car bodies are from the wrong year.

[jonthefuzz]

One of the thing that bother me is that many of the cars bodies are from the wrong year.

One example is the the Nissan (or Datsun) Fairlady (or 240Z or S30), the in game year is 1960 but the actual production year of the model is at least 1970.

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Best fairlady i could find for an example sorry it's a 280Z.

Another example is the Honda crx in game year 1975, actual production year 1987 for this body style.

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That specific model is 1988.


Keep the Suzuki Samurai style body the same year though as they're both 1985.

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There are a few example of what i mean.

[nialloftara]

They are designed to invoke certain cars but are technically not them, for legal reasons. The basic Datsun shape can also be morphed into something close to a Toyota 2000gt or other earlier japinese sports coupes.
With some morphing and the right fixtures you can even envoke some early mustang fast back, so don't think of it as the Datsun model, think of it as the older fastback coupe model. Same with the crx, it's not just a CRX it's the kammback compact. The samurai is the light boxy off roader. Its all about your imagination.

[strop]

I do have to say, what does bother me about the fixing of years is the way the body year is fixed to desirability. I'm not entirely certain how to articulate this, but I feel that the decay in desirability from the body's introduction, given just how variable and morphable some of these bodies are, starts too early.

[nialloftara]

I can agree with that to an extent, most times a car body can last maybe 10 years before it started looking outdated even with facelifts. the datsun body at least can run into the mid eighties as long as you give a couple of trim updates, you can even keep the same engine as long as you tune it just right, it can still keep an 80% competitiveness score and really that's that's about as long as the original Z car body lasted.

*edit*
what I would like to see implemented is some kind of model loyalty program, so if a model sold very and is popular it can actually offset to a degree the older body desirability penalty.

[JussiE]

I do have to say, what does bother me about the fixing of years is the way the body year is fixed to desirability. I'm not entirely certain how to articulate this, but I feel that the decay in desirability from the body's introduction, given just how variable and morphable some of these bodies are, starts too early.

I totally agree. Also the penalty in safety is somewhat something I don't like. It's quite common to have classic look alikes nowadays and the safety penalty kind of ruins the usability of old bodies together with the reduced desirability.

[EDIT] Maybe you could use some kind of "retooling" of the body to use old body as a fresh model in the campaign the get rid of the safety and desirability reductions?

[nialloftara]

The safety relates to the pillar size and integrated crumple zone construction of the cars, killrob spoke about it before and I agree that older bodies should suffer such a penalty. How many cars really use the same chassis for over 10-25 years? As I mentioned above with update to the trim and engine a car can remain competitive in game for about 20 years, which seems very reasonable.

Edit
Retro styling of new frames is common, reusing the same chassis is not.

[BlastersPewPew]

I wonder if they could implement an "aged" stat, if you use the same body for 10 years it is aged and not that appealing anymore but if you wait 20 it may be in style again (retro) etc.

[TrackpadUser]

The thing with retro designs like the current pony cars is that while they look similar to the original cars, they are still very different in many aspects, many of them safety related. Definitively too different for those changes to be made with morphing.

There is definitively some fine tuning required for the car body unlock years and age penality, but IMHO the current situation is a good start.

[jonthefuzz]

They are designed to invoke certain cars but are technically not them, for legal reasons. The basic Datsun shape can also be morphed into something close to a Toyota 2000gt or other earlier japinese sports coupes. With some morphing and the right fixtures you can even envoke some early mustang fast back, so don't think of it as the Datsun model, think of it as the older fastback coupe model. Same with the crx, it's not just a CRX it's the kammback compact. The samurai is the light boxy off roader. Its all about your imagination.

My Problem with it is not that its the wrong year for the exact model but that almost all the body styles feel that they are 5 to 10 years too Early. It bothers me that if i want to make an 80s car i have to use a 90s body, unless i want a penalty.

[Killrob]

I agree with the sentiment that the bodies become too old too quickly right now, but that is down to fine-tuning and waiting for "time progression" to be implemented in the game after engineering and tooling.

As others have pointed out, the safety penalty is pretty much as it should be, unless you have data/arguments we're unaware of (this has been discussed a lot), that doesn't need any more discussion.

[Manche]

And I agree that in the tycoon mode, you should have a way to offset desirability if your car becomes truly iconic (Beetle, 2cv, original mini, Hindustan ambassador), because sometimes what's retro becomes hip and cool once again, just ask the rockabillies, the chaps, and the steampunks.

If hindustan manages a way to make the hindustan a modern car with all the charm of an antique (and almost none of the drawbacks) it could be a very "cool" car

[cpufreak101]

And I agree that in the tycoon mode, you should have a way to offset desirability if your car becomes truly iconic (Beetle, 2cv, original mini, Hindustan ambassador), because sometimes what's retro becomes hip and cool once again, just ask the rockabillies, the chaps, and the steampunks.

If hindustan manages a way to make the hindustan a modern car with all the charm of an antique (and almost none of the drawbacks) it could be a very "cool" car

reminds me of something Studebaker did in the 70's, company fell apart before it was finished but they tried to make a 100% brand new car with a late 1920's body, perhaps would something like this be possible whithin the game (not with a 20's body of course)

[nialloftara]

Look more at Morgan, a company that didn't go under when trying something like that. Modern aerodynamics, safety, and manufacturing techniques just don't lend themselves to that 20's or 30's style anymore.

[Manche]

for that we may need more retro inspired shells to keep the act going. That's something I may do when I have more pressing matters worked out

[Felgen]

Similar cars to the 240Z existed long before the 240Z itself did. Porsche used the same basic platform for the three first generations of 911 (classic, 964 and 993), btw.