I’ve noticed there are some things that don’t make too much sense in terms of entertainment options available from the 1960s to the 1980s.
The first is the 8-track players. Currently the luxury version unlocks in 1970 and luxury cassette only appears by 1982.
In the real world, 8-track was dead by the 80s, having been replaced by cassette in the 70s. The first in-car 8-track players appeared in Fords in 1965, and they were rather common equipment by the late 60s. What I’m proposing here is luxury 8-track unlocking in 1965-66 and working its way down from there instead of the current 1970 unlock date. Also with 8-track players is that the format was so short lived that they never became the basic system for cars, so having it end at “standard 8-track” would also make sense for the format.
As far the cassette player goes, I can’t find an exact year of it being used in cars except that it was in the late 1970s, so the luxury one could make sense to unlock in 1978, perhaps? And like the 8-track, working its way down from there.
The other concern I have is for FM radio. Having FM radio could be a decent stepping stone between AM radio and 8-track, and possibly also go along with the latter as the basic option. an AM/FM radio was first used in cars in 1952, but again, I don’t know how widespread or nich that might have been. Having luxury FM in the early 1960s to mostly replace the AM-only system would make sense, as well as being the option to choose for some basic radios into the 70s instead of a basic 8-track.
Now, not sure how easy or hard it is to implement, but the AM/FM radio has been used as a basic option in cars up until recently as something much cheaper than a system with cassette or CD. So if FM radio gets implemented and it’s possible to lock it in, having it available as a basic option until at least sometime in the 00s would help to have a very low cost option for entry level cars that isn’t just “none”.
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I would like to add that the 8-Track Player was pretty much not a thing in most parts of Europe, infact it was nearly non existant due to Philips having their compact cassette here.
The CC was released 1964, as empty blank tape, people started recording stuff on there but the quality was quite bad, but quality improved dramatically by 1971 and then they took over the (european) market by storm. 8-Track was a very niche thing here, Becker (a huge car radio manufacturer back then) hasnt made a single one. I heard stuff was a bit different in the UK though.
The first CC-Radio came in 1968 as a aftermarket thing (by Philips) and in 1969 Blaupunkt presented the legendary Mexico - Mono FM/AM Radio and Stereo CC - which taxed high prices in its official release 1970.
It was around 1300DM extra on a W114 (which was 13,375DM in 1971 - the Strich-Acht). compared to the normal Europa Stereo costing just 520DM - that was pretty much the “luxury option”.
By around 74 we had cheaper CC-radios like the Becker Monza, which was basically the same as the Mexico, but half the price. And in 1978 it was “just” a 200DM extra for having the Cassette option in a VW Golf I.
Ingame we dont get CRs until 1982, with the cheaper CC options coming 84 and 86, which might makes little sense to me.
For the FM Thing: That again might be a very regional thing, even the 72 Golf with the optional Radio had the possibility to receive FM and AM - pushed through a single middle speaker. And yes even the cheapest eco boxes today only have a AM/FM Radio with no CD or Cassette Slot, maybe AUX or Bluetooth these days though, but yeah, there should be a super cheap option that is better than nothing.
Quick Edit since we discuss it in the Discord too atm:
CDs could unlock in 1988 instead of 1992, atlest for the luxury option. And the premium can come 1992, standard 1996. Fits better historically
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IIRC, Lincoln was the last to offer an 8 track player in a car and that was in 1984.
Volvo, for some reason, only had 8 track players at least until 1975 when the 240 came out, maybe even the earliest 240s had them…but they have always been quite biased against the US market, I don’t know about many other european brands offering them…but then I don’t know everything either.
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