I too hope that the covet interior is made to look like a Microsoft paint drawing in the next update. I really think the cartoony look would be good for that car, even if not entirely realistic.
Ignition is welcoming since that is a feature Rigs of Rods has if I'm correct. It would be interesting if details like vehicle chimes or needle sweep would be added in favor of that function. I'll revise the new map topic here with my own theory. I'ma speculate it to being based on New Mexico. The area would still be sunny and dry as hinted, but would generally be a flat country terrain with some hills/mountains, long straight roads, desert vegetation like cacti, sandy areas and old rustic downtowns (maybe with suburbia too). Bonus features could include a oil rigs/refineries for trucking and classified sites for exploring. Those would help differentiate from Utah which has a lot of elevation changes, twisty roads and few buildings but still feel similar in terms of theme. yeah late to the party and quite a stretch but it is a thought I had.
It would mean sound that is rendered based on the physical attributes of materials that it bounces off. It means that developers wouldn't need to record a sound for each possible scenario, they just need to emit a sound and let the environment do the rest. Think of it like ray traced lighting. All the devs need to do is put a light somewhere and the game engine and hardware does the rest, no pre-baking so everything is completely dynamic. Realtime ray tracing as a technology in my eyes is something that benefits development workflow more than the end user. Devs have gotten so good at faking realistic lighting by using tricks and hacks that swapping it out for physically accurate ray casting etc doesn't appear to have any noticeable impact to the end user. This results in the unfortunate but common belief among gamers that RT is a pointless endeavour, when in fact it makes game development much better and more consistent in the long term.
Are we getting openable doors and or windows and sunroofs for all cars? That'd be aweesome! Even just openable doors
Start at point A (the camera or the "driver's" "head") and trace a line to point B (outside the window, or above the roof). Did you hit something (like the window's glass or the roof of the car)? If you did, don't do anything special (you have windows/a roof). If you didn't, then there's a hole, so make the game's sounds sound like you can hear the outside of the car, or play a wind sound, etc.
Probably my brain being stupid but that looks different slightly than the Small Island we currently have.
Thats what I figured, kinda thought the mountain seemed a little flatter. --- Post updated --- The Gen 2 Kashira mod.