The handling meta files are all XML now, in more or less plain English, and very well documented by the modding community.
I run an GTA:V multiplayer RPG server using FiveM[0] and the community around vehicle mods is really incredible. 3D modelers produce all kinds of real-world vehicles for GTA:V from Nissan GTR’s up to hyper-accurate law enforcement Dodge Chargers[1] with accurate Whelen lights, Setina bull bars, etc.
[0] https://fivem.net/ [1] https://redneckmods.com/product?id=3fbaf24e-7775-432e-87e1-f...
I used to jump into the fire engine, get on the wrong side of the road on a freeway and activate the slow motion before driving head on into the traffic. Their was something mesmerising about smashing your way through the cars and seeing them lift off into the air and fly into the buildings on either side of the freeway.
Eventually the police would show up but what could they do against a fire engine that was as dense as a sky scraper!
Another fun thing I now remember was to turn the dampening on the Taxi’s suspension to a positive value, so if you even gave them the smallest possible knock they would gradually start to wobble like a jelly and then start bouncing and bouncing until they were leaping up higher than buildings.
Really couldn’t believe my luck when I found something so obvious (I still felt like I had mad hacker skills)
It was Kuruma, in Japanese it means just a "car".
Weapon damage was also controllable. I accidentally discovered a hack I used in the multiplayer (MTA mod) that made me receive 0 damage from non-projectile weapons.
We turned the Karuma into a physics defying monster. It was 1000x heavier than the tank, so as you drove down the road other cars just bounced off and flew over the horizon, or exploded on impact.
Yet it still did 0-100 in 0.1 seconds and could drive up walls.
One time we jumped it from the third island, over the middle island and landed on a skyscraper roof on the 1st island.
From there we spent about an hour dropping grenades on police cars and the army who had no way to reach us up there.
Fun times. Shame Twitch or YouTube didn’t exist back then to tell anyone about it!