After three years of development, Rigs of Rods 2026.02 has been released, offering a realistic simulator of various types of transport including cars, ships, airplanes, helicopters, and trains. The project utilizes the OGRE graphics engine and its own deformable body physics engine to accurately simulate vehicle movement, damage, and deformation. Written in C++, the code is distributed under the GPLv3 license. The release was announced on the Rigs of Rods forum.
Initially developed as a research project by Pierre Michel-Ricordel focusing on soft body physics, Rigs of Rods garnered community interest leading to the creation of thousands of different maps and vehicles for the simulator. Users are provided with a realistic environment that allows complete freedom of action, with the ability to choose from different maps and types of transport. The simulator offers a realistic and detailed model of movement and damage, including the simulation of complete destruction.
The new version of Rigs of Rods includes several changes:
- Support for custom panels, allowing users to download panels from the repository and select them in the configurator without manual file editing. Additionally, the ability to use custom fonts and alternative layouts in panels has been added.
- Added support for stand-alone tools (gadgets) created using scripts and downloaded from the repository, which can be accessed through the top menu.
- Added support for external assetpacks for modding.
- Introduced a new “addonpart” package for vehicle customization, enabling automatic fitting of nodes.
- A new “Tuning” item has been added to the top menu, featuring a comprehensive tuning editor for creating custom machine configurations, adding/removing individual components from the “addonparts” collection, and making manual changes.
- Updated the interface with vehicle information, consolidating disparate panels into one tab-based panel that displays all vehicle data and characteristics.