How would you guys approach modeling a car with damage states?

MeshMagnet

I was wondering if anybody here has worked on a racing/destruction derby type game?

How do you generally approach the damage states of the vehicle?
A bunch of separate pieces with separate textures that apply to those pieces?

Obscura

Maybe the best method would be to simply use an intact model, and deform it with real time physics. Many games use this. The another option is to model a few damaged states, but individual textures for the different damage states is not required. "Decals" or simply a new layer of damage texture can work well.

tharle

one method i've seen used is just a simple skinned rig. if you put a bone in the centre of a panel and then skin some verts to it more than others when it moves you get that crinkled deformed metal look. takes some time to tweak it to get it right but it means you can smoothly transition from small amounts of damage to totally battered.

blend shapes/morph targets would be another solution if your engine supports it.