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Whenever we add a new variable or option or gameplay mechanic in the engine designer we need to weigh up the negatives, and I'd say these are the three test it needs to pass.

It needs to be all these things.
A: A key technical part of real life engine design, the kind of thing that that is a major focus of real life engineers, not a small engineering chore. Full power and Cruise fuel mixtures: Yes. What temp the thermo fans switch on: No.

B: An interesting design compromise, there have to be disadvantages and advantages to each choice in the gameplay mechanic. If you'd only ever really want to leave it on one setting then its not an interesting mechanic.

C: A worthwhile tradeoff for the effort required to develop it, considering that there are a practically infinite amount of features we could add to Automation, they need to be weighed up against each other

Valve Size: This is the most interesting and potentially useful one, and probably actually would pass test B, its an interesting design compromise, but I think its unlikely to be worth how much work it is. Currently valve size DOES change, but its considered to always be at the largest possible size that can be fit in the engine for its bore and valve count, I'm not sure allowing smaller valves will help greatly.

Larger is usually better but you can usually tweak TQ numbers by having smaller exhaust valves vs intake. But once again this is super detailed for the common user.

Cam Lift and Duration: We orignially had this, but it turned out to be confusing to teach the player about, and there were so few reasons you'd ever want to change them independantly that we rolled it into the one slider that controls both.

yes this is confusing still to those that are enthusiast like myself. But would be a great learning piece for those that are trying to see how higher or lower lift can affect an engine performance like duration as well. But can be overwhelming for most

Injectors and Fuel Pumps: Fails on test B and C, its not an interesting design compromise, as the only thing that really matters about fuel pumps and injectors is that they can flow enough fuel for the power level you're trying to generate, its not really a decision, you either have big enough injectors or... you don't, and there is no reason you'd want injectors that were larger or smaller than you needed. As such its assumed that the injectors are automatically sized correctly by your engineers.

I can see how this would be hard to incorporate but realistically for any of us that are adding power to our cars, this is the most important aspect almost. i currently have almost doubled my HP of my 2010 camaro by twin turboing it. I have upgraded the injectors but are running on stock fuel pump. My fuel pressure drops at high RPM on the dyno so i know that i need upgrade my fuel pump. whenever i have my car on a dyno, the gauge that i am glued to is the AFR gauge to make sure i didnt run lean. Plus if you have too big of injectors then you have to go smaller. just creates a more interactive way to find the right combo for power.

Throttle Body Sizing: Again, not a hugely exciting design decision, if it was going to be in there I'd also say having a choice of different styles of intake manifold would be part of the choice (short runner ones, long runner ones etc.). One day I'd like to add intake manifold choices but its a hell of a lot of work in terms of art, hence it not being in there currently.

yes this is one of those little picky things that we do to try and squeeze every last HP out of our cars. I do like the idea of being able to add more options of intake manifolds though. And i took a couple years of 3D modeling and i know how hard and complicated making these models can be so i have mad respect for you you all.

Piston Head Design: Could bring up interesting design choices, but fails test C, doesn't add enough value/awesomeness to the game for the amount of development effort needed.

This as well is for those that are looking to be able to tweak HP and TQ curves. A flat top responds different then a dished piston. Might only be a small impact but once again it gets everything out of the car.

Head Gasket Material: Just another part where more expensive = stronger. We've already got a lot of those with conrods etc. so adding another part where the compromise is just money vs durability isn't that fun.