How are bullets simulated in video games?

Posted by mahen23 on Game Development See other posts from Game Development or by mahen23
Published on 2011-06-14T17:58:14Z Indexed on 2012/11/03 23:20 UTC
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projectile-physics

I have been playing games like MW2 recently and, as a programmer, I tend to ask myself how do they make the game so immersive. For example, how to they simulate bullet speed.

When an NPC fires a bullet from his gun, does the bullet really travel from his gun to the given target or do they they completely ignore this part and just put a bullet hole on the target?
If the bullet is really travelling from the gun to the target, at what speed is it actually travelling?

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