Modeling vehicle dynamics as a whole is a great subject, because there are so many parts where you have to explicitly decide on how much you wish to simulate. Brakes, tires, suspension, vibration transfer... On one hand you can have a simulated vehicle in 2 hours of coding, and on the other you can spend two months on tires alone.

One related story I like is how Assetto Corsa Competizione devs bumped into "weird" behavior emerging from their simulations which seemed like a bug - but then confronted with the actual manufacturers and found out that it happens in real life as well:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFxIZ-9Awj4

Highly recommended, video is titled "A traction control bug that was a realistic feature".

EDIT: And this is before you get to aerodynamics, which is a whole different can of worms. With todays GT3 cars, how you simulate the front splitter and rear diffuser can make or break the accuracy of the simulation. It's fantastic stuff. Wish I worked on this day-to-day. On the other hand I have trouble putting it down and going to bed when doing it as a hobby, so...

This was posted on the Cherokee XJ reddit recently showing the difference suspension design and tuning can make:

https://gfycat.com/wavydefensivedrake

https://old.reddit.com/r/CherokeeXJ/comments/il5uht/hey_shou...

This is really showing the difference between 5,000 in suspension upgrades and over 250,000 in suspension components.

The XJ sub is where all the people who have any experience off roading go after they've been driven off all the 4x4 subs.

Have you thought about trying to get a job with a race team?

I know multiple engineering folks in the industry and they constantly tell me about how much the culture sucks. Very cool problems, but it's very cutthroat as you would expect.

Source: live near many teams just outside of Charlotte

This sounds like an opportunity to work with a lower tier race team to build reputation. Cool thing about racing, to the limit of the rules, the sport as a whole is receptive to the advance of technology if it confers a competitive advantage.

Boy, have I!

Acting on it, though... :-)

Life seems balanced now, I get to scratch my itches, not unhappy at my current job, and I don't feel like I'm saying "no" and making excuses. A tiny step here, a tiny step there, worst case it turns out to be a pleasant stroll.

Huh, weird, the car starts moving backwards at ~2:05 very slowly without the wheels moving

Very interesting video of Brian Beckman talking through some of the differences between airplane simulators and racing (car) simulators and why tires are harder:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8GQCZgCNw8

Do you model vertical solid surfaces? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsQ7kjr8C9w

Where there's a slip (ratio) there's a way