Mmmmuh - my plan to review
all the cars to get a sense of the entire field was clearly overambitious. I'm going to restrict myself to specific questions I'm interested in and can answer from the .lua files, like the count of valvetrain types - pushrod, direct-acting OHC, SOHC (2,3,4v), and DOHC (2,4,5v) - in each engine block type.
Meanwhile, here's (probably) my last car review before I update my game to the new build: pHanta's.
(A caveat: my game threw a "This was saved in an earlier edition" message, so any discrepancies here may be due to that.)
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This is another of the small coupes like my own, but much simpler in style. I find the front headlights a little crosseyed and the blue paint a bit too vibrant, but I like the narrow stripey taillights - it's not my favorite looking car, but there's nothing to be offended by here.
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Going through the mechanics: the Model tabs are all at +0 quality, with the standard choices (incl. hand made aluminium body panels). The engine is a 1.8L flatplane V8, approximately square, DOHC 5v, cast with forged heads; there's a +3 quality on the bottom end that brings up the reliability and smoothness a bit. On top, the cam profile is actually quite tame for cars in this competition at 54, reflecting the relatively large displacement for the power requirements; a +4 here keeps valve lift to a minimum.
In the fuel system, performance intakes feed twin 4-barrel carbs, running at a 14.0:1 fuel mixture; a 72 ignition timing is within the normal range, but in the pure horsepower tradeoff between timing and compression (10.4, here) for peak horsepower, my experiments find a marginally better performance either lower (~60) or much higher (~90+). That said, I haven't played with this engine and the moderate timing here does keep responsiveness reasonable at 26.5. Wrapping up this tab, the redline is 7500 (lowish, here) and +3 quality gives the car a little more reliability and economy at the same octane.
On the output side, long tubular headers (the lightest tubular headers) feed into a single 2.00" exhaust, no mufflers. Like AshleyBlack, pHanta has made the choice (which shouldn't be surprising, but in this competition somehow is) of properly-sized pipes.
Overall, the engine is middling priced at 83.1 production units and $768.83.
Going on to the trim, the car has an automatic locker differential but is nevertheless geared very tall to keep things in the power band. This costs a tenth on the 0-100 time (7.0 is easy to get with optimal gearing), but is probably better for race purposes. +7 quality is on the low end of typical, but typical. The car is running on semi-slicks, 175 mm on 13" rims, with 40 mm of offset front and back.
On the brake front, the car is impressively solid: +9 quality brings the stopping distance down to 41.0 m, and pHanta manages a brake fade of only -3.6%! Contributing to this is maxed out brake cooling, with some surplus engine cooling airflow to get it higher still. Aero quality is only a +1, however, possibly in recognition that the body drag of this particular car is too extreme to solve here. It does make for a sub-200 kph top speed, however, which will cost on the high-speed circuits.
Inside, the car is fitted with the usual -15 everywhere: Basic seats, nonexistent entertainment, and Standard safety package.
Springs sit at a +0 quality, progressive, with fairly tame settings (e.g. -1.8 and -2.0 degrees camber) and a low ride height - just 176.1 mm. The car has no bottom out, corners moderately flat at 2.5 degrees roll, and the yaw rate curve sits not too far from the ideal zero-understeer line. 1.17 g in the small circle is middling, but 1.13 g in the large is quite good. In-game track times are 2:42.56 on the Automation Test Track and 2:21.82 on Brands Hatch Indy (1:08.17 on the flying lap).
Tue Jun 30, 2015 2:58 pm 
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