Update Speculation thread

So, I've decided to make a list of where each car would be in career mode, and how far you could take each into career mode. These are approximations based on vehicle performance and current official content - this is where I think each vehicle would be strongest. This list is also meant to gauge where BeamNG's vehicle roster is fine, and where more vehicles are needed.

I was judging these vehicles on how far they can get into career mode from their "starting position".

This list also assumes that selectable careers will be made available, that used trims will not be available in career mode, and that the player starts off with $5,000 in career mode. This is why the I-Series, despite being very fast and competitive in a lot of venues, isn't a full-game car - it currently starts off too high for a regular player.

Full-Game Vehicles:
*D-Series
*Roamer
*'88 Pessima
*Hopper

Early-Game Vehicles:
*Pigeon

Early-Mid-Game Vehicles:
*LeGran
*'96 Pessima
*Covet
*H-Series
*Miramar

Early-Late/End-Game Vehicles:
*Autobello
*Moonhawk
*Grand Marshal
*I-Series
*200BX

Mid-Late/End-Game Vehicles:
*Barstow
*Bluebuck
*Vivace
*Sunburst
*T-Series
*Wentward

Late-End-Game Vehicles
*800 Series
*SBR4

End-Game/Reward Vehicles:
*Bolide
*K-Series

???
*Burnside

For those wondering why I put the Burnside outside of the main list: The Burnside isn't cheap enough for a starter player, fast enough for the mid-game, or impressive enough as an end-game reward car. I don't know who would use it for career mode, outside of maybe drag racing. (Even then, the Moonhawk's faster, the Grand Marshal's cheaper and more stable, and the Barstow and Bluebuck aren't that much slower).

Overall, it's a...fairly strong list for only 26 cars. You could make a game off of this, and it could be a good one, but the high-end vehicles really suffer. With only four "high-end" cars in the game (K/800, SBR, Bolide), there's...likely not much incentive to complete career mode. The average player will start off with a Pessima/D-Series/Roamer/Hopper, and likely end with a Pessima/D-Series/Roamer/Hopper. Or maybe a Vivace/I-Series/Sunburst/Grand Marshal.

Thoughts?

 

I suspect that cars in career mode will be all over the place cost and performance-wise thanks to the various conditions they will be in. You could very well find a Barstow or a Bluebuck in a scrap yard with no wheels and no engine for cheap and keep working on it while you drive other cars like your "Full-game" car, but you won't ever find these cars new. Plus a beater Covet is only $200 more than a pigeon, so that would be more of a meaningful decision on part of the player. "Do I want utility or performance early?". Players might constantly have to shop at a scrapyard or buy new. Immediately buying a D-series truck would be ideal since you can make all the money back and some very quickly. I would rule out Pigeons entirely unless you are doing a specific event or fuel-conscious. you also could use it to haul parts, but the D-series would be better, that and a trailer. (Caravan as a place to sleep?). If "A Rocky Start" is to be taken as a prologue to the career mode, then it would seem to be based on various disciplines with a focus on racing. Events such as "Classic Vehicle Shows" would be a good place for the Burnside to shine or even be a reward car. If you are doing jobs for a company or a service, they might supply you with a work vehicle that you use instead of your own. I would also say that the Vivace would be closer to an "End-Game" car since it is a brand new car and is good all around. Special editions of cars would also be good reward cars.

 

I agree, hence why I put this disclaimer:

This list was only being examined under a specific scenario and a specific format for career mode (or multiple career modes). I did not intend on this being solid, more of a rough guideline.

True, and this is why I put the Covet in the early-to-mid-game class. I was judging these vehicles on how far they can get into career mode from their "starting position". The Covet works great in early-game sprint races and mid-game circuit races, but it lacks the performance against the modern cars and fully-upgraded mid-game vehicles. The Pigeon is relegated to early-game meter-maid and dockyard duty due to its absolute lack of performance.

It's highly likely a player will get a D-Series immediately, as well, judging by the Rocky Start campaign. It's a good vehicle to start with, and with it being highly customizable, I imagine almost everyone will have at least one in career mode.

I wouldn't quite rule it out that quickly. Because the Pigeon is so reliable, cheap to buy, and cheap to run, it would be a good vehicle for rescuing a player from the brink of bankruptcy (along with the Covet and LeGran). If a player wrecks their Pessima and D-Series doing races and/or loses their money in bets/repairs/medical bills(?), they still can buy a truck for deliveries that can help them back up the ranks.

True, but I still think the other classics are better at this. You can stick hydraulics on the Bluebuck and make it dance; the Miramar's got that '60s Japanese quirkiness and right-hand-drive; the Piccolina's highly customizable; and the Barstow and the Moonhawk are...well, muscle cars. All these cars start off much cheaper than the Burnside, and would likely be more common in career mode, too. These five cars would also be easier to restore, as parts for them would be more common and/or cheaper than equivalent Burnside pieces.

As a reward car, well...the Burnside's a pricier, smaller Bluebuck with no hydraulics and not many parts. It's not exactly something that I'd call "worthwhile" to work for when I could get a Bluebuck instead and have a similar driving experience with twice the customization and a better-performing vehicle.

Is there something that the Burnside offers over the Bluebuck (other than its leadsled body) that you think would make it worth buying for the price of some prebuilt race/rally cars?

This is a fair point, and why I said that the list was meant as more of a guideline. EruptionTyphlosion mentioned this (and goes into more detail than I did) in his gameplay thread:

Obviously, my "progression list" goes out the window with police or stuntman missions/careers, but in delivery missions, it still applies.

Hence why I said that it was a mid-to-late/end-game car. It works great for late-game races, but it's cheap enough to use in mid-game circuit races and police missions that I didn't put it with the 800-Series/SBR4.

That's a fair point; cars like the Bluebuck Drag, I-Series Track, Vivace Hillclimb, or Barstow TrackSport would work nicely as reward vehicles if there is nothing else suitable.

 

Speaking of career mode, I do wonder if BeamNG is gonna get more popular once that's out, since there is a very specific group of people that maybe aren't too keen to play since there's no storyline and get bored easily or are fans of games such as SLRR. Also, I do think the current vehicle roster is kinda lacking in some places and I expect some vehicles to be underused/underrated.

 

Uuuuh… yeah... I just don't think the Moonhawk could really be classified as that, but certainly cheaper low end (Malaise) luxury

Well some of us like these stodgy and reliable K.T Keller cars, but I do think it could do with a gutless (but torquey) flathead V8 and a much more modern and economical OHV 6. But overall I find it to be an excellent long distance car with some small suspension work and that i'd be very happy to spent my hard earned cash on

 

if the only cars you wanted in game are offroadable, fast, or good for carrying loads, then where does that leave trims like the lowriders, or premium trims of the roamer, 800, grand marshal, etc.? i'd imagine they would probably have some A to B missions that don't require a fast or heavy-duty vehicle, to allow people to drive those cars (and maybe even GTA SA style lowrider missions?)

 

I would imagine some cars would be just there as collection filler, similar to how you have weird vehicles in Forza and Gran Turismo that are kind of useless but nice to have. Maybe some cars could have special achievements attached to them, to encourage people to use those vehicles.

Monthly challenges would be nice. maybe either you can unlock a badge on your BeamNG profile or unlock special licence plate designs.

 

yeah, that was said when we were still wondering what the I5 noises were in diamondback's ESC videos. I don't really see why they would delay it any more (bar technical difficulties with LUA for unique functions)

I'm not sure where your getting the ideas for which vehicles they're going to remaster/add from.
the bolide shown in the industrial demo video has visible alterations, meaning it's likely quite far on in development, as is the superpig, meaning we may get one (or both?) in a hotfix down the line. I could also see them holding back the bolide to be released with the wendover, for an 80's themed update. (wendover by civetta anyone?)
they also prioritise cars lacking in JBeam detail for remasters, which, after the bolide, the pigeon is probably the worst. (though based on its appeal, I understand your mention of the moonhawk.)

 

Hopefully we still will have the ability to reset our car in career mode. Because I know how easy it is to destroy your car (hit a curb and bye bye steering). maybe be able to disable it to make the game extremely frustrating and challenging if you like.

 

I've been considering how balance would work.
I'd say something like this, with the numbers indicating difficulty (multiple could be combined per difficulty level):

1-once you complete one stage of a mission, your car is completely reset at the start of the next section.

2- damage is saved between stages in a mission, but if you crash, for example in the second stage, you can still restart the stage and go back to how much damage you had at the start of that stage. once you complete or exit the mission, your car is still reset for free.

3- repairing at the end of a mission, or in a garage/repair shop is optional, and you have to pay for repairs (though much cheaper at this stage) cars that are purchased damaged also retain damage until you pay to repair them.

4- repairs are more expensive, to repair your car you must either drive back to a garage/repair shop, or pay to get it towed.

5- SLRR style, and repair costs are closer to reality. you can only reset to the very start of a mission.

Hardcore- repair costs are realistic. you cannot restart missions at all.

 

Nice to get a look at the widebody, geez is she pretty

 

What a time to be around.

 

I'm probably not the first person to mention this, but I feel like there could eventually be big things coming to the industrial map. The barricaded roads that lead off the map don't go very far, however the map itself and driveable terrain seems to go on forever. There's even trees placed far out of the actual render distance. Optimization and performance wise, a combo of all the maps would be a nightmare, but I feel that a MASSIVE map expansion is possible, albeit unlikely. This is just the first map I've seen that has terrain go this far out, for seemingly no reason.

 

Perhaps Career Mode related ?

 

The backdrop mesh is not actually part of the terrain, yes it's solid and can be driven on but it's purely meant to give the illusion that the map is larger than it really is (a game development trick dating back decades). Derby Arenas has a very similar backdrop, as it's also set in Texas, and the Utah canyons stretch on for quite some distance.

 

Yeah, I've always wondered how they would implement career mode without it feeling super broken up with loading screens. Having seamless transitions between maps (or even better yet, combining maps into a few larger maps) would make the game feel a lot more story oriented, as opposed to a big series of minigames.
--- Post updated ---

Yeah, I understand that, I was mainly focusing on just how far it extends. Most of the other maps go on for a while, but drop off within a few miles. On industrial, it goes way beyond render distance. It's honestly probably nothing of any significance, but I thought I'd bring it up

 

Something like Nfs prostreet repair markers can be a cool addition as well,i think

 

Long post therefore marked as spoiler:

Spoiler

We currently have a lot of different cars in beamng, however some, I feel, are still missing... I took a look at what we have, to determine what we're still lacking.

Right no we have 26 different cars in the game.(if we count the wendover which is probably in the next update) Of these 26, 9 are sedans, 9 coupes (three of those pure sports cars, I counted the bluebuck as both a sedan and a coupe), 2 hatchbacks, 2 pickup trucks (if you count the pigeon as a pickup) and on of each wagon, van, offroader, SUV, semi.

I devised three ways to determine which decade the available cars are coming from...
How many years cars were in production for each decade (counting the first but not the last year of production, production probably didn't start with 1.1. and ended with 31.12.. The wendovers production runs for five years in the 80s as we don't have official information):

1. 80s - 48
2. 90s - 42
3. 10s - 18
4. 70s - 17
5. 60s - 12
6. 50s - 5
7. 00s - 3
8. 20s - 1

Next are how many cars begun their production for each century:

1. 80s - 10
2. 90s - 5
3. 60s - 3
4. 50s, 70s, 10s - 2
5. 00s, 20s - 1

And lastly in which Century the middle of a production run was (don't hold me accountable for the real world value of this data, I just thought it would be interesting):

1. 80s - 8
2. 90s - 7
3. 60s, 10s - 3
4. 70s - 2
5. 50s, 20s - 1
6. 00s - 0

If we combine the data, and calculate the percentages, we get following distribution. Again I don't claim this to be a perfect representation, but it gets close enough:

1. 80s - 35%
2. 90s - 29,5%
3. 10s - 10,6%
4. 70s - 9,7%
5. 60s - 8,3%
6. 50s - 3,7%
7. 00s - 1,8%
8. 20s - 1,4%

Before anyone points if out, the 20s are obviously misrepresented as it has barely been a year instead of a decade... But what we can see, is that most of the cars 65% are from the 80s and 90s, and the 00s are fairly lacking, with only one car starting production at the end of the decade. We also have no pre 50s car, while I'd love a american hotrod, many people think a prewar car won't fit the gameplay, or shouldn't take priority over other missing car types.

And then there is the question of car origin, we currently have 11 distinct car brands in the game four european producing six different cars, five american with 12 models, and only two asian sharing a whopping nine cars...
I feel like we still need more car brands, in real life, Korea is the fourth biggest car manufacturer with China following on fith place. A new brand from these countries could allow for more interesting cars. We also can't forget other countries which are not the biggest shareholders today, but either have unique and notable car types of we're important historically. Examples of these would include: GB probably with a luxury barge or a light sports car or even the games first roadster, Australia known for UTEs based on american cars (moonhawk based UTE pleese), Sweden land of the Wagons (we of course have the 800 however to me the 800 is a wagon version of a sedan)(also Jargl sounds kinda weird), the former WTO with either a Russian engineeted shitbox, a unpractical luxury car based on 40s tech for those who are more equal or even just a version of the Piccolina with an engine tuned for 60 fuel and barebones interior....

Lastly a list of what car types I think would be great addition to diversify beamng, in no particular order:

• A midsize pickup truck of any decade, possibly Korean
• A american muscle car of the 80s to 20s, I'd love a modern Moonhawk, however even a European muscle car like a Opel Manta would work with a nice twist
• A full-sized pickup truck to compete with the D-Series, either a modern Bruckell one, or maybe even a pre 60s version of the D-Series
• A modern full-size Sedan: ETK or maybe a Grand Marshal successor
• Modern Subcompact, a Piccolina or even from a new asian brand (Kei car?)
• Euro style van, possibly sharing parts with a Unimog Style vehicle
• A euro style cabover to compete with the T-Series, if beamng ever had longer haul missions
• The beforementioned Unimog Like commercial, Offroader Offroading is a big part of Beamng why not offer a new vehicle for the task
• A new supercar, everyone 13 and down would love it, at least they keep asking, I know supercars aren't usable for many different roles, but it could have a racing variant by the manufacturer
• A 70s american compact car, I was thinking of the gremlin, but I suppose we already have a lot of sporty compact cars
• Of course a prewar car, it could be anything, early pickup, European roadster, factory hotrod, make my wildest dreams come true
• A Wagon, swedish of course, no comment needed
• A new SUV/CUV, we have the Roamer and the Tograc, but it would be awesome if the D-Series Bronco thing(I forgot the name) would get it's own slot, other than that maybe a modern full-size CUV like the ETK 1300 mod, heck just pay the author to put it in the game and make a few new configs for it...

That concludes my thoughts on the matter... What we already have is awesome, but we have no real 2000s cars and some types like a modern muscle car or pre 90s wagon are just missing from the game.
Thanks if you read my rambling, have a great day!

 

Just needed to quote this because it's perfect and I also think about it....
Devs, please, read it⬆️