I've been digging into the ETK I-Series. Quite frankly I've noticed something particularly interesting. Let me start by comparing what the I-Series appears to be based on. I-Series and I-Series Racecar Mercedes 190E & 190E Evolution II Mercedes 190E Evolution II Racecar (^ Now tell me this doesn't bias your attention ^) BMW E30 My friend also pointed out that to them as someone who is only familiar with BMWs the front lights and such remind them of Subaru so I took a look at a completely random 1990s Subaru, *Shrugs* Anyway now to the point. The core topic. Suspension Here is the rear suspension from an E36, perhaps a bit more modern. 190E Mercedes Rear Suspension (I believe this is correct, looked into it I guess it's a sophisticated muli-link) Last but not least the E30's Trailing Arm Suspension. Here is the I-Series Rear Suspension... look familiar? They decided to drastically limit this thing by taking ques from the E30.. Between this and the potentially lack luster chassis rigidity has the taste for older Germen RWD platforms from the devs.. unfortunately lacking. Furthermore the 190E Evolution II Racecar engine was an insane 2.5L 10 000RPM N/A Inline 4 from Cosworth which allegedly makes around 368-395hp depending on your source. This engine is so insane it needed to be rebuilt and maintained for the racetrack frequently. Plus the Racecar weighs around 1000kg which is far lighter then the Racecar in BeamNG. (The least of my complaints) But even at the street car level this rear suspension is the biggest limiting factor here which is a darn shame. We don't have any mid-late 1990s or early 2000s Germen stuff, had this platform of had a better rear-end it could suffice with engine swaps, perhaps with a floppier chassis then desired. Instead this combined with less then completely amazing sports tires in beam leaves a giant gap in the car list that quite frankly is disappointing for good RWD platforms. Are you disappointed in the I-Series? - And to anyone wondering about that one E36 mod kickin' around... " It uses the I-Series suspension, plus the camber readout on the debug app is broken, which is a shame.
It's a darn shame our pre-2006 Purpose Built (Non-Transverse Mounted Hacky Setups) Front Engine RWD (Cars) consists of.. Burnside Bluebuck Mirmar Barstow Moonhawk I-Series 200BX Grand Marshal So unless I'm forgetting something... The 200BX is fast for it's power and has impressive performance at a lower power output. But struggles hard above 160hp and hits pretty near an absolute limit at 220hp (Sport tires) The I-Series is flimsy, sluggish, heavier and has that limited rear end, which struggles beyond about 230hp Had it of been slightly stiffer, and given that multi-link suspension perhaps it could of accomplished more. We don't really have RWD platforms that are older which can handle between 240-276hp more easily on sport tires. This is why I'm so disappointed. Yes I am aware the tires also play a part in these issues. - Tires Another issue is due to the lack of tire thermals. You can build insane FWD and AWD builds that don't suffer from tire heat soak which infinitely grip better then RWD counterparts and don't run into premature tire heat/ware. Causing RWD to be perhaps a bit of a step behind in BeamNG. - Yes I know we also don't have platforms such as 90s-00s Muscle like a Corvette, Camaro, Pontiac MR2 (Mid-Engine I know, I'm not ignoring our new MRCovet it's unique, kind of Renualt Clio I4 late 1980s early 1990s bizzaroland concept) RX7 / Supra / Skyline(RWD Or AWD) French or Euro FWD 90s-00s Or that Mid 90s-00s German RWD or even FWD We have no roadsters MR2 (Again) Miata Lotus BMW Not even something vintage/retro British On that note 1970s-1980s (Early-Mid 80s not late 80s) Euro boxes are missing. But we were just so close to having a car that might of stood half a chance of being decent at handling some power for RWD Germany pre 2000.
The main thing I'd noticed about the I-series in terms of factory configs is that it's very, very oversteery for an "everyday" type of car, but also sublimely controllable in both RWD and AWD forms. A 3000i/x or 2400ti/x will flatter any driver, even if the absolute maximum grip of standard-tire versions is below 0.8g. Is that a result of this suspension?
Depends on the version you select to drive.. some of the very low end versions with low hp.. actually have lift-off oversteer that can be used to leave people in the dust, even with no modifications from the BeamNG default. But I very much think this car is heavily limited by it's rear suspension system. The geometry causes the wheelbase to shift in length based on compression and expansion in the rear. This means the car's wheelbase will shorten upon rear compression... In turn making the car's radius tighter if throttle is applied while oversteering in some conditions. This means the car is more dramatic and you'll have a car that understeers a lot and then oversteers a lot. It's worth noting the 200BX also didn't get rear multi-link and instead got double wishbone which generates insane camber upon compression that can hit 7-9deg on an outside rear tire, thus losing grip.. and snapping the car aggressively when the grip is regained. (The Nissan S13 ect chassis got Multi-Link rear.. hence why I bring it up)
I mean I see your point but not every car needs to have multi link because not every car irl has it even among modern cars, and it would make no sense to exist as a swap because irl swapping a multi link on a car would be so much work that is probably not worth it
Idk if you noticed. But we also don't have any vintage multi-link cars in BeamNG. These are two examples of cars where the basis of them comes from cars that do have Multi-Link rear. I wouldn't bring it up if the cars they are heavily based after both cop out and don't give us Multi-Link here in BeamNG. I never said everything should have it. I also never said anything about it being common.
Tbh I always thought "vintage multi link" was a niche thing and it didn't have to be represented in game, but I could be wrong, idk much about suspensions
It'd be so interesting to see that. Why shouldn't we have a late 80's multi link or even 90's multi-link? Hell in the early 2000's there was even some FWD cars crazy enough to have rear multi-link independent suspension. BeamNG simulates suspension better then any game I know of. That's what it does so well that makes me enjoy it so much. The car's weight and how that influences the car in it's suspension geometry are all full realtime with no rigging or any smoke and mirrors. This arguably is the place where it should be.
