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Corner approach chevrons — original Unreal circuit QA

Source-only feature. These are visible, low-profile arrow-shaped paint markings proposed for the existing Unreal Engine 5.8 circuit. They have not been visually checked in the licensed Editor, cooked and installed on Windows, or tested on an Android phone.

Feature

  • Four directional approaches from the authoritative CircuitLayout.h positions: east, north, west, south.
  • Three chevrons per approach, nominally 16m, 11m and 6m from the corresponding directional checkpoint plane.
  • Two diagonal arms per arrow (24 total pieces). The arrow points forward in the driving direction on the inside-left portion of the paved lane. Braking reference boards remain opposite on the right edge of the existing track.
  • Each visual bar is a 190 × 19 × 3 cm stock cube instance, above the asphalt top, in one non-colliding UInstancedStaticMeshComponent.
  • A light cyan material parameter is attempted, with the default cube material as fallback. Material color/rendering must be verified inside Unreal, not assumed from source alone.

These markings are an approximate visual route cue, not a racing line, official turn-in or braking point, recommended safe speed, collision shape, or evidence of a passed gate. They do not change car/rival behavior, checkpoints, recovery, physics, AI, starting eligibility, rewards or saved progress. A missing mesh or partial visual marker logs LATEBRAKE_CORNER_CHEVRONS_INCOMPLETE without blocking race startup. A complete source-side placement logs LATEBRAKE_CORNER_CHEVRONS_READY; neither log certifies rendering.

Source tests

  • Tests/Standalone/CornerApproachChevronsTests.cpp: 24 valid deterministic transforms, four gate directions, 3 × 2 per corner, sane dimensions, pavement clearance, correct 16/11/6m ordering and fail-closed invalid indices.
  • Tests/Editor/UnrealCornerApproachChevronsBindingTests.py: verifies the actual Unreal GameMode consumes the pure plan, uses a collision-disabled instance component, and reports incomplete geometry rather than manipulating race readiness.
  • GitHub source CI compiles these tests with strict C++20 on Windows, Ubuntu and macOS; Python checks never compile Unreal.

Real Unreal and device QA (not yet completed)

  1. Compile the project in genuine Unreal Engine 5.8/UHT, open the map and verify exactly 12 forward-pointing V arrows (24 arm pieces).
  2. Drive all four corners; visually check correct direction, spacing, leg joining, visibility from the player's actual driving camera, no Z-fighting, no sunk or floating markings, no curb overlap.
  3. Inspect default material and optional cyan color parameter under installed/cooked Win64 and Android rendering and different light.
  4. Confirm steering, brake boards, checkpoint acceptance, collisions, recovery, AI rival following, start-lights and rewards remain unchanged. No spurious overlap or navigation blocking.
  5. Record exact commit SHA, real engine version, hardware, startup logs, screenshots and frame-time observations.

See Windows personal playtest and playable release gate #148.