Broughy1322's Handling SpreadSheet

That "carcols" file that I thought held color info... it turns out that in the DLC packs the format changed to a .meta file, meaning OpenIV can easily open it. Scrolling through the file that came with the Lowrider update, look what I found.



This is the data that I previously thought was hardcoded. DEBUNKED!

Starting off the car part references the model it wants to use and a reference to the mod shop. If the parts are meant to be in a different menu it's mentioned at the bottom of the entire mod list for said vehicle. In the case of the Moonbeam you'll find this near the end of its kit tag:


       <Item>
         <slot>VMT_SPOILER</slot>
         <name>TOP_TGATE</name>
       </Item>


In here we see things like <type> being the type of part, <bone> being the attach point and <collisionBone> being a reference to the parts already existing on the car (all collision shapes are stored on the car itself).



On the left is the seperate model file for the spare wheel. On the right is the car's own hierarchy of parts, the mod_col_2 being a child of the boot. So far all references add up.

The last point of interest is the <weight value=""> item. All mod shop items has this, including horns funnily enough. Performance upgrades has a <modifier value=""> telling the game how strong the effects are, spanning between 0 to 100. So the <weight> item could reference an addition in weight to the car, armor being the heaviest at "40" on the few cars I checked.  Looking at the lowriders, having the most amount of custom parts of any other vehicle, this means you can easily make the car over 200-300 units heavier if you slap on as many different parts as you can.
Note: Number plates are never referenced in the files I've checked, so the mass of the vehicle wont be affected by the plate used. Placebo confirmed?

---

Summary

The amount a certain item changes a stat is specified here, but what the part does is not. So how much the performance upgrades, including spoilers, change stats has to be found elsewere. But at least now we can see what unique effects the different parts have on said vehicle, which is a good start.

Keep in mind that cars are more or less always above 1000 units of mass, so if you add a part worth 20 units it'll be near impossible to notice the difference.

Just to jump in - I saw these carcol values a long time ago (must be over a year ago now) and it led me to do some testing to see if those weight values had any effect using one of the lightest cars with the most custom parts available - the futo. I noticed no difference in my testing from having nothing applied to having everything, in terms of track performance and acceleration tests too. I'm not sure what these weight values are for (though I know the LSC phone app includes weight so it could just be for that) but I concluded they had no effect on actual performance, and certainly not in any meaningful way.

There is one thing we haven't uncovered yet CHILLI, there are other handling flags out there, anyways, I'll be giving that a go when I get home, placebos and human error happens, sadly we can't have robots testing this

The Elegy is bad for testing those things because of its low steering lock. It's unable to steer harder than its traction limit, so you need rough terrain to feel the true differences. You really need to provoke it to slide to find out where the limits are and how/if it gets snap oversteer. Same goes for the Sultan, Blade and perhaps a few others I cant think of off the top of my head. The reason I mentioned it was specificly because of offroad wheels will let it slide slightly around certain types of corners.

The Brawler does experience a difference, especially when offroading which is what it's built for.

And as I've been trying to say in the past there's (usually) no absolute best setup. You have equal odds of winning with stock wheels as any other type granted you know how to get the most out of said setup.

shutout to you guys so you dont come to logical but wrong conclusions!

the turbo upgrade seems to be somewhat mysterious. on the dashboard of the turismo and the ruiner (+all oter cars with the same dashboard) there is a dial that after the turbo upgrade is installed becomes functional.
it appears to act as a power indicator as it seems to builds up power. this triggers at ca 85% throttle on the xbox1 controler or slightly after the rev needle starts bouncing if handbrake and throttle is applied. this means having the throttle pushed over a certain point will initiate a boost. however this did not appear to affect top speed??? i managed to get to the same top speed when not using the turbo according to the in-game speedometer.

i found this when practicing perfect launch. if the handbrake is released straight away after reaching max revs it gets significantly less wheelspin than if the turbo is allowed to charge up first (3-4 seconds). the wheelspin also seems to be directly proportional to how much you let it charge up
the turbo decharges at a high rate whenever sufficient power is not applied to the wheels (gearshifts causes decharging in the turbo)

first real post hype! im suprised chilli didnt make a post about this yet cause i remember mentioning it for him

I've read almost every word in this thread for relaxation. Big mistake. I probably barely digested any of the facts you guys put forward.

One of the things that I did focus on based on the topic Nismo.  initially presented was car performance with a variation of modifications. What I can conclude so far is that each individual car will have different tuning option to optimize its performance (not regarding the track it is on). Meaning Broughy1322 's testing on lap times are not only skewered by track variables but the modifications he had on the cars. Meaning some cars may have benefited more from not using Off-Road tires and/or lower spoiler options.

I'm not sure whether you guys have a final conclusion on the effects of tires and spoilers, but I would really like to know more on the topic of the effect of vehicle mods on cars. This includes visual mods outside of tires and spoilers and the possibility of whether lower performance enhancing modifications can actually improve a car's performance.

One specific thing I would like to ask if whether different exhaust tips in anyway have any affect on a car. When learning to drift in the game, it was said that custom exhaust tips that were able to help spit fire in lower end cars helped with drifting. So it got me wondering, is it placebo (most likely) or is there actually a slight change that occurs? This probably touches on the car's acceleration if ever.

Since this thread is aimed more towards the data files, such as base values and available parts, I should probably respond and update my Mechanics thread instead since I havent posted anything over there in a while. That said I have been curious about the exhausts aswell but so far there hasnt been anything consistent with what people have been suggesting, so if they do have an effect on something that'd be nice to find out. I'll take another look at it (eventually).