# XNA - 2D Rotation of an object to a selected direction

I'm trying to figure out the best way of rotating an object towards the directional input of the user. I'm attempting to mimic making turns on ice skates.

For instance, if the player is moving right and the input is down and left, the player should start rotating to the right a set amount each tick. I'll calculate a new vector based on current velocity and rotation and apply that to the current velocity. That should give me nice arcing turns, correct?

At the moment I've got eight if/else statements for each key combination which in turn check the current rotation:

// Rotate to 225
if (keyboardState.IsKeyDown(Keys.Up) && keyboardState.IsKeyDown(Keys.Left))
{
// Rotate right
if (rotation >= 45 || rotation < 225)
{
rotation += ROTATION_PER_TICK;
}
// Rotate left
else if (rotation < 45 || rotation > 225)
{
rotation -= ROTATION_PER_TICK;
}
}


This seems like a sloppy way to do this and eventually, I'll need to do this check about 10 times a tick. Any help toward a more efficient solution is appreciated.

Vector2 Forward = Vector2.Zero;

if (keyboardState.IsKeyDown(Keys.Up)) Forward+= Vector2.UnitY;
if (keyboardState.IsKeyDown(Keys.Down)) Forward-= Vector2.UnitY;
if (keyboardState.IsKeyDown(Keys.Left)) Forward-= Vector2.UnitX;
if (keyboardState.IsKeyDown(Keys.Right)) Forward+= Vector2.UnitX;

if (forward != Vector2.Zero)
{
PlayerForward = Vector2.Lerp(PlayerVelocity, Forward, RotationSpeed);
PlayerForward.Normalize();

PlayerPosition += PlayerForward * Speed;
}


This can do the trick, though if angle between forward and playerForward is 180º, it won't turn

If you need the angle... you can use this:

 rotation = Math.Atan2(PlayerForward.Y, PlayerForward.X);