Automation car mods download

Driving games come in many shapes and sizes, and not all are created equal. But from the arcade pocket versions on our phones, the party favourites like Mario Kart, to the more sophisticated and realistic titles such as Forza Motorsport and Gran Turismo, there's definitely something for everyone.

In the past few years, a pair of open-source PC games have formed a partnership allowing users to design their own car and drive it in one fell swoop. It's a surprisingly rewarding process that combines just the right levels of fun and simulation-quality realism. But before I dive deeper, it's good to know the details of the two games on their own.

Automation - The Car Company Tycoon Game

First launched in 2015, Automation encompasses the entire process of designing, engineering and marketing a car, in a streamlined sequence that sets the fun-factor as a priority. Styling takes place in a 3D click-and-drag fashion, and car bodies are sculpted and edited using adjustable, preset designs. Engines are created step-by-step down to the very details, with factors like compression ratios, block material and valve timing all coming into play. The suspension setup, gearing, brake specifications and level of safety technology can be adjusted as well, all of which affect the final cost of the vehicle, should you progress to the marketing stage. There's also a surrounding community with plenty of custom mods made by other players, which can be downloaded and added into the game. Available through early access on Steam.

BeamNG.drive

Another early-access title, BeamNG has seen gradual development since 2013 and has become a very impressive driving (and crashing) simulator. Pre-loaded cars offer countless hours of experimentation, with the ability to alter individual components of the car, like the differential, ECU and exhaust, to name but a few. Like Automation, mods are also available to download, should you ever run out of things to do with the game's default garage. Driving in BeamNG is where you realise the attention to detail in simulation - coolant overheats, brakes fade and engines stall, with older cars being more prone to failure than the newer models. But the real party piece is the crashing, which has underpinned BeamNG since its conception. The cars are modelled using what's called soft-body physics, meaning each surface is malleable and prone to damage, and vehicle components are individually connected to each other with breakable 'Nodes'. In short, the crashes in BeamNG look ridiculously real, and you even have the option to view them in slow motion, or with a cinematic camera mode. Or both. Available through early access on Steam.

How it all works

It begins with the creation of your own car. Some basic selections are made on chassis design / material and engine placement, and then it's on to the engine itself. To demonstrate how it all works, I'll go through the process of designing a Jag-ish Lexus 3 Series. Or something.

We begin by choosing the specifications of the chassis and body. I've chosen an Aluminium body on a steel monocoque, with a North-South (Longitudinal) engine placement that suits the RWD layout of the car. Throughout the build, I'll be using a quality setting of +3, which gives the car a little prestige without increasing costs too much.

The next stage is designing the engine itself. There's plenty of options to play with here, the basics like cylinder configurations and capacities, all the way to boost pressure, exhaust diameter, cam profiles and fuel mixtures. This lets you really fine tune the engine to your exact liking, whether it be to reduce cost, improve economy or maximise performance.

Once you've chosen all your settings, a dyno chart appears on-screen to visualise the engine's power band. The graph continually updates as you go about tweaking the engine so you can see exactly how your adjustments affect its performance. The reliability indicators on the right will gradually turn yellow and red if your adjustments make the engine unstable, and hovering over them with your mouse will provide tips on how to eliminate any issues present (e.g. lower compression ratio to reduce knocking).

When you're happy with the engine tune, it's onto the car's styling. The body style of the car is chosen from a group that suit the chassis dimensions, and certain areas such as the A-pillars and bumpers can be shaped by click-and-dragging. There's an assortment of lights, badges, vents, aero, wheels and more that can all be put on the car, and these too can be shaped and rearranged to suit.

From here, it's brake specs, transmission and suspension setup, and some final touches, like what type of power steering you'd like (hydraulic / electric / variable electric), how advanced the traction control will be, and the level of luxury inside the car (all of which affect cost if you play further into the marketing and sales aspect of the game). I chose a 7-speed dual-clutch gearbox for the car, and chose a sports preset for the suspension, which I tweaked a little after the game calculated that the car would have too harsh a ride. How thoughtful of it!

With everything finished, it was a simple matter of clicking the BeamNG logo on the export page to bring the creation to virtual-life, and about 10 seconds after that, it was ready to go. A quick drive revealed a pretty successful design overall. The engine could've done with some more low-end torque, but once it was out of first gear it made for a pretty solid performer. As you'll see in the video, the game did a pretty good job of replicating the trademark dual-clutch noises we know and love, with some overrun crackles added in for extra laughs.

Of course, the models you design in Automation can't be as complex as the ones made specifically for BeamNG itself, so if you want the most realistic driving experience possible, have a go in one of the cars included in BeamNG by default. Being made by the game's creators, there's an impressive level of detail to them, with complete interiors and detachable components all part of the package. I've included a few clips driving some of these default cars in the video below as well.

And there you have it! A pretty clever idea from the two developers, with a solid balance of arcade-style enjoyment and realistic simulation. Both games have their own scenario / campaign modes and plenty of other features that I haven't gone into detail with, and being in early access, these update and change regularly. But it's already an impressive feat by the pair, and I've personally spent more time than I care to admit between these two games.

If your automotive side is in search of a creative outlet, or you're just mesmerised by the slow-motion destruction of a rental car going off a cliff, look no further.