RPM/Traction/Heat Meter?

[Frosty]

So my friend and I are wondering if they ever explain what the small meter along the left side of the Fuel Gauge is for? We were trying to figure out if it's tied to either Traction, a Pseudo RPM Gauge, or some sort of heat load indicator? But our experiments didn't really make too much sense? I didn't find anything mentioning that specific UI element in any of the logs or posts I have seen and it seems like just about everything in the vehicle has a use/function/correlation?

Traction Indicator?
-It doesn't seem to match the vehicle's traction (i.e. if the VSC warning comes on, it's still somewhat high?)
-It could make sense that on take-off with certain tires you have more/less grip (higher bar) and it smooths out as you reach a "smoother" speed, but that is flimsy at best.

RPM Gauge?
-It does seem to correlate with initial engine load (i.e. take-off, hard acceleration), but minimally and even then it's counter-intuitive. For example, you would expect higher RPMs on take-off/hard acceleration, but if the vehicle is still being "pedal to the medal" why does it taper off at higher speeds? It should remain constant until you let off the throttle?

Coolant/Heat Meter?
-Could not find a consistent method to correlate this in any meaningful way besides maybe a roughly coded "engine load" indicator (i.e. take-off/hard acceleration works the engine harder, while "cruising" is less taxing and would result in a lower over all heat load; but again, see RPM Gauge testing, it should still be correlated with Throttle Input/Engine RPM, not vehicle speed?).

Anyways, it's just something I figured I'd ask about, the game has been interesting so far. I do wish the Devs would consider adjusting/adding some things later to sort of give us a bit of a "adjust the difficultly" and/or make better use of their mechanics, but I'll make a larger thread on that at some point when I have better data. :)

[Rapha]

Hey, from what I understand it's an engine load indicator, as you've said. Parked on a small hill, and when I reversed back into the road the load was noticeably higher than when moving from a stand still on a plane surface.

[Frosty]

Originally posted by Fiat Tipo 1.6 i.e. 1994:

Hey, from what I understand it's an engine load indicator, as you've said. Parked on a small hill, and when I reversed back into the road the load was noticeably higher than when moving from a stand still on a plane surface.

Ah okay, that's what I have been figuring... it just acts a little funky compared to what I would expect in the real world... then again... as a mechanic I suppose I am projecting too much of my work on this game. LOL

[Bane882266]

You're not technically driving a car you're driving an abnormal pocket of energy that thinks it's a car. I know it's a cheap excuse but it also makes a lot of sense.