Hi all,
This thread will serve the purpose of tracking raw data stats from any submitted vehicle. With data, it is my hope to turn that into a “comparison engine” for all to see, however they want to see it. Therefore, the GOAL of this thread is to become an objective data source for any volunteered information.
Sometimes, we see cars get “binned” or eliminated from a competition over something highly subjective, or even just from petty things like mis-labeling an entry by name. While that is the challenge-maker’s prerogative to run the challenge as they see fit, I often wonder what the outcome would be in a competition turning a blind-eye to the minutia of Automation fixture-pasting and manipulation. In other words, what would happen if we just looked at the stats? What if the game didn’t even have a graphical environment? Intrigued? Read on!
Thinking about it deeper, I realized that Automation is really two separate games (perhaps three if you are exporting to Beam and trying to make the best car for a course.) One is a beauty contest with a limited set of tools, similar to 3D Sketch type programs. The other (the one I care about for this thread) is a numbers-based Role-Playing game, balancing all manner of sliders to come up with the best compromise suitable for a given competition or challenge. The two “games” aren’t even connected to each other. Example, sticking on a grille, or a set of headlights, does not change anything stat-wise.
This thread hopes to expand on that second premise of the game, with data-driven results! If you’re interested in how your vehicle performed Objectively, then this thread is for you. At some point I hope to be able to automate the process by reading .car files or some other trickery, but for now this manual method will suffice.
The current way I’ll be doing this is with a tracking sheet in Google. It is not currently editable by all (which could result in bad data, until I figure out the automated export process), but it is publicly viewable:
How to send data:
- If you want to just send a .car file, that’s one way. I will load the car in Automation, and pull the specs.
- If you want to just send a screenshot of your complete “Detail Stats”, “Performance” (from Test Track page), “Engine Statistics”, body type as described in Automation (sedan, liftback, etc), “Design” page (for the wheelbase and seat count) pages, I’ll enter the specs.
You can screen-print the data here in this thread, drop the .car file in the thread, or DM me the info and/or .car file so I can work with the data.
Important points
- If the vehicle was created for a specific competition or challenge, list that information in your post. This way a user of the data can filter out for a particular competition or challenge.
- List your program version (otherwise I’ll assume its the “current” version that I can pull up at the time.) Different versions will then be easy to filter out. As of the writing of this thread, we’re on 4.2.13A.
- When sending stats, be sure to include the Model and Trim, and Years of your Vehicle and Engine. We’ll do that so we can compare how years affect the stats, performance-wise.
- Be sure to send in your
Total list of items gathered:
Date Data Entered Program Version Owner Challenge / Comp Model Trim Model Year Engine Year Body Style Doors (Automation spec) Full Seats Jump Seats (+1) Type Wheelbase (in.) Driveability Sportiness Comfort Prestige Safety Practicality Utility Offroad Reliability Env. Resistance Footprint [ft^2] Cargo Volume [L] Passenger Vol [L] Service Costs Fuel Economy (Mpg) Emissions Octane Material Costs Production Units Engineering Time Approx. Cost Engine Capacity (cc) Engine Power (HP) Engine TQ (ft. lbs) Engine Max RPM Engine Perf. Index Engine Cooling Engine Smoothness Engine Throttle Response Engine Noise Engine Reliability Engine Service Costs Engine Fuel Economy % Engine Octane Engine Emissions Engine Weight (lbs) Engine Size (L) Material Costs Manhours Engineering Time Top Speed 0-100 Km/H (sec) 80-120 Km/H (sec) 1/4 Mile (sec) 1Km Time (sec) 20m Radius Cornering (g) 200m Radius Cornering (g) Roll Angle (degree) 100-0 Km/H Stopping Distance (ft) Drivability Brake Fade (%) Sportiness Brake Fade (%) Utility Brake Fade (%) Frontal Area (ft^2) Coefficient of Drag (Cd) Front Downforce (lbs) Rear Downforce (lbs) Weight (lbs) Weight Dist. (Front %) Weight Dist. (Rear %) Power to Weight Ratio (kW/kg) Towing Capacity (lbs) Load Capacity (lbs)
By the way, I am not a data analyst expert so if I missed a data point or something we should track, or if there’s a better way to accomplish the goal of getting data-driven information out to the people.
I look forward to your replies!
-edited to add performance specs and others related