The purpose of vehicles in SL

Imagine a grid where a near infinite landscape in all directions, bought or not, is held in rapidly accessed memory. Where resident-owned lands are the smallest corner of virtual space, and the world spreads around it.

As you travel away from "civilization" in any given direction, a 3x3 or larger grid of temporary sims are instanced to contain your travel. Travel on foot or by (assisted) flight to view the wilderness unconstrained. Find a sign to rez a vehicle and tackle ocean, tropical islands, plains, forest tracks, mountains.

Wander the world.

I've used the roads from time to time (on a tricycle and on a horse), and while there can definitely be issues with sim crossings, some still use them. There are also six "vehicle sandboxes as well as other vehicle friendly places (Motorati - not sure if you have to use their cars, though)

Personally, I much prefer sailing in SL, as well as flying about in my Privateer Space police space bug.

Mari

I had a great sail the other day, too, going from Rodeo below the Forest of Kharunvel, through Mohrr and Kremer, into Clementina (a decent crowd at the Governor's mansion, but no one i the big park), past Natoma and the Ivory Tower of Primitives. Only about a half hour or so: I had a good tail-wind and was catching most of it with the spinnaker.

I highly recommend sailing the SL seas, particularly in WindLight.

Mari

Well, what's the purpose of anything in SL? We don't NEED almost any of the stuff we have that we love. We just have it because it's fun. I don't need to dance, wear big messy hair, own a pair of boots, or even have a place to sit. Trout could stand around and talk to friends looking exactly like the ruth-guy fresh off of OI. But I feel better if he's kicking back in a chair and looks like I want him to look.

Vehicles are fun for a lot of people. I have a well known love of biplanes. Barnstorming, cropdusting, sim-line destroying, upside-down-flaming-tailspin into the earth biplanes. Love 'em. Trying to use them as a means of traveling from point A to point B is worthless. The purpose is purely for my own enjoyment...and the terror of my passengers. I have a parachute, too - what's the purpose? I can't die, no matter how far I fall.

(important lesson. Parachuting in a no-script area is a bad idea)

Anyway - like most things in SL, the only purpose for vehicles is that they make people happy.

I dunno about card, but I've done many long runs in vehicles, including completing the SL Kessel Run in an out of the box Space Bug. It is most certainly possible.

Handy image link from Torley's stream: http://snapshots.slbuzz.com/torley-linden/2008/02/08/16217

The main purpose of vehicles in SL is to break down when crossing a sim border.

As far as why you don't see more vehicles on the road, for me they lost their novelty after a few months. I'll still drive occasionally just for fun but usually I have better things to do than try to force a vehicle to stay in my lane... it's much quicker to TP.

And as far as which lane you drive in, I'd never stopped to think about that before; however, it is probably the case that, as my wife Sansarya just pointed out to me, most people drive down the center of the road because it's really too difficult to accurately control a vehicle.

P2

You can, but if you want to travel a long distance very fast you better fly over 800 meters high, preferably 900 to avoid most security systems. Sim crossings are very treacherous if you are moving fast, and the lower you fly the more likely you are to run into security systems or ban lines that will blow you away.

Flying slow enough and low enough for sightseeing in SL is one of the great joys you can experience and share with other people ( vehicles for 2 or more). Unfortunately in my experience, flying always results in a crash sooner or later, not just of the vehicle, but systems crashes of most if not all of the participants. As long as you are willing to relog, teleport, regroup and begin again, it can still be a lot of fun.

And yes, sim crossings especially at corners are the the biggest problem, slow down and cross at right angles, staying away from corners helps make them successful.

I saw a blimp that could hold several people and had a programable course. You could just plug in several points and it would continuously loop around. If you could find a safe path, it would be a fun place to have a party - everyone just hanging out and cruising around looking at the sights. finding a safe course where people don't have banlines or security systems to kick you out would be a problem, but it could be a blast.

One of my very favourite things to do in SL is to hop on my freebie bike (a wonderful thing created by Arcadia Asylum) and roam around the mainland's roads.

I've found the most fabulous things that way which point-to-point teleporting would never have shown me...and met a whole load of fellow cyclists too

/me wants to ride my bicycle
/me want to ride it where I like

I like Exploring by road, you get to travel from sim to sim rather than crashing into ban lines etc, I was just out for a cruise in a freebie metrocab and a newbie jumped in and I said where too and he told me which way to drive even though neither of us knew where the roads went

I own flying vehicles, water vehicles. countless cars, bikes, ect. You can travel in them between sims on the mainlands( if you can rez one). You can sometimes go quite far, and other times get sucked into the underworld at your first border crossing requiring a dreaded reboot. I wish one could travel from island to island, how neat that would be. I would never teleport again! Anyway, if the nieghbors are friendly, and havent used up every prim, you may make it over their house in time to do some sightseeing with your friends. I have a six person hot air balloon that slowely floats along at a hundred meters allowing you to see the countryside at a liesurely pace. Stop by when Im not busy late some night and I'll take you for a ride to the offshore platform where the Lindens manufacture prims! WooT!!. Or get more daring and try my Dominus Shadow convertible over the Linden roadways. It seats four, and Ive successfully made road trips across the entire old continent without the need for a reboot. ( Not that friggin often mind you) Someday I hope vehicles will be rendered more SL friendly. Until then I will hold my breath.