There are a lot of threads asking for changes to WCU, but most of them suggest either splitting the map up into multiple maps (which would be a substantial labor), or increasing the physical size of the map (which is currently not possible at the map's resolution). Here are a few ideas I have that don't present these problems: Beachfront The beach is perhaps one of WCU's most unsung features. Surfer culture and beach bums are a staple of the US's Pacific coast, so it's strange that Belasco's beach doesn't seem to matter almost at all. I suggest the following: Consecutivety. The beach is around 700 meters long, but is cut nearly in half by a pier with a monolithic concrete foundation. Providing a tunnel through (or extending the beach around) this foundation would allow vehicles to travel the whole length of the beach freely. Access points. There are a few ways to drive onto the beach currently, but they're either meant for pedestrians, or require a little finagling. The boat ramp near the southern end of the beach has a short but sheer drop to the beach (which could be quite easily smoothed using the terrain, mesh, or both), while there is ample room for a vehicle access near the north end by the lift bridge. Terrain roughness. The beach is mostly narrow and nearly entirely flat all across its length. Since there really aren't many good opportunities for offroading in the map at large, I think that some bumps and small jumps could be easily built into the sand. It doesn't need 2-meter tall dunes, but some subtle terrain roughness could make the area more of a fun challenge at high speed, for basically no performance cost. Flavor objects. Some collisionless cabanas and surfboards sticking out of the sand would be nice touches, as would lifeguard stations and towers. I also can't help but point out that the jetty/groyne that forms the southern extent of the beach is very easy to get around for any vehicle with sufficient suspension travel and/or a snorkel. Extending the jetty or adding some large boulders should make it impassible. Cut-Through Tunnel The steep streets of the city make driving with heavy vehicles a little impractical. To improve this slightly, another tunnel could be added to the city that basically just 'cuts through' the city's hill (similar to LA's second and third street tunnels or San Francisco's Broadway Tunnel), providing direct access from the industrial area to the southern waterfront. The tunnel entrances could be built to allow more capable traffic to climb the hill, while heavy or through traffic can quickly travel to the other side of the hill. Alleyways This one's a doozy. As the only proper city that we have in official Beam maps, it's a little silly that there's only one rather short alleyway. A collection of small parking lots, service entrances, loading docks and other bits and bobs on narrow alleys would be potentially quite doable, especially since many of these elements could be made instanced meshes that would have marginal performance impacts. The Mall This one's the most out-there suggestion. The shopping center is big enough to host a large consecutive indoor space that one could plausibly drive a car through, from the southern entrance, across the skywalk, and into the theater parking lot. Vendors could be cherry-picked from existing billboards and signs to save on texture memory. Anyway, these are just some ideas off the top of my head. Feel free to share thoughts or other ideas!
Drainage pipes are normally built to move water from a source, such as a storm drain or sewer: not something you'd want to drain directly to the sand of a public beach and not something you'd need a 3-6 meter pipe for. I feel a purpose-built tunnel for beachgoers would work better, IMO.
I know that people like the race track, but I always wished it was removed for more suburbia or outskirts. Something about a single street of low density houses and then a giant racing area always felt unrealistic. It seems like WCUSA was made as a racetrack that happened to have a city near it, not a city that happened to have a race track near it, especially before the additions in 0.21. I remember in a talk panel at a uni (cant find the video) that they wanted to make the map much bigger, but due to engine limitations they scrapped that. I think they should have removed the track and kept either country side / small town / suburban sprawl. Some people only use the map for the racetrack and that's fine, but now i feel that the devs missed that chance to really go for a full on western USA city with proper sprawl, not just an 800 square metre downtown (Of course the amount of buildings and pursuing lag might have limited it if it had happened)
