I think all cars should have an AWD config so that drifting on a keyboard will be easier, I would like to drift a Barstow but there is no mod or anything to make it an AWD car.
+ 1 for that Austin Powers reference To answer the initial question: It's not going to happen. BeamNG is all about realism. Cars like the Barstow and for instance the Covet usually don't come with 4WD options, so I guess the devs won't implement a 4WD system for these cars. Of course, you are free to add it yourself if you want: experience the wonderful world of modding!
The barstow is terrible for drifting by design as it has soft suspension and not alot of weight over the front axle (it's practically front-mid engined). The best drift cars are the 200BX and all the ETKs for obvious reasons.
That's pretty much the opposite of what I've found, the high end barstows with the leaf spring suspension seems the easiest and most forgiving to drift as long as you dont try to put much power in them, as for the 200BX I find it a bit unstable and the modern ETKs feel like they are trying to kill you regardless of if TC is on or not, the I series is a bit better but tends toward understeer unless you mess with the suspension yourself.
The reasoning here is kinda bad, but I actually agree, being able to convert all cars to different drive types (outside of modding) would be a very nice addition! Isn't "doing what other games won't let you" one of the selling points for the game? Something like this would add a whole new layer of customization and experimentation to the game!
Part of the problem is that the BeamNG team tends to like things to look and be accurate, so they would need to make a new channel in the body for a drive shafted which would have to be modeled, and Jbeamned for every vehicle they could do it early automotive years style and have the driveshaft just going through the center of the car with holes in the firewall and rear. but it would be even harder to do properly.
I know that it's far more complicated than adding a few lines of code, but having the option to convert cars and seeing their underside change accordingly would add a lot to the game and make BeamNG stand out even more in it's level of detail! A game this advanced really shouldn't be beaten in this aspect by SLRR from over 10 years ago...
The thing is, BeamNG is supposed to be accurate to life. Where have you ever seen someone convert an old muscle car to AWD other than Ken Block's drift mustang? Where would you even find the parts?
When have you ever seen someone take apart and drive a classic Italian supercar, like the Stripped configuration? What about driving the bare frame of a pickup truck? Just like converting inappropriate cars to AWD, they're not practical things to do and no one does it, but they're far from impossible! The way I see it, BeamNG is about realism in vehicle simulation, not player's modding decisions.
The thing is, even though nobody's taken apart a supercar or truck to the frame and driven the frame, it has to be a part of the game because these are crucial parts to the simulation of the cars and came with them from the factory. The game would not be reallistic if the frame and body weren't separate on older cars etc. However cars like the Barstow never came with AWD and adding a front differential is near impossible as there were no front diffs etc. made for these cars (or anything compatible with them), so it would be unreallistic to add one.
Well, Ken Block somehow managed it, so I don't see how it's impossible/unrealistic enough not to make it into the game. It's a fictional car in a fictional universe, that contains a bunch of fictional parts. I'm sure that it's not too much of a stretch to say that someone, somewhere in this universe once built an AWD Barstow and the player has access to the parts from it. It's not like the game doesn't contain any other completely custom, non-manufactured parts.
Ken Block's car isn't really a mustang; it's a perfectly made replica with a custom made chassis, drivetrain etc.. It has nothing in common with the stock mustang. I can't think of a single thing in the game that is hand-made and fabricated to the same extent as a front differential for a muscle car would have to be to be fair
Alrighty, no Ken Block, but I did stumble upon this thing: http://www.pro-touring.com/threads/78094-Project-Ratón-68-Charger-Hemi-6-Speed-AWD Yeah, I too really can't think of anything fabricated to THAT extent, but that still doesn't mean that it wouldn't fit somewhere into the game! Again, vehicle physics simulation, not things-that-are-commonly-seen-in-real-life simulation! Say, what right does the SBR4 have to be in the game? As far as I know, there are no real cars with such a body style and a rear-engine, so it too could be considered unrealistic.
Being able to do whatever crazy thing you want into your car WOULD be nice, but if engine swaps aren't even a feature, this is going to take a while. As to make a car AWD JUST to drift it easier? well, how about YOU GIT GUD? You can easily learn how to tune cars and drift the 200BX just fine. The drift configuration its very forgiving, and both the moonhawk and the barstow are pretty easy to drift, specially the barstow.
