ETK 2400i

6- speed manual from the factory just wasn't a thing back in the 80s. The homologation cars and the Knallhart use race transmission. The 5-speed's 1st gear doesn't have the same ratio as the reverse gear, the 1st is 3.72, the reverse is 3.45.

 

Pretty sure nothing in Beam is entirely based on IRL lore, its whatever they decide the lore is. So in BeamNG lore, there was indeed factory 6 manuals in the 80s

 

There've been (very limited) production cars with six-speed manuals as far back as the 1960s IRL, with the original Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale (18 produced). 6-speeds started becoming more common in cars in the early-1990s, with cars like the BMW 8-Series (1990), Ferrari 456 (1992), and Toyota Supra Mk4 Turbo (1993). So, it's entirely possible for a racing homologation version of a car built in the late-1980s (like the I-Series Evo) to receive a 6-speed manual.

 

And more importantly, a 6-speed transmission swapped in would have a different shift pattern, even if the shifter itself looked the same outwardly.

 

The I-Series need a refresh, as it is illegal in the US, the market it was intended for. Since the early 80s, side marker lights were mandatory. Either separate lights that can be used as turn signal repeaters (in the EU style), or with flush headlights, where the turn signal would light with the meeting beam (like the Grand Marshal, or even the Ford Taurus that was the first to have flush headlights).
As we can see, the I-Series currently have none of these solutions.

 

Does anyone else think that the naming convention of this car is weird? The model name is called the I-series, yet there's trim levels that don't have an "i" at the end at them, such as the 2400. So is the car model the "i" or does the "i" denote fuel injection? This naming convention would only work is this was the only car ETK was making from 1985-1993, which would be incredibly restrictive in terms of lore.

 

I think the "i" is meant to mean "injection". The description in the official documentation says "USDM variant of a German executive sedan, with facelift variants from 1990. Powered by fuel injected 2.4L and 3.0L I6 engines, turbocharged on sport trims."
However, "i" is the high-end luxe package, and all models have F-I, even without the "i". I think it should be added to the list of things that need to be reviewed in the car's refresh.

 

That’s my point, it doesn’t make any sense unless the I-Series was the only car that ETK produced during that time, and even then it wouldn’t make sense since it would be referred to by its model code (e.g. Mercedes-Benz W124).

 

To be fair, this was the only ETK at the time of its conception in 2012/2013, so, I reckon Gabester probably just called it whatever came to his mind first (mixing Mercedes-style lettering (E-Class, C-Class, S-Class) with BMW's "-Series" designations (3-Series, 5-Series, 7-Series). The 800/K came much later, in 2016.

But yeah, wouldn't mind seeing this get renamed at some point, or at least, its trim structure changed. I think that the base-trims could be the "2400i", while the 2.4L ones with the chin spoiler and RWD could be the "2400is" (and the RWD 3.0L versions, the "3000is", for consistency).

 

Also, it would be nice to have alternative smaller bumpers for European-specs models