Reading the numbers

The four numbers

At the top right of the Handling Editor, four numbers describe the car in the current mode. The stock Sultan:

12

1. 11. Top speed: where drag stops the car, and in which gear
2. 22. Lap estimate: with the measured lap of the upgraded car below it

• Top speed

  What it is:The speed where drag stops the car on a flat road.
  The line below it:The gear it tops out in: in 5th gear.

• 0-100 km/h

  What it is:Seconds from standstill to 100 km/h at full throttle.
  The line below it:The shifts on the way: 2 shifts before 100.

• Quarter mile

  What it is:Seconds to cover 402 m from standstill.
  The line below it:The speed at that point, the trap speed: trap 145 km/h.

• Lap estimate

  What it is:An estimated lap time on the race track of the public lap-time tests.
  The line below it:The lap measured there for the fully upgraded car: Broughy, upgraded 1:04.982. For an uploaded file it reads Broughy GP track.

A dash instead of a number means the car does not get there within the 90 seconds the editor simulates, for example a slow truck and 100 km/h.

The change against stock

As soon as one field differs from the loaded car, the line under each number shows the difference: green when it is better, red when it is worse. After the quick-start tune:

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1. 11. Top speed: +20 km/h vs stock
2. 22. Lap estimate: -5.53 s vs stock, from the extra grip and speed

"Stock" means the car as it was loaded, in the same mode. A worse number is not wrong: more top speed through longer gears can cost a little launch, and the red line shows that trade.

The full-throttle run

After every change the Full-throttle run panel replays a start from standstill, a little faster than real time: the speed gauge, the rpm gauge and the gear in use.

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1. 11. Gear: the gear in use and how many there are
2. 22. 5 gears · 4 shifts · 25.0 s to 1000 m: gear count, shifts and the time to 1000 m
3. 33. Replay run: play the run again

• The amber part of the rpm gauge is where the engine loses torque, from 80 % up to the redline.
• The line under the gauges names the gears, the shifts of the run and the time to 1000 m, here 5 gears · 4 shifts · 25.0 s to 1000 m.
• The replay stops 2 s after 1000 m, so the speed gauge can end a little below the top speed.
• Replay run plays it again. With reduced motion turned on in your system, the gauges jump straight to the end.

Wheel force against drag

The Wheel force vs. drag chart answers why the car is as fast as it is. The white steps are the push of each gear, the dashed line is air and rolling resistance. The green line marks the top speed, where the two meet.

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1. 11. 193 km/h: where wheel force and drag meet

• Each step down is a gear change: a higher gear pushes less but goes faster.
• A lower drag coefficient flattens the dashed line, so it meets the gears later: more top speed.
• More drive force lifts every step: better launch and more top speed.
• A higher flat velocity stretches the steps to the right, but the dashed line still rises with speed, which is why the gain is smaller than expected.

Speed over distance

The Speed over distance chart draws your setup in white and the drag race opponent in grey, over 1000 m from standstill. A ring marks each gear change, and the time to 1000 m sits at the end of each line.

Where the white line pulls away tells you where the tune helps: early means launch, late means top speed.

How accurate the numbers are

The numbers come from a model of the game's straight-line physics. It uses the game's real gear ratio table and was checked against public in-game measurements:

• Top speed, fully upgraded cars

  Vehicles:617
  Error:3.3 % on average, 80 % within 3 %

• Time over 1000 m, stock and upgraded

  Vehicles:155
  Error:0.5 s on average

• Lap time (a statistic, not a simulation)

  Vehicles:482
  Error:about 2.0 s

• Top speed, electric cars

  Vehicles:26
  Error:2.6 % on average

For the fully upgraded Sultan the editor predicts 186 km/h; the public test measured 187 km/h. What the model does not cover:

• Motorcycles show the speed on two wheels. Published bike speeds are often measured in a wheelie, which the file cannot predict.
• Boost vehicles, such as rocket cars, are not modelled.
• Slow service, industrial and emergency vehicles are off by 4-6 %.
• Corners are not simulated. The lap estimate is a statistic learned from measured lap times; it works best for cars within the range of vanilla cars.
• Suspension, brakes and steering change how a car feels far more than the lap estimate shows.
• Stock top speeds were not part of the public tests; the stock numbers rest on the same model and on the stock 1000 m times.