"STK w/Irrlicht": Racing

Hi, and welcome to another update on the Irrlicht branch of SuperTuxKart.
While screenshots of the menu is interesting, most of the time you'll probably be racing in STK 0.7. So this time I'll show you a couple of in-race screenshots.

Racing at the beach

As you can see, AI karts have been reimplemented, and work has been started on the new driveline system as well. The screenshot above is unfortunately quite skewed due to lagging; the computer I'm using isn't the best. But you get the general idea. ;)
Btw, the kart I'm driving (the closest one) is the improved version of Nolok.

"Street" burning by the lighthouse

Work is underway for different particles for different terrain. Here, the sand/grass texture shows smoke when skidding on it. It's just a proof of concept; in the end skidding here will most likely show sand or grass particles, while the smoke will be used when skidding on the road. Splash effect when driving into water is among the goodies this feature will bring.
Btw, the kart I'm driving here, is Pidgin, the replacement for Penny. Penny will probably end up as an add-on.

Another thing I want to mention, is that compiling the Irrlicht version is somewhat tricky, and driving around is currently very unstable. So if you don't plan to contribute and/or you're not comfortable with compiling on your system, it's strongly recommended to wait until things have settled more down. One of the developers compared the current development version with a building site, where the materials are slowly being put together, forming a larger and better building than the previous. Continuing the analogy: if you are going into the building site, expect some falling objects and unsafe areas. But if you have some knowledge, it can work as a safety helmet, protecting you from the worst disasters. And... um... what was I talking about again? Better get some sleep....