Suggested

Car Design updates

Hi there, 

Is there anything in the works relating to changing Reliability and Cooling? At the moment the car design feels repetitive and the meta of dumping into Acceleration > Breaking / Handling > Downforce, feels a bit stale. I know this is different with no refueling as FE is more important.

Since I've played this game for the past few years Reliability and cooling have been ignored, I feel it would be good to change this, for cooling I suggest; at tracks with a hot temperature the lower your cooling efficiency the more cooling required hence = more drag = slower car. A higher cooling stat means less cooling required leading to a less draggy car allowing you to go faster.

For Reliability I'm not too sure on how to make this stat relevant as cars don't breakdown at level 30, due to engine swapping every race, and car parts are not a problem. so I would maybe suggest introducing engine temps that also relate to cooling. The engine temps interface could work just like tyre temps based on push level but be affected by the cooling  stat. There would have to be a performance gain to running the engine in the red but a low-reliability stat would mean much higher wear on the engine potentially leading to retirement.

You could also introduce 'cooling packages' as part of the setup (Low, Medium, High), and the wrong type of cooling package selected could lead to retirement, for example, if the cooling stat is low with a low cooling package at a very hot track this would make the engine run in the red more easily and if the car has a low-reliability stat it would drain the wear % heavily. Further, if you picked a high cooling package with a moderate cooling stat then this would allow that car to be able to push more without going in the red but be offset by carrying a draggy car. So finding the right balance as you go through the season would be key.

I know what I am suggesting is complex and essentially interlocking two elements with one another but it would make reliability and cooling something to not be ignored, give the game more depth, and add the risk of DNF but in the player's control. If you don't want to go down the DNF route then less wear = less performance so there is a penalty but not as harsh as a DNF

What I've suggested is rough and not perfect but I hope this helps if you are not already working on something related to these two elements of car design. 

Thanks

Hi Giorgio,

A good suggestion but for the future perhaps as the devs should have/have more immediate concerns such as balancing research and the 'core' attributes (not a simple task) that's making higher level accounts gaming and the game in general, non diverse.

Speaking of car design, I can assure you (Acc + Braking + Handling + Downforce) isn't meta. Each track has it's own unique characteristic/Car balance (Quali car vs Race Pace car) and it's a bit more obvious on some than others and this is why the attributes need to be rebalanced.

Once again a good suggestion and I'm sure it's been noted.

Thanks for the reply, I don't think research needs to be balanced its actually in a good place in my opinion, unpopular I know and I am happy to disagree with you on your idea of the meta but as I have not gone into detail maybe a misunderstanding. I could reply to a few points you mention but I would like this post to remain on topic, about changing the current iteration of Cooling and Reliability design elements.  


Cheers.

100% agreed

I love your idea. The connection between cooling efficiency, drag, and engine temperature is ingenious. Buckshot Roulette

I would just replace Cooling and Reliability in the car design with Boost and DRS to such times as the DEV's get around to working on the two areas.
 
Repairs in pit-stops would likely be added once cooling & reliability are intergraded into the race viewer, something a bit like F1 Clash I would imagine.

You would negate the advantage higher-level accounts have over lower-level accounts, you would be handing lower-level accounts say level 22-27 a big advantage as they would also be able to research Boost and DRS, which apparently are the current features that balance less research for higher levels.

 It has its advantages and disadvantages, it makes all areas of the car important. And that's the main aim of the suggestion to make everything matter in car design.

It will make racing closer yes, but the higher-level players will still be slightly ahead with more design points each race. 

No more building a car like this is the aim of the game... https://i.postimg.cc/Dz3y9pjT/Screenshot-2024-04-04-105405.png

Yes, I fundamentally agree, just not with the implementation of DRS and Boost in its current state to car design.

JB's words "Things which have no alternatives and only one correct answer are not fun."  Jack Basford CEO & CTO 7 years 92 days ago.

Yet Car Design remains untouched after all these years. It's about time car design got a shake up!

This is a good idea

I like the op idea for cooling. For reliability, I think the mechanism is already there; the lower the reliability the more engine wear by the end of the race. The only real change would be to increase the slow-down effect during races, making it so cars actually show a lower speed by the end. This also keeps it simple, and easier to implement for the devs.

That being said, I also think that reliability in this application is a misnomer, and the stat could be replaced by something else considering there are no crashes in the game. My suggestion would be 'Aerodynamics' - having a higher stat here would reduce the affects of dirty air and/or increase slipstreaming (and maybe provide some acceleration). Nothing too complicated, or it becomes difficult to implement, manage and balance.

Yea I agree, making reliability have more of a presence in game is tricky as typical behaviour is to repair car every race, fresh engine and then you need not worry.


If removing it for something else altogether provides a better dynamic for race management I’m all for it.