This is one of my first in-depth research projects and it was a blast. My aim was to create an auto rig which creates all the animation by itself, this was quite successful and I do look forward to returning to this project as it has some really interesting concepts.
As seen in the video above and the screenshot below I have created this concept of automatic wheel turning which automates which way the wheels turn and by how much, based on the turn ahead of the car.
This works with two objects travelling at the same speed as the car along the spline, one in between the front wheels and one slightly ahead, I then set the turning angle of the wheels connected to the first object between the wheels and that object compares its facing angle to the further ahead object, therefore giving the wheels a difference value that can be used to accurately turn when the vehicle is travelling in any given direction.
The same concept was applied to the suspension, this is about as far as I got at the time, so I do plan on working more on this to make it realistic.
Below is a short clip showing how the setup adapts to changes so if the car needed to be brought across or the travelling distance made shorter, it would adapt correctly. The automated wheel turning function also changes accordingly.