I dunno what is happening here. No matter what technique I use to move my physics car forward (either applying torque to the wheels or a central force to the main hull) its tires lag behind and then suddenly catch up, creating a freaky visual effect. Also if the car tips over the tires stay aligned with their anchor points, but touching the ground. Here's the physics activation code:

function pimp_my_ride()
{
me = ptr_for_name("carro");
phent_settype(me, ph_rigid, ph_poly);
phent_setmass(me, 10, ph_poly);
phent_setfriction(me,50);
phent_setdamping (me, 10, 10);
phent_setelasticity(me,5,200);
phent_setgroup(me, 6);
me.enable_friction=on;
while (wheels < 4)
{
wheels += 1;
if (wheels == 1) {you = ptr_for_name("pneutd");}
if (wheels == 2) {you = ptr_for_name("pneute");}
if (wheels == 3) {you = ptr_for_name("pneufd");}
if (wheels == 4) {you = ptr_for_name("pneufe");}
phent_settype(you,ph_rigid,ph_sphere);
phent_setmass(you,1,ph_sphere);
phent_setfriction(you,90);
phent_setdamping (you, 10, 10);
phent_setelasticity(you,30,200);
phent_setgroup(you, 6);
if (wheels == 1) {
td = phcon_add(ph_wheel, me ,you);
phcon_setparams1(td, you.x, vector(0,0,10), vector(10,0,0));
phcon_setparams2(td, vector(0,0,0), nullvector, vector(100000,0,0));
}
if (wheels == 2) {
te = phcon_add(ph_wheel, me ,you);
phcon_setparams1(te, you.x, vector(0,0,10), vector(10,0,0));
phcon_setparams2(te, vector(0,0,0), nullvector, vector(100000,0,0));
}
if (wheels == 3) {
fd = phcon_add(ph_wheel, me ,you);
phcon_setparams1(fd, you.x, vector(0,0,10), vector(10,0,0));
phcon_setparams2(fd, vector(0,0,0), nullvector, vector(100000,0,0));
}
if (wheels == 4) {
fe = phcon_add(ph_wheel, me ,you);
phcon_setparams1(fe, you.x, vector(0,0,10), vector(10,0,0));
phcon_setparams2(fe, vector(0,0,0), nullvector, vector(100000,0,0));
}
}
}

I've tweaked it's values no end and still cannot get it to work. Nothing in the forum seems to quite resemble the problems I'm having here. Any help would be higly appreciatted.

*Looking Desperate*

For debugging purposes move the whole car up into the sky and set gravity to 0. When accelerating the car should spin with all wheels attached.
Next add a small amount of gravity and see if the car falls properly and whether you can drive it.

Just tried zero gravity... The car spins but the wheels stay put. Bummer. When I add a small ammount of gravity the car falls alone until it hits the ground, then the wheels catch up. Where did I go wrong ?

Just figured it out. I created a do-nothing loop-and-wait action and associated it to each of my wheels. Now they refresh at every physics frame instead of only on collision (THAT was the problem). Thanks for your time Marco.

For those who wonder what I mean by do-nothing-loop-and-wait:

action be_a_wheel()
{
while(1)
{
wait(1);
}
}

That does not sound right. Are you saying that by adding this empty action to all the wheels they work and without it they are stuck ?

Exactly. The wheels are now fully operational and they had not been without actions attached to them.
The problem was first present with my original 6.1 version and I upgraded first to 6.3 then 6.4 trying to address it; the "action" fix never occurred to me prior to yesterday (during the tests you suggested, thanks for the change in perspective, BTW).

loving the action title: be_a_wheel LOL!