Update Speculation thread

The Safrane was Renault punching out of its league, with the Biturbo being way beyond what Renault normally did.
I agree we need French car. It can mix a bit of everything, some Citroen here, Some Renault there, Some Peugeot over there. Heck, Bugatti deep down is french so release a supercharged variant and call it something Bugatti-ish. I can assure you it can turn out to be the most interesting car in the game.

 

Oh, without doubt.

 

I don’t really care too much what the new car is as long as it’s something relatively modern and sold in the US (doesn’t matter what country it comes from) so we can drive it (and also use it as traffic) on most if not all of the beam maps. Although I am hoping it’s something like a cheapo crossover or some kind of pickup (Japanese pickup would be interesting). Nothing too over the top luxurious or extremely sporty since currently all the modern cars (except for the base sunburst) are either luxurious or really sporty.

 

Bugatti is french just on the surface, its founder being an italian immigrant who exported the italian approach to grand tourers to Alsace, possibly the least "french" region of France, the current incarnation of the brand being more of a follow-up to Artioli's modenese parenthesis of the brand.

For a highly-representative french car, I would take inspiration from Citroën (DS, CX) or Alpine (A110) or a mix of both (Citroën SM lookalike, with some Alpine A310 styling cues...?).

 

Id Iove a euro style van (modern) possibly a charmand or a etk like my etk van concept
Most importantly a European, meaning non boxy ambulance

 

Id say more Renault, Citroen and Peugeot, rather than "obscure" sources like Alpine. (I mean, we know that brand, but the A110 isnt as representative as the Renault 4 or the Citroen DS/SM/2CV are. Hell even toss some Peugeot 205GTI to the mix.
About the Bugatti thing, exactly, deep, very deep, it still has some french in it, so we can say that it is atleast 1% french and make a trim out of it. It was just an idea thought.
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Almost no one uses the H Series, so it would be pretty much pointless.

 

Because it decides to steer to the right really hard with the solid axle suspension which makes it absolute hell to use.. Not only that, it isn't as high quality as the rest of the vehicles. I'd use it more if it was just better overall.

 

Fair enough, hopefully that is fixed with the revamp

 

Change thinking that BeamNG is a sandbox and think that core of the game would be career mode and others challenges. It is pointless to get it right now, but someday we'll need this in game.

 

Late 80s-late 90s renaults were absolutely gorgeous, especially interior wise. French cars could be interesting if they actually bothered to try and start thinking out of the box a little again, at least design-wise. And, of course, if consumers were actually interested in cars that are out of the ordinary, like what seemed to be the case back when the Citroen BX was a best seller in its class.

As for the possible new addition to BeamNG's "fleet", I agree with the idea of having something that resembles a mix of a few different iconic french cars from the past. Bonus points if it has a single-spoke steering wheel and hydropneumatic suspension.

 

Think even more french man, hydropneumatic suspension!

 

A Citroën C6 with a 3l V6 biturbo diesel <3

 

Nah Just put a baguette on wheels with a big wang

 

Source on that one?

 

You'll have to trust this old episode of Top Gear (from back when Top Gear was a serious educational show). The time stamp doesn't seem to work, but if you go to 2:38 you'll hear Jeremy Clarkson claim the BX is the best selling diesel on the British market.

 

Diesel. Back in the day when diesels were one hell of a niche.

Also, according to my copy of the '93 ADAC Auto Special, the BX was not actually as comfortable overall as one may think. In overall comfort (so, less "suspension" and more "what would you prefer to go cross-country in) it was beat by cars like the Ford Sierra or Mercedes W201, and on par with the Hyundai Sonata.
The only worse midsizers were the Peugeot 405, Saab 900, Subaru Legacy, Renault 21 and Alfa Romeo 155.

 

I don't doubt a BX would be less well equipped than a Mercedes sedan, but to say it's on par with a Hyundai Sonata seems an exaggeration when you consider Citroen's focus on comfortable cars. Plus, on most crappy European country/city roads, there is no doubt the BX would beat just about any conventional steel spring equipped car.

Also, how exactly were diesels niche in early 90s Britain? Most European cars already had diesel options at the time, and they were getting very popular. That whole Top Gear video is about them.

 

That's not my words, that's an ADAC test result.

And numerous steel-sprung cars were well ahead of the BX in the aspect I mentioned.

 

Considering how Autobello Picollina was a mix of several different and at the same time similar cars and still being pretty believable car I'd like the devs to continue with this way of creating new cars. Thinking of fulfilling the missing types and countries and applying the aforementioned logic I would suggest something like this:

1) Mid 90s to mid 2000s French minivan. As every French made car it should be as quirky as possible. Take the looks of 3rd or 4th gen Renault Espace, mix it with random minivans of the time like the exteriors of 1st gen VW Sharan/SEAT Alhambra, Peugeot 806 and Kia Carnival and interior of 3rd gen Honda Odyssey or something like that. And then make it mid-engined, AWD and supercharged. Some of you probably guessed where that's coming from. It may be a top of the line variant for example. Oh, and also as an Easter Egg it should have variant based on that F1 powered Renault Espace.

2) Modern (from mid 2000s until today) Swedish small to medium SUV/crossover. I imagine it to be similar to 1st gen Volvo XC60 mixed with 2nd or 3rd gen Hyundai Santa Fe, 2nd gen Ford Kuga and interior similar to Porsche Macan. Base model should be FWD only with turbo i3 and go up to twin-turbo V6 or NA V8 and of course AWD. And probably a hybrid or even full electric version of this car.

3) Cab-over truck. We already have classic American conventional truck, so as much as I like American cabovers the modern European one is preferable. Just a mix of modern Scania, MAN, Mercedes, Renault, Iveco and Volvo should do. But to be a little bit different it should use Tatra chassis. That also gives the ability to make almost unlimited number of upfits for it. For the engines I would go for something similar to what Tatra offers for their 815 model. There's definetely something to choose from.

4) Eastern block "people's car" from mid 70s to mid 80s. All the VAZ classics/Fiat 125p combined with Izh 412 (or even AZLK), add a bit of Škoda 105 and Dacia 1300. It could be rear-engined air-cooled like some Škodas or ZAZ, although it might be too much of work. SOHC 55-80hp (depending on trim) engines should do. No matter what year or trim the car is, rear drum brakes, 4-speed manual and RWD are mandatory. For the body styles: 4-door sedan, station wagon and a 2-door coupe (it can be labeled as Autobello). Other variant to consider: rally version based on some rally Škodas or VFTS Ladas.

5) While writing previous suggestion I thought that even Piccolina can have a Soviet-built twin brother. Like ZAZ 965 and Fiat 600. Just have it as a selectable variant with mildly lifted heavy duty suspension and off-road threaded tires. Also less chrome, more unpainted plastic, mud flaps and single coloured (preferably either very light blue or that annoying green that a lot of AZLKs were painted) body.

6) 50s to early 60s body-on-frame British luxury car. Something like Jaguar Mark X mixed with Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud. 3.8-4.9 litre inline-6 or 5 litre V8 coupled with 4-speed automatic transmission will fit this type of vehicle. And for the veriants I'd go with long-wheel-base and short-wheel-base versions where the LWB version uses V8 exclusively while SWB version have different trims with different i6 engines. And also a rally version similar to those of Jaguar Mark 2.



It would be cool to see one of those at least being considered by devs some day.

Also you might notice there's no American cars in my suggestion list. The reason is we have so many of them already I don't think we ever need another one (apart from Wendover - I genuinly like that thing). We also have a lot of Japanese cars, so I think it's fair to add at least one European car. Also considering that every European country has it's own way of doing cars it makes perfect sense to me to add at least one new manufacturer from another country to BeamNG's list.