Okay, so we all know that the Soliad Wendover went from an '80s American FWD sedan to an '80s American FWD coupe, but I personally think it looks very similar to the Bruckell LeGran and the Gavril Grand Marshal, which are two vehicles already in the game. Plus, we already have quite a few '80s cars in BeamNG.drive. So, I suggest turning the Soliad Wendover into something more similar to the Aston Martin Lagonda from the '70s, a European luxury sedan with technology that is both ahead of its time and outdated by today's standards (maybe we could get a GPS that works like the ones in the Hirochis but with green GameBoy type graphics) . We don't have many '70s cars besides a muscle car in the game anyways and no British cars either. As the icing on the cake, they look quite similar already, and to further differentiate itself from the Lagonda, the Wendover could stay as a coupe to add some BeamNG fictional elements to the mix. The name doesn't even need to change, because Soliad hasn't established iteself in the BeamNG lore yet and could sound perfectly British. Aston Martin Lagonda New Wendover Design Old Wendover Design
Okay, they worked a bit ago, I'll fix them. EDIT 1: How do I add an image without a link when editing a post? EDIT 2: Thread is fixed!
The Wendover will be our first FWD full sized... So you propose to turn it into yet another RWD full sized?.. The Wendover appears to take heavy inspiration from the E-Body and similar platforms, which already fit the "ahead of it's time but outdated now" technology specs you describe.
Well, it can take inspiration from both, and be a FWD sports car too, but what I'm saying is that there is many American cars in the game and that makes sense because it is an American game and the players are American (like myself). It's not like there's never been a FWD European sports car, in fact there are more FWD European cars than American ones. Since BeamNG's cars are unlicensed and fictional it doesn't have to be a carbon copy of an existing car, and they can have a little freedom, because it's just a virtual car company and it's not like some multi-billion dollar conglomerate like GM where when they misstep, they lose millions.
It's a German game. BeamNG.GMBH's main office is in Breman, Germany and Tom is German. There's a lot of American cars just because America has a rich history in automotive manufacture and therefore a large pool of inspiration and realistic market segments to fill. It's not like the French can compete with the raw volume and variety of cars we've designed over the decades. I never said a FWD Euro sports car is unrealistic. I never mentioned Euro sports cars at all. The Lagonda was far from a sporty vehicle. Yes the cars in game are fictional, but they are still sensible, even if some float between market segments. A full sized Euro FWD ultra-rare luxury car? If we keep the FF layout, general styling, give it a V8, shorter wheelbase, and Euro influences, then all we've done is reinvent the Allante. Which puts us right back in the "similar to the LeGran" state that people complain about. If we go really short on the wheelbase and make it a "what if the Allante had a Reatta analogue" then that would be interesting, but that might already be planned for all we know.
That's obvious, because France is not comparable at all in terms of population size to the US. If you'd say Europe instead, then I'd argue that Europe has an equal if not larger pool of inspiration and realistic market segments to fill, and a larger variety of cars. Nonetheless, there are 11 American cars in the game and 6 European cars. Either the devs have a fetish for older American cars, or they realize that the majority of their game's playerbase are Americans (as with pretty much any other wellknown title) and they'll try to make the game more appealing to them.
BeamNG.drive was supposed to be a demolishon derby game, and would probably be a direct competitor to Wreckfest if they had stuck to their original plans. The original vehicles and promised content reflect the game's initial direction, which is why we have so many old American cars. That being said, I personally think the Wendover will be different enough from the LeGran, especially if it has digital gauges and a touchscreen. We have cars that share platforms with minimal differences like the ETK K/800 and Cherrier Vivace/Tograc, and nobody has ever complained about those being too similar. I am excited for a FWD coupe with the LeGran's strong powertrains and independent rear suspension. It could be a very fast car and very good on the track.
I'm well aware France is a smaller country, I'm just using it as an arbitrary example to compare one country to another country. My point is that America just has a lot of choices by the standards of a single country, especially when you take out from consideration the American owned European companies like Opel/Vauhaul. I'm not saying we don't need more European cars, we certainly do. I'm just saying the disparity isn't to the point where I see a need to complain about it or suggest turning the Wendover into a British car. Yes the Europe to America disparity is large on paper, but we are talking about a vehicle roster in a video game that only has about 30 cars. The sample size is just too small, there will always be a disparity in the representation of something. If not Europe then some other region (Soviet Union, Canada, Australia, South Korea, South America...) and if not regions then market segments, engine block types, and so on. Gameplay must come first, and some cars just lend themselves better to gameplay and design than others. Combine this with the fact that most of our roster was designed when the game looked very different (refer to the post above this) where modern cars and a lot of non-American cars just wouldn't make sense for game play and I really don't think it's fair to be calling pro-American bias in the roster. Considering the model year disparity specifically: I honestly don't see why so many people see to think this game has such a bias to old American cars. 1953-1979 (26 years) we have 4 American cars + 1 tractor ('53 Special, Bluebuck, Barstow, Moonhawk, and T-Series). If you count the FCV as 2 cars and the SBR platform as 1, then we actually have more Japanese + Euro cars in 2009-Present even though it's less than half that time span (800-Series, K-Series, Sunburst, SBR paltform, Vivace, Tograc). If 5 vehicles over 26 years is a strong bias, then what is 6 vehicles over 11/12 years? I'm not saying the vehicle roster is well rounded, it's objectively in a bad state. 1980-2005 has well over double the number of cars outside that range. But the bias is squarely to the 1980-2005 range with about as many cars on either tail. There's about as many cars on the near tail as on the far tail, even though 2005-2020 has a lot less model years to cover than 1930-1980 (I'm just using 1930 as an arbitrary reasonable start date). If we wanted a perfectly even spread of model years, we'd actually need a significantly larger number of vintage cars than of modern cars.
I think if they were to implement a touchscreen, it should be in the style of the pre-1990 Buick Reatta and the gauges should be in the style of the pre-1990 C4 Corvette (interesting how both GM cars lost their tech the same year). It would also be quite interesting if some of the Chrysler LeBaron's technology, such as the advanced for its time Electronic Voice Alert, got implemented as well. It would all fight in nicely with the "advanced for its time but outdated now theme", and it would differentiate itself from the many other malaise-era cars in the game. Even though the features listed were implemented on American automobiles, that does not prevent them from being given to a theoretical European coupe (also coupes do not necessarily need to be sports cars), as it would not take realism away from the game, since there were many European cars with advanced tech from that era (think S-Class or high-tier BMW). I am not opposed to more American cars, I would prefer to see some more diversity instead of yet another American cruiser. Just to add one more thing, the Wendover was never planned to have a the digital gauges and the touchscreen, those things were all conceptualized in this thread. --- Post updated --- I see your point, but the United States is a country not a continent. It is more fair to compare the United States to France than Europe, since different individual countries have their own styling and design. This is why Lamborghinis are considered Italian and Citroens are considered French. If they were bundled together as both being European, than that would take away each country's key traits. Obviously the United States will have more car models manufactured than France because it is a bigger country with more automakers, but the styling and design is relatively consistent. If you would not confuse an American car with a Japanese car, why would the same happen with a Soviet Union piece of rusty scrap metal and the Bugatti Bolide. It could also have some Maserati Ghibli and Pininfarina goodness sprinkled into the Aston Martin Lagona dough. The next car after the Wendover should be a '90s car especially a pony car, a kei car, or a Isuzi VehiCROSS imitator. I doubt the majority of the community would really care for pre-1940 cars. Everyone would just drive the new cars and see what's been added to the game for a few days but then they'd lay untouched after that. One from each decade would be fun, but they're not all that fast or interesting. Once you've seen one car from the '20s you've seen them all. Don't get me wrong, I would love to crash a Model T or a Woody or really old school Suburban (obviously unlicensed and tweaked versions of each; Burnsides and Bruckells for sure), but I would not want the game to become over saturated with them, since they're not something you would want to drive around in for hours, enjoying their wooden wheels and vinyl roofs. I would love to have an official retro automobile, or maybe even a few, but not eight. I'd prefer some modern or even classic supercars, which there is a surprising lack of for a game like BeamNG.drive, or even some ultra-luxury sedans, Soviet cars, ultra-cheap Asian and European junk, limousines, private jets and modern economy SUVs and crossovers (besides the Tograc; something standalone but post-2000 as well). BeamNG is such an awesome game with so much amazing opportunity, and I can't wait to see what the developers do with it (no pressure though).
We have no idea what the internal concept for the Wendover has in the interior (The dev team is generally quiet with interiors for some reason), Gabe really only ever described the drivetrain to my knowledge. Being that such systems were relatively common in counterpart cars I feel it would be rather odd to not see them. A EVA would require a new system in game, but that system could be expanded on for co-drivers/crew chief calls, which we need from a gameplay perspective regardless. And people have been asking for such systems long before this thread was created. It might already have Pininfarina inspiration for all we know. Maybe they will take the Allante's Italian route, we just don't know yet. As I mentioned, most of our cars already in game are 1980-2005 and either American or Japanese. If even representation is our goal (which is up to debate, but for the sake of conversation lets go with that) then we really should be avoiding these model years for at least the next couple of cars. Going by the "LeGran is too similar to the Wendover" logic, do we really need a 1990's American pony car when we are getting a transfer case for the LeGran, which is already a sporty (when tuned properly at least) midsized and just short of 1990? Just take a coupe version of that all terrain LeGran wagon, lower the suspension, take out the front driveshaft, and you have a LeGran that's as close to a 1988 pony car as the luxe trim level is to the Wendover. We've had the "cars older than the Burnside" discussion countless times on various threads. The general consensus seems to be "some day but not now". There will always be people not interested in whatever is being added; I could take everything you say about pre-1953 hot rods and apply it to a 1990's kei car. The Cappuccino wasn't all that unique from the Autozam... One was FMR and one was RMR, both had 0.6L turbo i3 engines paired to a 5 speed, neither were "all that fast or interesting" (The Autozam was quirky, but I can't say that the general population would call it "cool"), I feel that once I've seen one I've seen them all, I wouldn't want the game to be saturated with them, we already have the Covet, and so on. Compare that to any particular pre-war American platform which generally had massive arrays of body styles, wide applications to motorsport, huge customization potential, and so on... I'm just using the Kei car as an example there. If our goal is unique and fast and put that bar ahead of everything built before 1953 then we run out of options to put in game really fast.
The Wendover only makes sense if Soliad is an American brand because it has been confirmed that the Wendover will be using the LeGran's powertrain. Bruckell is an American brand and either owns Soliad or both are owned by the same parent company. Soliad is supposed to be a more luxurious brand than Bruckell, so it will likely only use the larger V6s, possibly only the 3.8 V6. Larger engines and American style luxury cars are not common in Europe because they are the complete opposite of what works in the EU, and that style would never be built by a European manufacturer, much less a European division of an American manufacturer. Also, people have been asking for Reatta style instruments and controls for years. It was first requested for the LeGran probably in the Update Speculation Thread, not here, not now.
Never saw anything wrong with more vehicles of one type myself. You dont get to sell what an american street in X era looks like by having 1 or 2 cars of X country of that era. You need a ton, which is why im OK with having 5 or 10 cars of a specific era and country before doing more of another type. Do wish more british cars in the game tho. Something like a Jaguar Type D or a Mini.
