Best way to animate a car driving over hills?

[louderthan11 0]

I'm trying to animate a car/van model to drive over some hill type terrain in cinema 4d. I essentially want to control the X and Z position of the car so that it starts and stops on the positions I want it to. I want the Y position (and rotation) to adjust automatically so that the car's wheels sit right on the terrain based on where it is amongst the hills. So far, I have the wheels connected to the body of the car with hinge connectors and I've tried using motors to drive those wheels. Using motors works to a point but it's near impossible to adjust the torque of the motors to increase or decrease accordingly in order to get the car to start and stop in the positions I want it to. Does this all make sense? What would be the best way to animate the car/van moving over the hills as painlessly as possible? Below is a link to my project file so you guys can see what I am trying to do. The motors in the van has torque to get it driving over the hills but I don't want to try keyframing the torque value in order to get it to stop in the right place, which would be on top of the next hill. I don't even need/want to use physics if I don't have to because ultimately I'm going for a more cartoon look. Any help is appreciated!

 

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0ByisW6OXOLfYeXVQZmh6YUtybGc

[C.Smith 0]

http://www.base80.com/index.php/2005/09/04/basecar_0_4_1_beta_1

[louderthan11 0]

Thanks Chris! I learned a lot from that rig. I appreciate the link. I ended up changing my project a little bit and building my own rig. I'm using motors to drive the car and wheel suspension connectors to steer the wheels. Its working out very well so far but I'm curious as to if anyone has any ideas for "braking" the car? Other than keyframing the torque value . . . it's tricky to get the car to stop in one place then not move. Thanks!

[vozzz 2]

i would animate the position of the body with a constraint tag along the terrain. Using the tag in clamp mode, and selecting polygon surface.

 

then attached the wheels with the suspension thing.