real rolling collider can:

• bounce
• snag geometry
• jitter
• flip cars unexpectedly

Raycast wheels avoid most of this.

What AAA games usually do

Most AAA games use:

• rigidbody chassis
• raycast suspension
• tire force model
• visual wheel meshes

Then layer on:

• traction control
• ABS
• stability assists
• drift assists
• fake downforce
• anti-roll bars
• steering smoothing

Even “realistic” racing games contain a lot of hidden assists.

Interesting detail

In many games:

• the wheel mesh you see
• the collision wheel
• the suspension simulation

are all separate things.

The visible wheel may even lag slightly behind the physics wheel for smoothing.

Typical modern pipeline

Input
  ↓
Engine/drivetrain simulation
  ↓
Wheel suspension raycasts
  ↓
Tire force calculations
  ↓
Apply forces to chassis rigidbody
  ↓
Integrate movement
  ↓
Update visual wheel meshes

If you're making a game

A good progression is:

Beginner

• fake movement
• visual wheel spin only

Intermediate

• raycast suspension
• friction/slip model

Advanced

• tire curves
• weight transfer
• drivetrain simulation
• differential simulation

Insane

• deformable tires
• finite element tires
• soft body suspension

Very few games need the last category.

Rule of thumb

• Arcade games: mostly fake
• Modern racing games: hybrid physics + fake assists
• Hardcore sims: heavy physics
• Most wheels you see are visual only while the actual contact uses raycasts or simplified tire math.