Also, given that convertible variants of a coupe/sedan are generally inferior to the fixed-roof equivalent (all other things being equal), you may considering giving a minor stat bonus (at least in some areas) to all convertibles (specifically, any car built on an actual convertible body, and not a coupe/sedan made to look like a roadster/convertible/targa).
Moreover, exterior aesthetics could (and should) contribute to the Cool Wall scoring criteria - most likely as an area of major (ten-point) or moderate (five-point) importance.
Also, there’s nothing in the rules that explicitly prohibits use of semi-slick tires (yet), so we can equip our submissions with those if we want - for now.
Finally, the rule set didn’t mention anything about advanced trim settings, so I’m assuming we can adjust them, but in moderation.
Wouldn’t that sort out itself if the client thinks that convertibles ends up higher on the cool wall? And if the client doesn’t think they do, there’s frankly not much of a reason to build one.
Also, exterior aesthetics would for most people be a major factor for where the car ends up on the cool wall - hence it’s not a great idea to have it as a scoring area, since it would then be something that’s factored in twice.
To me, the cool wall is about finding the balance between emotional (including, but not limited to its looks) and rational (safety, practicality, reliability etc) for the actual client, which makes it an interesting alternative to the more usual CSR style challenges, where it is more often things like “customer wants a 1988 sports sedan build the best one”. I think an example of an IRL vehicle selling mainly on its “cool wall” factor is the Jeep Wrangler. It could not be called a beauty, and there are better cars both on and off the road, but it has an image that speaks to its buyers, hence finding its niche on the market.
weirdly barely anyone sent in convertible cars for this cool wall so far, all I have is the Eos and the mr2. But yeah the negatives with regards stats are all part of open top cars in the game so i guess you’ll have to decide where they fall.
I will add semi slicks into the same part as race components since they are road legal but quite obviously barely useable tyres day to day unless you only drive in the sun on perfect roads.
Interesting notes on WES. A '91 car, for example, only has WES 9 available in the engine emission section. It does not seems related to the engine, even if you rebuild the engine and make is a 2020 engine (family or trim) you still only see up to WES 9. WES 10 (and 11) only becomes available for '95 car trims and later. Since the budget and rules are based on the trim year, it is impossible to comply to the clean air zone rules with a car made before '95 (unless you up the trim year to comply, then bring it down… which would be a lot of work to validate for each car and error prone).
Unless there is another way to have WES 10 available in the engine emission window that I do not know about.
I’ll copy what I put in discord but I think I know where the confusion is coming from. I’m guessing clean air zones are a very UK thing
“Basically there is no benefit to exceeding the euro emissions rules for your year bracket. Cars have to be either 1982 or older to be exempt or 2005 and newer. Everything in between is subject to the charges. But since you get more money to play with in the non compliant years I felt only a 2 point penalty worked.”
So a pre-2005 car that’s somehow compatible with WES10 won’t be exempt, but a post-2005 car will.
On that note, I created yet another test mule, this time a 2005 FR coupe with a big NA I6, and found it to be statistically superior to all my previous attempts at a CW6 test mule so far despite being less powerful than any of them (and also sitting right on the budget cap). Now, if I can just create a full-fledged entry for it… I might end up being pleasantly surprised by how well it could turn out.
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