CarSim simulates the dynamic behavior of racecars, passenger cars, light trucks, and utility vehicles. CarSim animates simulated tests and outputs over 700 calculated variables to plot and analyze, or export to other software such as MATLAB, Excel, and optimization tools.

Current version: 8.02

What If?

Use CarSim to design, develop, test and plan vehicle programs. Make better decisions involving vehicle dynamics, and spend less time. Use CarSim to prove initial concepts, select components, and perform advanced analysis of existing vehicles.

Easy to Use

With CarSim’s modern graphical user interface, you can run a simulated test, see an animation, or view engineering plots of results with just one mouse click. With the CarSim Quick Start Guide you will be making new runs and seeing their results in less than an hour.

Output plots and animations are obtained with a single button click. Besides being versatile and interactive analysis tools, the graphics they produce can be easily inserted into reports and PowerPoint presentations.

The CarSim math models are parametric, involving measurable properties that are commonly used by OEM's and supplier companies. (This is in contrast to esoteric multibody descriptions used in older simulation math models.) As a result, CarSim users can usually get results for new vehicles with minimal time.

Accurate

The CarSim math models are built on decades of research in characterizing vehicles and reproducing their behavior with mathematical models. Validation testing continues as new features are added. OEM users consistently find close agreement between CarSim predictions and actual test results.

Extensible

The CarSim math models cover the complete vehicle system and its inputs from the driver, ground, and aerodynamics. The models are extensible using built-in VehicleSim commands, MATLAB/Simulink from the Mathworks (MATLAB versions 6.5.1 and newer), LabView from National Instruments, and custom programs written in Visual Basic, C, MATLAB, and other languages. Use these options to add advanced controllers or extend the detail in subsystem or component models such as tires, brakes, powertrain, etc.

Fast

CarSim combines a complete vehicle math model with high computational speed. The software development team at Mechanical Simulation uses the VehicleSim Lisp symbolic multibody program to generate the equations for the vehicle math models. Besides providing correct nonlinear equations for fairly complicated models, the machine-generated equations are highly optimized to provide fast computation.

CarSim models typically run more than ten times faster than real time on a 3 GHz PC, so you always get results quickly. CarSim easily supports real-time (RT) testing with hardware in the loop (HIL) using systems from most RT suppliers. This speed also helps with software that requires many repetitions (optimization, design-of-experiments, etc.).

Cost Effective, Stable, Reliable

CarSim has all the tools you need to predict vehicle dynamics behavior in one integrated package, with the capability of working with other software to extend its capabilities even further. It combines the accuracy and validation resulting from decades of research in vehicle dynamics with the ease-of-use associated with modern video games and Internet browsers.

CarSim includes everything needed to simulate vehicle tests and view the results, yet it is priced at a fraction of the cost of other commercial vehicle dynamics software.