Handbrake and 4WD in Rally Trophy

As we all know Rally Trophy doesn't have a center differential, so the 4wd is far from perfect. I have chosen to make WRCars as good as possible in this game and therefore I have given them the kind of 4WD that's available.

The totally stiff center differential keeps the total speed of the front and rear wheels the same. By "total" I mean the speed the left front and right front has together as there are a differential between them. It's the same in the rear.

The differentials in front and rear makes it possible for the left and right side to rotate at different speeds as required in a real car to make it turn well. A 4WD system also needs a difference in speed in front and rear as the front wheels has a longer way through the corners than the rear (as long as the car isn't sliding, but we keep that out of the equation for now...) So in the game the front wheels are generally rotating too slow (when turning) causing the car to under steer, which you can feel in every corner.

The handbrake only affects the rear wheels, but as the front and rear wheels are forced to have the same speed in this kind of 4WD the front is affected too. But the braking force is only at the rear so the front can still rotate if the left and right are rotating in different directions. So the rear is locked and the front is behaving as if you got a rock in your gearbox! Not perfect, but unfortunately it doesn't get any better in this game. Although it does make it possible for one of the front wheels to have the same grip as it would have with a center differential, making it possible to control the car to some degree.

Why the wheels may not always lock up when using the handbrake is because I have chosen to have a weaker handbrake than foot brake. If I make the handbrake strong enough to lock the wheels in practically any situation you could use it as replacement for the foot brake in high speeds to stop the car quicker, which would be cheating! And even worse - unrealistic!