It would be cool if more cars had a convertible option, kinda like the UF1 has! Add a lot more fun to the game, and wouldnt be to hard to do.

It would only look right with certain cars, however. Ones off the top of my head would be the FZ5, and possibly the FXO

A targa top option would be cool on the RB4, and XRG/XRT.

Wonder what the convertible version of an FZ5 would look like? See first two attachments

Wonder what the targa top RB4 would look like? See 2 and 4

Targa top XR? 5, 6

Lovin this idea
+11111111

looong time ago i came up with an FZ50 convertable

its pretty much badass

attached _old_ pictures

if anything I think the FZ5 deserves a Targa

@XCNuse is your FZ5 photoshoped?

of course

a targa wouldn't work on an FZ50 though due to the shape of the fastback roof of it

atleast.. i personally dont think it would look right, as for the RB4, i think it'd look best with a T top instead of a full targa

I love how you put nismo skinning on a ferarri =P

I think it would look better as a full targa actualy (see pics 3 and 4), but the XRG/T might look better as a T top.

I know an MKIII is the most accurate "metaphor" to an XR, but they didnt offer the FC (RX7) in a targa top, or t top, so... yeah.

Anyways, whos up for my idea?

EDIT: once i take a brake/finish this research paper for school, im gunna do a grappy skinning of an XRT with T tops, and then ill do a targa, and see what looks better.

Well since most race tracks here in the states will not allow a convertable car on the track with out a roll bar for insurance reasons any open top car would require the addition of a roll bar to preserve the essance of reality.

Quote from Gimpster :

Well since most race tracks here in the states will not allow a convertable car on the track with out a roll bar for insurance reasons any open top car would require the addition of a roll bar to preserve the essance of reality.

Your point? The UF1 has a roll bar in convertible mode. It doesnt seem like it would be too hard to add a black rectangle outline to the convertible version of a car (video game speaking).

Quote from Sketchyrollin564 :

I love how you put nismo skinning on a ferarri =P

no one ever said it was a ferrari

plus it fits the best on that car

The convertible FZ looks strange without any protection for the passengers.

majority of convertible cars you see today dont have visible protection but rather bars that pop up when computers notice the car is about to turn over or upside down

imo it would look alot better on that FZ50 i did if the trunk came forward more like most convertible cars
http://www.motordesktop.com/wa ... 20Rear%20-%201024x768.jpg
well.. technically its not the trunk but another part but.. you get the point

Quote from XCNuse :

no one ever said it was a ferrari

plus it fits the best on that car

Looks a lot like a ferrari to me.

Plus, youve gotta say, it looks a lot more like a ferarri than a porsche (which some people say it does...:shrug

I can see why you can say it looks like a porsche from the roof lines, ad a side view AT A QUICK GLANCE, but otherwise, it pretty much screams out HEY, IM A FERRARI!

I was wondering why you hadn't made that humpback shell of bodywork too.

I didn't know about those last-moment safety bars.. that's neat. Though I would better trust a permanent structure.

lol because those were the days before i knew anything about modeling (those were somewhere around 5 months before i got into modeling for the first time)

i agree with you on the last second roll bars, i'm not so much a fan of them either, but i guess it improves the air resistance otherwise

-1 for me - convertibles are heavier because they need to have massive pieces of iron bars in the sides to stay togheter yet they still flex a lot more. It wouldn't be a problem with no chasiss flex but that way it'd be unreal...

A big no no, very few convertibles end up in competition anyway because they are heavier, less rigid, less aerodynamic and usually more expensive than the hard top versions. Proper roadsters are a different matter.

Until we get chassis flex either in fully simulated (which would be very hard) or approximated (relatively simple) form I think LFS should not have convertible versions of existing cars. In my mind there's nothing worse than a convertible Mini having no disadvantage over a proper one.

Quote from Sketchyrollin564 :

I love how you put nismo skinning on a ferarri =P

When did Ferrari last produce a 3.6 litre rear engined flat 6 sports car that looks like a 911?

Quote from Gimpster :

Well since most race tracks here in the states will not allow a convertable car on the track with out a roll bar for insurance reasons any open top car would require the addition of a roll bar to preserve the essance of reality.

No sanctioning body allows circuit racing (excluding historics) without some form of rollbar. None of the LFS road cars (except LXs) are realistic atm, under MSA rules closed are required a full cage. Open cars over 2 litres require a full rollcage, about the only exception to this is a safety concession for open cars over 2 litres which actively used as road cars and agreed with the MSA, Morgans are a rare example of this.

The current S1 cars wouldn't be acceptable for very many competitive speed events at all, hillclimbs in completely standard production cars is an exception. I think rollcages would be a realistic addition to all cars in LFS, although I'd be happy to turn a blind eye to the twin hoops of the RA.

NUSE,

That FZ50 Render is absolutely beautiful!

The idea would be really nice, but not realisitic at the same time... I'm torn. I suppose as has been said, there would need to be the appropriate disadvantages aerodyanmically and structural integrity wise... Although I don't hear a lot of bitching about the LXs, so it would probably be welcomed on the whole.

Quote from Ball Bearing Turbo :

Although I don't hear a lot of bitching about the LXs, so it would probably be welcomed on the whole.

Small small spaceframe cars should have a lot less chassis flex than a conventional shell if they're well designed. The fact is that generally people can live with rigid body physics for a wide variety of cars as being a decent stab at simulation with current technology. The problem is when you then plonk a very similar car next to it that should be hugely disadvantaged it highlights the issue.

Same goes for the minute you start comparing sims vs. real life with a few things common in most sims (smooth, unchanging surfaces and rigid bodies etc.) you can expect times to be slightly faster than RL and TBH if those limitations mean somethings wrong if the real times can't be beaten. They can also show up big flaws when you end up with laptimes 10 seconds faster than real life.

To the ones complaining about how convertables are heavyer, have you ever heard of a hardtop convertable? No, not a retractable hard top convertible, but when you remove the convertible motor, and have a removable roof and window attached piece, similar to a targa top?

this is what i mean
http://removabletops.com/images/miata_top.jpg

You still need to strenthen the body through which means it will be heavier

Quote from Markz :

only weighed about 250 lbs. more

:yikes:

That's not exactly trival, 250lbs difference in an FZ50 would be HUGE

(I know you know, just being redundant for the sake of it... Friday afternoon at work....)

Quote from Markz :

Not all convertibles are weaker chassis-wise than their coupe counterparts. The M30 convertible as torsionally stiffer than the coupe and only weighed about 250 lbs. more, thanks to the chassis stiffening.

lol ok that's still heavy but there are a few M30 owners out there who choose the convertible over the coupe for autocross racing because it's stiffer.

I somewhat doubt that's the case. Of course there will be the occasional oddity that lends the convertible an advantage for competition use like the Peugeot WRC cars, which most likely choose to technically use the soft top so they could put a lighter roof on it whilst still remove any added weight from chassis strengthening due to the car being an effective spaceframe.

Quote from Ball Bearing Turbo :

:yikes:

That's not exactly trival, 250lbs difference in an FZ50 would be HUGE

(I know you know, just being redundant for the sake of it... Friday afternoon at work....)

may be, but htink about how much that would HELP the FZ50 going around turns

to see the difference, take one of the cars (preferably a RWD car), do some laps, get an average laptime, then load it up full of people and gas and see how more easily it turns without sliding

this would actually improve the FZ50 on the shorter tracks (ei: FE Club and Aston Cadet)

No way!

Just because it handles more predictably, doesn't mean it's handling "better" in terms of it's capacity. There's no way that increasing the FZ50s mass would make it corner better; tyre load sensitivity would not make up for it I guarantee it. Overcomming a greater moment of inertia inherantly means the car will be less responsive. If the car was over-tired, that MIGHT hold some weight but not so in any car in LFS.

Hit the skidpad & check it out!

You won't find the WR set with passengers & 100% fuel on any track in any car....

@XC Nuse - the FZ isn't some beast of a car that's hard to tame with a realistic racing setup for a well setup near standard car (ie. nearer to Easy Race than WR) it's easy to drive and can be set up to wash into mild understeer if you really want it to. There's no way that adding more mass could possibly help it in terms of laptimes, seeing as it's completely drivable I don't see what advantage you see in adding fuel and passengers?