Update Speculation thread

I looked through Steam's client update archives (didn't take too long, thankfully - I just didn't think to look for that before), and found this update from late-October of 2019. I think that's the reason why.

As ShakeandBake said, Beam is a juggernaut already, especially considering what it is. That 36K peak puts it in 11th place for driving games - and it's regularly in the top 3 for concurrent players, usually below ETS2. Tokyo Xtreme Racer had a peak of ~16K on release, and now regularly gets 500-1,000 players. My Summer Car had a peak of less than 6,000 players and regularly gets 2,000-3,000. Even Snowrunner had a peak of 11K a couple years ago, with regular peaks of 5-8K. These peaks are often lower than Beam's daily troughs - and it dunks on Snowrunner for daily peaks (20-30K outside of updates for the past year). Beam's also in the top 50 for daily active users - which is absolutely wild.

I think the issue (and why Beam still feels so small) is that there's not much of a narrative in Beam, in the same way there is for MSC or Teardown or Snowrunner. Few of the big general gaming Youtubers (like TheRussianBadger or Martincitopants) make videos for them, and if they have, it hasn't been for several years (i.e. Nerd3's video on Beam in 2013). On the other hand, Beam's always been one of the "old reliable" games. So many big titles (The First Descendant, Splitgate 2, Schedule 1, etc.) gain massive player numbers in the first week or two, then lose more than 90% of those players within the next three months (for SG2, it took them about a month to do that). Beam didn't have a huge peak early on - it took about eight years to crack 10K players (0.22, March 2021), but it doesn't drop much below that on off-hours. Which means that...

...if multiplayer were to become a part of the game, there'd already be plenty of people to play with. It's proven to work well enough for BeamMP - they regularly get hundreds of people playing on their servers. My only question is - how's BeamNG going to pay for the server maintenance and moderation? TABG went free-to-play and added paid cosmetics to keep the servers running in 2021, but they only have around 500 players at most to worry about (and they don't do big content updates anymore). BeamNG would have to keep doing its major content updates and pay to run the servers at the same time, if they want to keep growing.

Also, I'm not sure why the devs didn't add a lowboy trailer to haul the two new vehicles around - maybe that'll be added in a future update. The Aurata got a whole new tilt trailer to haul it around on in 0.30, and we got a whole bunch more trailers and trailer variants in 0.31-0.33 (and the new spinner trailer in 0.37).

 

@DriftinCovet1987

I agree with everything you’re saying, and that’s why I don’t expect it to happen anytime soon. It really is a logistical headache and we’re lucky BeamMP does a surprisingly good job. Maybe if they get the game to state where they say, yea this warrants a full price tag (I already think it does) and then they continue to release content through DLCs to keep content flowing and servers running.

 

I honestly feel like the A.I. has gotten way worse this update. Not the traffic, but when you tell them to chase, flee, etc. In 0.37, they braked early before a sharp turn and they never floored it on curves. But I saw all of the improvements in the patch notes so I'm hoping this is simply a small bug. I'll have to do some more testing, though.

 

Considering the success that this update has been from a community reception standpoint, I assume we're going to see some more heavy equipment updates sometime in the future. So thinking about what we may see...

(1) Crane. I doubt we will see a proper crane yet due to the lack of cable physics, though I'm sure the team wants to get winches for the off-roaders so that problem will need to be tackled eventually. But this is a big community request and there are several options we could get in the meantime. A knuckle boom/prentice truck/etc would be a very versatile addition to the game and just be an upfit for trucks we already have (other than on the extreme end at least)
(2) Skid steer/forklift/telehandler/loader that's actually a rational size: Anything of this sort would again be versatile, though I'd be surprised if the team wants a second loader type vehicle so soon and the community probably wouldn't be so excited about something with big overlap already
(3) Excavator. Most of us remember that old conversation the team was having with someone about this once upon a time. Outside of a claw/magnet attachment I'm not convinced this would be particularly useful in game though....
(4) Other industry specific options. Personally I really like the marble quarry bundle we got this year and usually am a fan of themed sets of content. It would be cool to see some of the other industries expanded on. We already have Hot Rolled inc at WCUSA. While it is a newer addition to the map and not exactly a full on steel mill proper, both the WL40 and HT55 could find homes at the mill with some modifications to them and the map. Then we have the logging station at ECUSA. The loader and log upfits already fill whatever we need unless they want to go really deep into BeamNG.Logging simulator, but I have to mention how cool a skidder would be in game. It would also give us some cool wheels for some other potential projects

 

The forklift strikes me as a particularly likely possibility. Given that there's already pallets and industrial facilities in-game, a small forklift makes sense.

Given that there are multiple airstrips in game, and the rumors of a baggage tractor, that's also a strong possibility.

Given that a ICE-powered forklift and a baggage tractor share so much of their underlying structure that you can literally build a baggage tractor out of a warehouse stocked with forklift parts*, if we get one, we're probably getting the other.


*"...In 1968, a customer in Venezuela asked Mr. Kaplan [of Harlan, then a forklift manufacturer) to make towing tractors. So, Jim went out, bought a Model E Clark, and reengineered it. Harlan Corp. had all of the required parts in surplus inventory. The first twenty-five (25) tractors took two months to design and produce, since they only required the development and production of the frame to prepare for final assembly." (source)

 

I think an excavator would be useful for car destruction even if you can't really excavate. Most of those vehicles does relies on if they figure out tracks or not. Would love a bulldozer for example.

 

Before then though I would like to see an expanded interaction system. I was going to write a full suggestion post about expanding the interactions to include click-&-drag so we could get smoother inputs on our virtual toys. I've had the idea since 0.36, where they've added nodegrabber interactions to the school bus window and the armored van roof wents. Not a bad idea, I love interactivity, but terrible execution with making it operated with the nodegrabber, as it exerts forces that are too strong when you're seated inside of a vehicle, which often results in accidental deformation, and if you try operating these while driving you will experience even more spectacular deformation.

If that were the case I would personally also like to see an electric powertrain config too.

 

Since we got two new steering systems, that is the articulated WL-40 and the orbital hydraulic steering on the HT-55, I'm thinking, could we see more new steering systems in the future?
For example - Steer-by-wire. A lot of people want a modern big SUV so one could potentially come with SbW.
Tho I'd love to see a front engined Civetta, be it old or modern like a Ferrari 599 or FF

 

That would definitely make sense for them to add

 

I think we may get a more modern car soon, when you look at year filters in vehicle selector, the max is 2027, no vehicle in BeamNG is even produced till 2025. The minimum is 1933, the same year as the Nine kinda proving it may be a new vehicle with a maximum production of 2027. If so, its likely in development and that's why they set the max to 2027. (My bad for not cropping the image.

 

*puts on tinfoil hat* BEAMNG 2 COMING 2027

 

I do not know where else to put this... But the hopper as a facelift? The ZXT model is produced till 2001, but the rest of the lineup is produced till 96... Kinda odd, hopper needs a proper facelift though.
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Never mind it just has really weird production years

 

I can kind of see the logic for the hopper since its real world counterpart the jeep wrangler platform closest to the hopper in looks, ran from 1987 to 2017 with very few changes visually.

 

TBH, I see a bit more Land Cruiser 70 in the Hopper than is maybe there.

It's why I've been quietly hoping for a pickup variant since 2016.

 

I want to raise a place that is almost ignored by everyone, and that is the wheels of the vehicle.There are many wheels in BeamNG that have not been remaster when they are over ten years old, such as V6 version of 96 Pessima.


Even in Pessima remaster in 2021, its texture has not been updated.Now, there is a big gap between it and the newly born wheels in recent years.

Let's take a look at the wheels that were born in 2022-2025, even including the Sunburst hubcap that was remaster in 2025.

In the recently updated wheels, the resolution of the texture is higher, and not only the metal particles can be clearly seen (easily seen in the wheel picture of Lansdale), but also the scratches caused by sand and gravel on the wheel (easily seen in the wheel picture of MR Tubro) and the stains on the metal (hubcap of Sunburst).

Go back to those wheels textures ten years ago, and look at the wheel textures of ETK I series and Pessima. The gap is really big, and many wheels really need to be resmaster like Sunburst hubcap in 2025.

I hope developers can pay attention to those wheels that were long ago.

 

It looks like that certain trims where discontinued in middle of production, which isn't that unrealistic, but I do agree that it needs a proper facelift, even if only a few things change visually. Hear me out:

There is one really weird thing about Hopper that really stuck out to me, and that is 4 and 6 cylinder engines lacking any kind of EFI options despite its last production year being 2001. Now, carburetors held on a bit longer in some markets, but Hopper seems to be USDM vehicle (MPH gauges, side reflectors, red rear indicators) and by mid 90s there were no new cars with carburetors there. Now this may seem like a minor thing, but 4.1 6 cylinder found in D series gets fuel injection after its first facelift, and Covet also has choice of both carburetor and EFI depending on its trim (DX and DXI).
Another thing is, Japanese manufacturers often used same 4 cylinder engines in their RWD sports cars and trucks/SUVs. For example, KA24DE was found in S13/S14 240SX as well as in D22 Navara and first generation Xterra. So instead of 2.5 OHV 4 cylinder getting fuel injection, it could be replaced by 2.4 DOHC engine from BX in facelifted models.

Besides that it would be nice to have Hopper-based traditional pickup/SUV or at very least LWB and pickup versions of Hopper. And a diesel engine.

 

Crying in 128px textures of like half of aftermarket wheels in this game

 

Completely Agree. Wheels are my favorite thing on a car and having these remastered or just paid attention to would be really nice. I would also love more aftermarket wheel options in general.

The wheels on my sunburst are based on a real life wheel which I love very much, and it would be cool to see more like it.

 

The resolution of some old wheel textures is a disaster.



The following pictures are all rough old wheels on vehicles that have been remastered.



These vehicles that have been resmastered still have low-resolution wheels attached to them, which makes me feel sad.I just listed a small part, and there are many, many wheels that need to be remaster like old vehicles.

（All the screenshots above were taken under the setting of "High Texture Quality"）
--- Post updated ---
The model and texture of brake calipers also need to be remaster, and they almost all rely on rough normal map and old texture to express the sense of reality.（Their textures really reminds me of half-life in 1998.）


In view of the fact that the developers added light to the brakes in the update of 0.37, and the brake calipers are a part of common parts, the developers may completely remaster them in the future.