Not to sound ungrateful, just curious: Are you planning on doing a 620r sometime in the future as well?
Yes, I have at least the engine data and basic data. Engine supercharger is also sorted out in AC in such a way that you will see the supercharger pressure and it will behave like a supercharger with a precise pressure/rpm curve. I am not aware of any car in AC doing a supercharger this way yet but it works fine, there is no need to bake superchargers into the power.lut.
And then, when you do every version ever, someone will pop up and ask if you can bring them to rF2.
Unlikely from me any time soon I don't have rF2 and as far as I'm aware rF2 is all about WEC. No idea what rF2 supports modding wise. Making the conversion physics wise is a matter of understanding the rF2 physics and it's drawbacks.
Done a quick test with other openwheelers.
Resolution 5760 x 1080. Grid with 19 opponents, starting position 12 at Brands Hatch
FPS at start position, before green light
Cat 43 fps
RSS2 52 fps
RSS4 61 fps
KTM X-Bow 71 fps
VRC MP4-22 (with 4k livery) 54 fps
KS F2004 71 fps
KS SF70 64 fps
but as said, no problem. After a few curves there are 60 fps
I will try checking it later, the polycount Ben uses didn't seem brutal to me plus there are LODs. It could be some object count but then why would the graphics engine draw a car per piece instead of submitting the whole model at once (minus moving parts).
Paint maybe?
Physics are easy to swap and check and there isn't really anything I'm aware that can be messed up in such a way that it would eat graphics or CPU performance.
That brings me to, are you limited by GPU or CPU performance? CPU AC is still quite heavily single threaded.
For me I run everything at 100fps and minimum around 80fps using a GTX 1060 and 4690K, nothing crazy. The biggest issue with AC lately is CPU. Race start grids with any car while starting at back of a 20 car pack will tank the fps. Some tracks are sensitive to shadow settings, etc.
Can't wait, hope it doesn't understeer badly
That depends on version, the more powerfull versions have LSD and rear ARB so they slip more and turn better but still the semislicks are going to take some of that away.
Cats have plenty rubber for their weight.
1700 has open rear diff and no ARB, I can slide it and don't need a handbrake unlike with Lotus Elise for U turns. As far as 120km/h+ goes it will always understeer due to aero, I'm tweaking the aero lift vs angle but don't expect miracles, it's just how all stock Caterhams are, the front wants to take off the ground.
Neither is rear axle supposed to be stiff as a brick so that it's easier to snap it and slide it due to lower rear grip.
Drifting... there is a Caterham drifting instructional video on YouTube that explains for new drivers the lower front grip and how to get it around. You have to lift off to transfer weight. Of course with soft dampers and the stock springs 1700 is fairly soft so all this weight transfer work is up to the driver where as when stiffer there is less weight transfer and driver can only make smaller weight shifts. For inexperienced drivers a soft suspension on any car in AC is often a madness to watch them drive it.
If you can handle a soft RUF CTR, 330 P4 and other soft cars with low front grip or even front lift aero then you should be fine with the Cats.
Plus 1700 has low power to be able to power drift much same as all other 4kg/hp+ cars. You can slide it but the engine doesn't have enough power to tear the tyres off.
Ben as well likes a rear ARB, who doesn't really, I'm waiting for his alterations so I can see what kind of behavior he finds better. Since 1700 has no rear ARB I have to use other means to get similar behavior. The 1700 dampers are soft civil like, I've swapped the "balance" front/rear on them and that helps a bit but gets more snappy on rough roads. There are many damper parameters to play with and 1700 is not intended to be a race car because it is not so the dampers are what they are without excessive track tuning.
No idea if we will get any damper data, for race and track oriented versions the dampers will most likely be open to adjustments. And even the civil 1700 has setup adjustments that make it much more usable for track use, I've posted them before what I use for track on it usually and it follows what real Cats use for track use. Of course by default it's set for normal civil road driving, not track use, not drifting, etc.
Wrong car for drifting really.
Aero on quite a few stock content cars doesn't have angle changes for lift, probably also for drag, people are not used to aero varying when car jumps, dives, etc. 1700 has this defined. You have to wary of the aero with Cats, it's just the way they are.
Cats drive best in 1-3 gear, beyond that the aero start to kill front grip and understeer from aero ensues. With high power variants you can rip the tyres off but that doesn't reduce the aero lift you just get more rear slip to steer, it's also tricky to get the slip right when driving and set it up right. To a point where if you get it right you can slide the rear a bit and steer through the corner but if you go too fast and lift off you will understeer even more unlike the 1700, meaning you either get it right or you eat a wall/ditch/sand/grass. Not exactly driver friendly if you don't have the precision and overshoot corners like most rookies.
