Miro, I’m a gal actually, but thanks anyway <smiles>
Ok, Urne, you wanted it, now bear with it
For others – this post continues after that <smiles>
But y’all, keep in mind that the advantages and disadvantages below are my experience at ResMod 1.00, so it may not have been exactly (or less pronounced) your experience with the same cars... And it’s the same order I drive them in, to “conquer” a track.
There are 25 cars (5 rookie, 3 amateur, 3 advanced, 3 semi-pro, 11 pro). Still too many pros, but that’s the overall ratio out there...
9 originals:
RC Bandit – rookie. The comparison base for everything else, can’t eliminate it ever for that reason <chuckles> At ResMod 1 it turned out to be actually quite nose-heavy. So jumps are a matter of careful negotiation now – certain bumps land you flat on your back going right over your nose, unless taking them at really low speed. It makes for some nice strategic racing for a change.
Phat Slug – rookie. Slow and heavy, but actually quite stable. A pain to climb any steeps.
Harvester – rookie. The best turning characteristics of all the stock cars, but not that stable at jumps.
Volken Turbo – rookie. One of the only two stock touring cars I kept, others were a bit too rehashed or too perfect-handling for me. It’s stable and relatively just as fast in the rookie class as the zipper is in pro class. And there are too many pro cars around, so I dropped the zipper. The negative side of Volken is that it’s not much of an off-roader – spins and shakes too much, obviously due to its street suspension.
Genghis Kar – amateur. Oh what a lumbering hunk of steel on rubber barrels <laughs> It’s the only other stock car to give that feeling besides Rotor, and it’s different enough from it to keep. On the plus side – it’s relatively fast and not that much affected by rockets.
Evil Weasel – advanced. Fast, but with a really high turning radius. Thus requires a totally different racing strategy from others. Was kept in favour of the Pole Poz, as the lower-class item of the pair.
Panga TC – advanced. The other touring car I kept, mainly for its interesting disadvantage – it rolls over more easily than a pet dog <laughs> And off-roading makes it shake – literally, from side to side, as if it could barely keep from rolling. Which it really can barely keep from. But it’s fast for its class.
Rotor – semi-pro. Too original to lose, but a pain to drive. It’s even more a hulk on barrels than Genghis and thus flips over _sideways_ in fast cornering. How much fun is that?! Sometimes, not much... But it’s a good challenge to get through a track with it, especially in first-person camera mode. Not _too_ slow, either, if you can keep it steady.
Panga (the panda bear) – pro. Very original. Very fast. Very wall-humping if facing it. A good relaxation after the Rotor and a good chance to get a 1. pos. at a track if it proved too devious for other cars before it.
16 customs:
BossL4x4 – pro. This one is in the collection for the sheer size of it. As for handling – the all-wheel turning makes it sharp at corners, but it’s an absolutely pathological roll-over-the-nose at any jumps. And the huge size means that low borders don’t help much in keeping it within the road. Very devious to drive if not careful.
Caterpillar – pro. Quite interesting to drive, because the front wheels not only turn slow, but also return to the straight position just as slow. So you have to think ahead and start turning long before the corner, and then stop turning as soon as possible or the thing just keeps on turning and hits the inside wall. On the plus side, it’s a relatively stable jumper – not going over the nose, although it still lands on its front scoop all the time.
Blitzwagen Hammer – pro. Heavy, fast, good turning. But needs a sign hanging from its steering wheel: “Warning, do not touch the walls. Sticks to them.” (About the heaviness – I modified it to have a kilogram of more weight, as it is a large rocket car, after all.)
Dump-Truck – advanced. It’s just so adorable, like a child’s sandbox toy <smiles>. But it has a body-roll of a real dump-truck (not from experience
), true to its creator’s description. Good turning, but tends to be flipped over by others hitting it.
Tractor – amateur. That’s one of the two vehicles that I edited down from pro to amateur. The pack needed more of that class than just one <laughs> And it’s quite tractor-like in handling, too. Not too fast now, but stable. (Modified to have its huge rear wheels triple the weight of its tiny front wheels. Some realism, people, some realism.)
Matchbox (Mbox) – semi-pro. Oh my, what a good original idea! But a pain to drive, as its low weight means that it spins easily in place when trying to get going after a crash. On the plus side – it’s one of the few vehicles that don’t dip its nose when in air. By the way, I changed its engine from glow to electric – it’s made of paper, after all, and that doesn’t go well with gasoline and internal combustion <laughs>.
Peterbilt 359 – rookie. Every collection needs a heavy truck that actually handles like a heavy truck. Slow, heavy, wide turning, body-roll – overall a good challenge to drive and gives a very realistic sense of trying to race a semi. Not much stops it once it gets going, except high jumps, because it throws its nose in the air after hitting the ground with it, sometimes it even flips over tail like this.
Savage X – pro. The best-looking monster-truck I have seen this far. And handles like a dream. It’s just very high and so sometimes can’t get under low obstacles. Also has quite a body-roll, especially noticeable in first-person camera. It doesn’t really have any grave disadvantages, I kept it for its good looks. Fortunately it’s not all roses and no thorns, either, as there are cars with more speed in its class.
Soquet – semi-pro. The speeder and an almost last-resort race-winner in the collection (the last-last-resort is the Wardog). If I can’t win a track with this one, the only other probable possibility in any near future is a bit unfair win with the Bimota Tesi motorcycle. Fast, sharp turning, glued to the ground – exactly what I have avoided in assembling my collection
It’s the only one like this, and kept solely as a frustration relief (well, it does look good, too). The only disadvantage is that it’s rubber-knobbed tires (they do feel like that when driving) sometimes manage to send it rolling sideways, but only if being really careless in a high-speed turn.
Super Peat – amateur. That’s the other pro I downgraded, as I wanted to have a good monster truck in the lower classes. All-wheel turning makes it good at cornering, and it’s not too fast, and it’s a pain to get running after a stop.
T-Bucket – pro. Totally a challenge-vehicle. It took me a while to learn to actually control that insanely over-powered hotrod, but it is actually possible when not flooring the gas all the time <laughs>
Bimota Tesi – pro. The only bike I have found that looks decent and also leans correctly (Very Important Aspect!). Although I had to correct a mistake in its parameters to get it realistic – the creator has accidentally left one of the technically two rear wheels insanely high-powered. After getting that in line with the other “half of the rear wheel”, it suits well in the pro class (instead of hyper-pro or something). I keep it as a novelty variety, because it is still too easy to win a race with it, but it’s worth it to experience the leaning action of a real motorbike-y speeding along the tracks. A somewhat stupid quirk/effect of this bike is that when a corner is too tight, the bike can actually climb the outer wall a bit while speeding along it in heavily leaned position with its wheels on the wall. I usually try to overlook it because I don’t want to go searching for another bike. And also, it sometimes confuses the game so it’s not allowed to go past some checkpoint node (whatever they are actually called). So it’s not an all-wins vehicle, either.
Theta – pro. This thing has the softest suspension I have seen, even more than the Savage X. Thus it flips easily and body-rolls madly. But it’s very stable in air, actually feels like gliding (this suits well with the shape of the car). Unless going off the ramp at an angle, of course (but this is a consideration with all cars, with ResMod 1.0).
APC – pro. Oh boy, you don’t want to jump in this iron box. It lands on its nose and immediately kicks the said nose in air, losing all steering ability for a while. Alternatively it lands on its tail and immediately kicks its tail in the air, skidding _and_ spinning 180 degrees at the same time. And it has a very wide turning radius. And it has a low acceleration. But it’s not too slow in top speed, and can be handled well if handled with care. A scream to drive, as Beetlejuice would say. Thus, a good challenge.
Thunder Tiger BX – pro. A classic shape. A terrifically good active suspension (I can actually feel the nose wobbling a bit on the front springs after a jump). A great tendency to slip-and-grip-and-slip-and-grip in speedy turns, thus making it a bit hard to end the said turn in a perfect direction. And flips over the nose in some jumps. But overall, a good responsive racer.
Wardog – pro. Eight working wheels, wheee!! What more could you ask for a custom design?! It’s also fast and has a _reasonably_ good turning radius, but can’t stand hitting an obstacle head-on, as it bounces backwards like a rubber ball then. And it’s long, thus it’s sometimes a bit difficult to manoeuvre in tight spaces. Overall, a good way to end a track and to get that redeeming 1st pos. if you haven’t really managed it with any of the other cars.
No planes yet, because all I have seen have their wingtips disappearing into walls. Extremely ugly effect and a total turn-off for me. Plus some of them have front wheel turning, and as far as I know, all biplanes turn on the ground by turning their _tail_ wheel. Needless to say, I corrected that for myself when trying out the various planes, but still, their collision checking at wingtips is too lousy.
On with the rest of the post <smiles>
MOH, yours is a good overall strategy with ResMod. It’s just that the ResMod 1.00 should really have been included as one of the racing modes in the game. It’s too good to miss (and I’m afraid that not many people know or care to try it at this point...).
Urne, I’m not sure about cars being _more_ complicated – I have no experience in track-making to offer an opinion here. But I do know that cars and tracks compliment each other. Good cars are as important for a great driving experience as good tracks.
/edited to correct a typo/
/edited to correct several mistakes/
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. What about creating a 'Citywalker's selection pack'? including those cars with your modification, and the nice description above?