The Lotus 72D was one of the standout Formula One cars of the early 1970s. Driven most famously by Emerson Fittipaldi during Team Lotus’s 1972 championship season, it looked lower, sharper, and more modern than many of its rivals. Its wedge-shaped body, side-mounted radiators, inboard brakes, and compact layout were aimed at improving airflow, balance, and packaging. It was powered by a 3.0-litre Ford Cosworth DFV V8, producing around 420 bhp at about 10,000 rpm, and weighed roughly 550 kg. On track, the 72D was light, responsive, aerodynamically efficient for its era, and demanding at the limit. It rewards smooth, precise driving and gives little tolerance for rough inputs. Its design helped set the template for the next generation of Formula One cars. Credits: Project Cars 2 for the model and sound Note: Keyboard control is not recommended. This car relies on smooth and precise brake, throttle, and steering inputs, and keyboard driving gives very little modulation or feel. What changed? This patch revisits and improves several areas of the Lotus 72D, with the main focus being drivability and fixing some issues from the previous version. Changes include: - Revisited the tires, with help from Track Boseff - Fixed an issue where both mirrors would break when only the right mirror was damaged - Corrected the overly front-biased brake balance - Added my clutch-type differential tuning - Revisited the gearing - Revisited the engine behavior - Revisited the aero behavior - Revisited the base configurations, mainly suspension and aero - Reduced FFB strength - Made various smaller fixes and adjustments The brake balance issue was a mistake on my end. I thought that caliper node location affected brakeTorque like a leverage arm, but it does not. What I did not add: I did not add a dedicated easy-driving configuration. After the changes in this patch, the car is already more stable, more realistic, and easier to push without needing a separate simplified setup. Patch 2: - Added the option to add driver weight ballast - Revisited the aero (more rear biased) - Fixed the sound samples being flipped - Removed redundant engine sounds - Small adjustments to the tires
From the same person who made the early 70s Porsche mod, so I'd be willing to say it's safe. I'm overwhelmed with joy to try this thing out
It looks fantastic, but i refuse to believe it was this hard to drive (feel free to prove me wrong). A microscopicly wrong input and it goes sideways, making small cornering corrections is almost impossible and the difference from 40 to 50 in throttle input make so much difference it's not even funny, just frustrating. If you could make a config that is more drivable it would be awesome, because as it is i don't think many people can appreciate it.
Fair feedback, I can imagine it's too demanding for a lot of beam players, but it's a vintage f1 car after all and still mostly relies on mechanical grip (groundeffect only came in the late 70s). I might add a more forgiving config in the future
In all honesty, the unforgiving config made me learn how to use the throttle. Great and awesome mod nevertheless
IDK why people think it would be anything other than a deathtrap, F1 was killing a few people a year in the 60s and 70s!
hmm okay so I will admit it feels like the car is having trouble keeping on the road surface considering I can't bring the car to full throttle until ive already cleared T1 of Interlagos, and the fact the brakes also seem to be either disturbingly unbalanced, or just hateful of the idea of keeping grip. otherwise great mod! But I agree now that this car feels a bit much even for an old F1 car.
I think part of the issue is that the car is being overdriven. The 72D is not meant to behave like a modern high-downforce car and it will punish abrupt throttle, brake or steering inputs. That said, the base setup probably is not perfect for everyone either. More aero, softer suspension, lower brake pressure, or a different brake bias can make it easier to manage, all of that can be adjusted to your liking in the tuning menu. The Lotus 78 I’m working on now should feel much more planted by comparison
Much better to drive. Still difficult but this time it is truly just a skill issue on my part. Cannot wait to see the other mods you mentioned in your Porsche thread! Fantastic stuff
least controllable 400 horsepower ever. god forbid you even looked at the throttle at any speed under 120mph. hope this patch fixes the baked-in difficulty
