Overview
This guide will show you the ins and outs of your new car, including the systems explained and how to choose everything.
Choosing your car/mods
Choosing your car may be difficult. It may be easy. Choose a car that you like, for example, I will be using the ’65 Ibishu Miramar.
*That is not the car, just an image of what it looks like.
Next will be mods. This means game modifying software. Go to Beamng.com and go to Mods/Vehicles/Configurations or Mods/Vehicles/Land. Pick mods for your car/boat/attack chopper of your choice and download it. When it prompts you to “Save” or “Open”, click save. Let the mod finish downloading, then press “Show in folder”. Now right click on your mod, and press “Cut” or “Copy” (I use cut) and go to Downloads/BeamNG.drive/Mods and paste it there. Restart your game and the mod should be there. Remember to only use mods that say:
-WIP Beta Release
-WIP(if downloadable)
-Beta
-Alpha(If downloadable)
Other mods may work, normally if they don’t they will say:
-Outdated
-Old and Unsupported
-Cancelled
-On hold(in progress, may or may not be finished)
Have fun picking mods, it can be addicting!
A video on installing mods
Building your actual car
Now that we have some mods for our car, we need to figure out what goes well with your driving style and taste. Don’t tell me you like those Ibishu type LS wheels dude First, we need to pick a variant. The best variant of your car to work with will always be the “Base” version. Once you load up the car, pick your body style. For my Miramar, I have a few mods allowing me to choose a coupe, the original Nissan GTR, etc. Pick a variant, in this case, my Miramar is using the 200BX/Miramar crossover edition(a new mod as of 8/17/2017) and it works well with all parts. It put the Miramar body on the 200BX suspension.
Second, we need to pick a Nav unit. There’s one selection, pick it if you want to know where you’re going. Next comes traction control/ESC. I’ll explain this later, it’s best to use it anyway unless you want to drift. After that, pick whatever you want until you start getting dropdown lists of parts like Engine, Transmission, Suspension, etc.
Picking the basic parts is an easy task, just pick what fits the car and you should will be fine.
The interesting stuff
Now we have the slightly more complicated things. Don’t worry, no need to have a certain bore width or displacement, just needing to know what your car does.*
First, we have the engine. This is what makes the car move. Fuel goes in through one of a few methods of injection, gets mixed with air, goes to the top of the cylinder, get sprayed, and compresses. When the piston goes all the way to the top of the cylinder, the fuel explodes.** Gasoline type is also something to consider. Gas will be thinner and cleaner, but slightly less efficient. Diesel is dirtier, but more efficient(That’s why buses make that black smoke).
Now choose an intake/supercharger. ‘Murican cars use superchargers, delivering a surge of power as soon as you stomp the gas pedal. Japanese cars tend to use turbos that require spooling up to very high RPM in order to kick in.
Superchargers are connected to the crankshaft and ram air down into the intake. Turbos take air from the exhaust, compress it, and ram it into the intake.
Your next choice is exhaust. Exhaust size and shape can affect throttle response, so choose wisely. Normally it’s best to use and X-shaped exhaust for a V8, and a standard or wide exhaust for an i6 or i4.
Engine type is a big part of this. A V6,V8,V10,V12 are shaped like the letter V. Inline engines are shaped like an I, and come in the i3,i4,i6, and the rare i8. The Bugatti Veyron uses 2 engines, but is commonly referred to a W16 and the engines are bolted together.
Transmissions are some of the complicated machines. They are what connects the engine to the driveshaft, which ultimately connects to the driving wheels. Any (Insert number here) Speed transmission means how many forward gears it has. If you’re in Automatic, the gears shift with a computer’s control. If it’s a manual, you have full control over your transmission. If you hear grinding, you probably forgot the clutch and can say bye to your transmission.
Differentials are used in the rear axle, and will use a variety of modes and ratios. The ratio is driveshaft turns to wheel turns. A 3.97 Diff is good for an older, pro stock dragster. Don’t worry about ratios too much unless you’re working with a real car, in which case, you should be consulting your local car enthusiast/mechanic. Now the types of Differentials.
Open: Normal road car differential, only problem is that if you get stuck, the free wheel will spin violently and the wheel thats stuck won’t spin.
Locking: Can be open for on road, then lock for offroad. A very good diff to use on big trucks.
Limited Slip: Will slip as little as possible but still allow some wheel spin, and don’t inhibit steering.
Welded: Will allow both wheels to spin the same, always the same. The inside of the diff is welded with a spool, locking both axles permanently. Turning is inhibited vastly, and you will need to turn sooner and harder.
allows the car to absorb the bumps in the road. Most cars in BeamNG have independent suspension, and only a few trucks have Live Axles.
Independent: Allows each wheel to travel without affecting the other wheels, good for on-road use.
Live Axle: The whole axle is one piece, mostly used on older cars and off road trucks.
Try to stick to idependent suspension, unless you plan to use Utah, USA all the time.
Now, suspension parts. These build and support the wheels and axles and keep the car off the ground.
Spring: This provides travel, and allows the wheel to go up and down.
Shock Absorber: Controls Suspension travel, used to prevent uncontrollable boncing
Leaf spring(optional): another form of bounce control, doesn’t need shock absorbers
Airbag(optional): allows full control over suspension, used mostly for bouncing.
Strut bar: Another part of the suspension, used for support
Sway Bar: Prevents the car from rolling uncontrollably, take it off and hit a curb to see the difference.
Axle: Connects the differential to the wheel.
Brake: Comprised of the disc, caliper, and pad, these will hopefully stop a car in time before jumping that cliff in front of you
Mind you, might wanna look out before you wreck that thing
Hub: Holds everything between the brake, axle, and wheel in place.
Pick some supension according to your driving style, then put it all together.
Pick something you like, for something like the Miramar I recommend the Folk 16×7 wheels (white) and using race/GtZ suspension, or the Wangan RS racing wheels & tires, all the way at the bottom of the list.
are the essential downforce component. Now, if you were smart, you wouldn’t need a wing. But Your’s Truly is not so smart, and chose to put a Stage 3 Variable Boost turbo and use Wangan RS wheels on asphalt. The Miramar we are using doesn’t require that, though. Use a wing if you want, but they’re ugly. Just sayin’.
*This does not apply to attack choppers
**Please, PLEASE, DO NOT put diesel in a gas engine, or vise versa
For those who didn’t read this guide
Get out.
Just pick a car and some parts, pretty easy thing to do.
Credits
Me-Creator of the guide
BeamNG Team- The cars and maps
Hog005- His awesome 200BX/Miramar crossover mod
IllusiveGiraffe- The modding video
NinetyNine!-For his Miramar mods/configs
BrynCoops- His configurations pack