Update Speculation thread

Well yea, one this is something that would be cool, and a completely different thing is something that the game needs. pre-war cars would be a niche, while the game needs to fill far bigger areas before even considering getting into niches.

 

I personally have to disagree with you. I could totally see prewar cars existing in this game. Besides, I could see a lot of people wanting to have a prewar car in-game. It would be very customizable, and fill in some areas of car culture that currently aren't represented in-game yet (hot rods, open wheel racers, etc).

 

Basing all this off of a Ford Model B since that's the most iconic pre-war car to most Americans and it is incredible versatility; IMO it is the best inspiration for one in game.

I don't think it would be that difficult to model. yes, the Burnside was difficult to model, but it was also made a long time ago. The team has come a long way since then. More recent cars like the Autobello and modern ETKs are more curvy than a '32 Coupe, which only has complicated curves for the fenders.

One of these is the only realistic way I think we can get an open wheeler. Most open wheelers, modern or vintage, would be too niche to justify the devs making, which just leaves a Plymouth Prowler and one of these. I admit, a parts bin sports car like the Prowler would be hilarious, but I digress. It also is right in the middle of the pre-1953 model year gap, which means it does a fair bit to close one of the many voids in the vehicle roster.

As for the question of how versatile it is, I genuinely don't even see why this has to be asked. It would be up there with the D-Series and Bluebuck without even trying. If that isn't versatile enough, I really don't know what is. I don't even know where to start. These came in a ridiculous number of body styles and even tow trucks were made on these platforms. 1934 Model 40 Special Speedster, Bonnie and Clyde car, little deuce coupe, Billy Gibbons Eliminator, American Graffiti hot rod, drag racers, oval racers, salt flat racers, police cars; the list goes on. Sure I wouldn't want to race it around a track against a trackday K-Series, but if that's all we care about then brace for nothing but modern performance cars.

 

I, for one, would never use a prewar hotrod car. I believe that it's a niche audience to pander to, and the devs are likely focusing on newer cars instead.
Let's be realistic- the "hot rod" variant would be the most popular one, and probably the only one people would use.
A prewar car would be too difficul to model, and would also be super boring to drive. I'd say it's not worth the time.
(Besides, with career mode on the horizon, it'd be much smarter to add some mundane traffic cars and highly customizable JDM vehicles- plus one or two modern super/hyper-cars.)

 

There's plenty of people who would say this comment about a modern car. There's a lot of cars that plenty of people will never use.

Judging by how much of the audience just go straight to the most powerful car configs, I think you could make an analogous comment about anything. How often does the general population even use a factory spec Bluebuck?

I really don't understand how it would be any more difficult to model than modern cars. Simple as can be platform with a body that only has curves for the fenders and trunk. As for how boring it is to drive... Nearly every base model of anything will be boring, and with how customizable these are the higher end configs would be really interesting. There's a lot of space to put whatever engine you want. There's plenty of people who think simple cars without electronic aids are more fun than modern stuff.

Well, yeah. I'm not saying we need a pre-war car now, but I do think we need one some day.

 

Are you serious?

 

Mundane traffic cars work perfect in a game like this. This isn't Forza.

 

For me the issue with that was more of a case of the irony of people saying "X car is too boring" and "we need more boring cars" in the same post.

There's plenty of cars where the base models make fine traffic cars but they are still interesting in their top trim, so why make a car primarily for it's use as traffic? Cars in beam take far more of the devs recources than typical racing games.

 

I think the point is that there should be "more believable" traffic cars. You dont see so many "fast" cars in everyday driving. Or so very old ones.

Besides, cars can be diverse as you said: Boring traffic version and "hot" top trim.

 

I want more late 90's to early 2000's vehicles so I can pretend I'm a lower class person driving to my job so I can save my money to afford nicer things.

 

I see a couple people here don’t want any more American cars. I do think that the next mystery car should probably come from another country, but the possibility of more American cars coming in the future shouldn’t be shut out. Currently most of the American cars are either classic sedans or coupes, or 80-90s utility vehicles. As much as I enjoy these (they are probably the vehicles that I use the most) we really need more variety in the American car selection in beam. On top of that 10-13 of the real-world maps (not counting template) in beam are set in America, so it makes sense for the game to have a high percentage of American (and Japanese) cars. I have also seen suggestions for cars that are only sold in places like Europe, which would be fine if we had more maps from other countries in the game but as of now they would only really work for one or two maps. I think adding some vehicles that aren’t sold in the US would be nice, but as of now they shouldn’t have a high priority.
Basically what I’m trying to say is more vehicles from other countries is good, but we shouldn’t completely block any new American cars from being added to the game, because the beam American car selection is still really lacking

 

I, for one, was so infuriated by the attitude of this post, including the dismissive way you've referred to the fairly sizable chunk of forum users who do think a prewar vehicle is 'worth the time' to put in the game, that I had to get up, walk away from the computer for a while, and gather my thoughts properly so as to avoid typing up a furious response. The things that you have implied with the loaded phrases "niche audience', 'pandering', 'not worth', and especially 'much smarter [to do something else instead]' are extremely disrespectful.

In future, please try to remember that others may care about things, even if you yourself do not care at all.

Leaving that aside, there are some highly questionable opinions that you have presented as fact.

Let's address this issue first:

Here are two pictures. One is a 1925 Buick, the other is a Bugatti Divo.

Looking at both vehicles, note that the prewar car's shape is largely composed of flat, simple-to-model angular surfaces, except for the large, arched curves of the hood, fenders, and trunk area. The modern hypercar, on the other hand, is covered in swoops, curves, vents, aero, and all manner of other fussy little curved lines, most of which are being curved in all three dimensions at once. From my own (admittedly limited) experience of 3D modelling software, I will confidently state that the Buick would be much easier to model than the Bugatti would, by a significant margin.

But, both 'modern car' and 'prewar car' are broad, loosely defined terms, so let's give you the benefit of the doubt. Maybe you were thinking of something closer to the iconic 1940 Ford coupe. Let's pair that up against the simplest, boxiest 2020-model car I can think of - the Nissan Micra:

The lines on the Ford are more complex than the lines on the Buick, but comparing both to the Autobello Piccolina, I would probably go out on a limb and say that they are well within the skill level of the development team. The Micra is also within the skill level of the team, but I would like to point out that it is more challenging than it might appear at first glance - note that everything is composed of many small, curved lines. From the bodywork around the license plate frame, to the rear spoiler, to the trunk lid and taillights, there's a lot of complex geometry on the Micra.

That's an opinion. Don't present it as fact. I've got an opinion of my own: I think that any car is boring to drive if you drive it in a boring way.

Maybe a fresh perspective on the prewar car is needed:


People tend to forget that the Ford Model T (which, having been the first really popular mass-produced car, and having predated both world wars, could be regarded as the ultimate 'prewar car') was not really designed to be driven on today's roads. Back then, you were lucky if you had a wagon trail with less than a foot of mud on it, and they were bumpier than some of today's off-road trails.

That led the suspension design to swing wildly towards capability instead of stability. A standard, unmodified Model T can keep all four wheels on the ground in places where a JK Jeep Wrangler cannot. The major limitation seems to be the fenders - and even today you will find that there are people driving these things off-road.

As for spirited driving on smoother surfaces, it only takes a few engine components, and the relocation or removal of other parts to turn one into a 'speedster' - a style of open-wheel racing car that paved the way for modern rally cars, Indy cars, and stock cars.


Here's a link to a video of these things being raced hard on various dirt and paved ovals back in the day. I've opted not to insert it directly on account of several unsurvivable-looking crashes (although the driver of #23 does appear to get up afterwards).



I regret that I don't have time to go into the details of moonshine running and early stock-car racing with later pre-war cars, but that's an important chunk of car culture that most are probably familiar with anyway.

That's a fair point - but it assumes that the only variants available would be a handful of stock configurations and a single hot rod. There are many other interesting things that can be done with a prewar car:



And there's no one way to build a hot rod either. Even just sticking to the main choices, there's the Highboy, the Lowboy, the Z-bar, the Rat Rod, the Saltflat hot rod, the Altered Dragster, plus whatever wild fiberglass designs came out of the sixties. Hot Rods alone could theoretically outnumber stock variants.

 

Congratulations, you've just written several pagragraphs proving my opinion 'wrong'! Seriously though, why? This is baisically an entire college thesis about how much my opinion sucks, and that's kind of unneccesary. The fact that you wrote the following- "I, for one, was so infuriated by the attitude of this post, including the dismissive way you've referred to the fairly sizable chunk of forum users who do think a prewar vehicle is 'worth the time' to put in the game, that I had to get up, walk away from the computer for a while, and gather my thoughts properly so as to avoid typing up a furious response. The things that you have implied with the loaded phrases "niche audience', 'pandering', 'not worth', and especially 'much smarter [to do something else instead]' are extremely disrespectful." Just goes to show that you, my friend, are going wholly overboard. Chill out.

And to be honest, I flat-out don't like cars made from either 18xx-1950 or cars made from 1969-1980. That's just my personal preference. (Yeah, I'm aware i'm going to get a horde of angry hillbillies after me for this.)
I've managed to enjoy this game's older cars in spite of this, but there's one glaring example of the opposite- the LeGran.
To this day, I'm perplexed why people love crappy, early-80's GM midsizes so much. They're objectively awful. Do I rant and get ultra mad when someone says that they like those cars? No, so why should it be different with you and my opinion?
Listen, my opinion does not have to involve your thinking. Your thinking is neither right nor wrong. (The same applies for me too.) and that's perfectly fine.
i'm not going to turn my personal preference on its head because you say so.

edit- I was scrolling through this thread, and I'd just like to say that both Glichy and Aries are spitting straight fax here. Well done, gentlemen.

Two very different kinds of boring. Everyday, muncane, run-of the mill boring (Pessima) and uncerpowered, sluggish and seldom-used boring (Base model Bluebuck)

 

Fellas lets agree on this. We want a new vehicle. End of story. Stop crying over some stupid off topic shenanigans. I want to see older vehicle but I have 0 problems with going with 2000's, 2010 and even the future 2020 vehicles. People want this and that but it takes time to make vehicles. So quit crying and arguing in the UPDATE SPECULATION FORUM for crying out loud. If you wish to argue about some stupid stuff make your own discussion. I don't want the UPDATE SPECULATION FORUM to get locked for the 5th time because of some stupid stuff ok.
--- Post updated ---
Soo uhh what new things in Utah do you think there will be?

 

Ladies & gentlemen, the death of car culture (or at least the part of it that doesn't involve non-drivers everywhere) summed up in a single post. Hot rods are boring, but JDM and hypercars aren't somehow.

Also, if you want something highly customizable, you want a prewar hot rod. You can swap in just about any engine the chassis will physically support. Thanks to the aftermarket, front and rear suspension can be swapped as well. People are even making complete replacement bodies and frames for them. In terms of customization they are on or above the level of a kit car.

You know what my favorite cars to drive in this game are? Gavril D15 Custom Classic. Bruckell LeGran SE V6 Tow Package. The Kashira mod in cargo form. Sometimes you just want a fast car, but sometimes it's better to find the fun in something completely unexpected.

 

I certainly hope they don't add a lot of guardrails. They added a lot of those in the east coast update and ruined parts of the map. I've since deleted them. I also hope they don't put a lot of large rocks/boulders in the middle of the map. That area is so much fun to drive around in with any car.

 

Im going to put it in terms of developer times and what makes more sense. A Pre-War car would cater to about 25 to 30% of the community at best. Developing this car would take about the same time that it takes to model a regular car for the base configs alone. Depending on how back you want to go then it could take longer due to funky early suspension setups. Now to that add another month of research, about two or 3 of months of implementing and testing the parts you suppose the car is going to come with. Then you are already by the 6th or 7th month mark working on a single car, that only a small chunk of the playerbase is like to use. In that same time they could have made 1 1/2 "normal" cars, which would cater to the rest of the playerbase.

This game could have one pre war car? maybe. Does it need it? No way in hell. Is it a valuable use of developer time? I really doubt it.

 

You know what would be really nice to see? A 1960s Aston Martin-esque vehicle. But let's discuss something else. What do we think will be added to Utah? What do we think will be changed?

We know that a few more structures will be added, plus the tunnel we saw in the Hopper video, but do we think there'll be something we haven't seen before? Maybe the Devs will add a marked-out rock crawling course. Maybe the ruins will finally be more than decorative. Maybe we'll see new stuff on the huge empty plateau above the highway tunnel.

 

Please just stop. How many times do I have to remind you (and it's not just you) that this is not a thread for arguing about what kind of car is best, nor is it a gatekeeping, self-congratulatory "car culture" thread. There are other threads for that. This thread is for talking about features you'd like to see in-game and speculating what could be coming next, not for complaining about any person's opinion that doesn't match your own.

In addition, saying "no one wants" a specific type of car is incorrect, because there is always going to be evidence against that claim. For example, I love to drive the LeGran, a car this thread seems to hate with a passion. Why do I like it? I shouldn't have to answer that question. I just like it. Hell, I bet there's a group of people on this forum that love the K-Series, a car that in my eyes has no character and nothing that interests me. But they have the freedom to enjoy it, and they don't need people like Shotgun Chuck telling them that their opinion is bad and they should feel bad.

If you want to start a flame war, don't do it here.

 

You sound like a sour, cynical boomer who hates everyone. That’s beside the point though. What are you trying to do? Are you trying to convince me to drastically change all of my personal opinions to conform to your idea of a perfect car culture?
I simply don’t like hot rods or similar postwar vehicles. Period. I just don’t like them.
I don’t like the culture surrounding them, I don’t like the design, I don’t like anything about those types of vehicles. It’s that simple.
Also, do you realize how stupid saying “car culture is dying” sounds? The only reason you said that is because you don’t like opinions that conflict your own...

Plus, my idea of what’s boring or exciting isn’t yours to control either. My thinking doesn’t need to be changed by you.

Hate to keep being off topic but people still think that they need to change my opinions.

if we’re going to be on topic, I hope to see some sort of modern Ibishu Minivan of sorts. Fun to smash up, plasticky, and overloaded with “features” literally no one will ever use.