Car dynamics

Stats and formulas derived from ROLLER.

Game engine runs at 36 Hz (before any speed up cheats).

Speed units

ENGINES.C defines max speed constants for each gear for each car. CAR.C converts these into units used by the handling engine (CONTROL.C) and track files by multiplying them by 2.2 (let's call these "Whips").

FUNC2.C converts Whips into mph and km/h which are displayed in the UI.

• mph $= Whips / 3$

• km/h $= Whips \times 0.625$

Note: 1 mph = 1.875 km/h in the Whiplashverse.

Max speed in each gear

Normal car set:

Car	Max speed constant for each gear						Vmax
	1	2	3	4	5	6	Whips	mph	km/h
Auto Ariel	48	69	106	153	199	260	572.0	190.7	357.5
DeSilva	51	91	130	170	209	254	558.8	186.3	349.3
Pulse	53	79	113	153	200	264	580.8	193.6	363.0
Global	76	104	145	202	268		589.6	196.5	368.5
Million Plus	38	64	95	139	183	256	563.2	187.7	352.0
Mission	59	81	113	151	199	258	567.6	189.2	354.8
Zizin	86	124	181	262			576.4	192.1	360.3
Reise Wagon	79	105	140	191	277		609.4	203.1	380.9
All cheat cars	55	86	139	185	229	285	627.0	209.0	391.9

Advanced car set: multiply by 1.03.

Acceleration

ENGINES.C defines power curves for each gear for each car as well as automatic shift points.

Under normal conditions, acceleration is capped at 2 Whips/tick for all cars and both car sets except for MAYTE which is uncapped.

See the Whiplash Engine Simulator for the full engine model.

Automatic shifting

Times are measured by the number of ticks taken to reach or exceed the target speed.

Normal car set

Car	Zero to (s)			Drag (s)
	60 mph	100 mph	Vmax	1/8 mi	1/4 mi	1/2 mi
Auto Ariel	4.00	6.94	15.81	7.86	11.25	16.33
DeSilva	2.67	4.42	11.14	6.39	9.36	14.25
Pulse	4.69	8.25	18.14	8.42	12.06	17.39
Global	4.50	8.11	18.44	8.33	11.97	17.17
Million Plus	5.14	9.08	18.22	8.83	12.69	18.14
Mission	3.36	6.39	14.42	7.33	10.67	15.69
Zizin	3.64	6.50	15.42	7.56	10.86	15.89
Reise Wagon	6.22	10.11	21.53	9.86	13.61	18.81
Godley PLC (MAYTE)	2.56	4.31	12.17	6.19	9.03	13.53
Other cheat cars	2.75	4.47	12.33	6.39	9.22	13.72

Advanced car set

Car	Zero to (s)			Drag (s)
	60 mph	100 mph	Vmax	1/8 mi	1/4 mi	1/2 mi
Auto Ariel	2.83	4.64	10.03	6.53	9.31	13.94
DeSilva	2.58	4.28	8.36	6.19	8.81	13.50
Pulse	3.06	5.39	11.44	6.83	9.81	14.44
Global	2.92	5.31	11.31	6.78	9.69	14.25
Million Plus	3.33	5.92	11.64	7.19	10.28	15.03
Mission	2.64	4.58	9.44	6.36	9.11	13.75
Zizin	2.67	4.47	9.72	6.39	9.11	13.69
Reise Wagon	4.06	6.64	12.94	7.83	10.78	15.28
Godley PLC (MAYTE)	1.69	2.81	7.53	5.08	7.47	11.67
Other cheat cars	2.58	4.28	9.31	6.19	8.78	12.97

Optimal shifting

The automatic shift points for each car are set at around 90% of maximum RPM.

The Whiplash Engine Simulator contains preset manual shift points (generally around 50% to 60% of maximum RPM) which improve acceleration performance but may not be globally optimal. The difference is most notable for cars with slower acceleration as demonstrated by the following example.

Automatic shifting (Reise Wagon, normal car set)

"Optimal" shifting (Reise Wagon, normal car set)

This is an improvement of 3.06s for 0-V_max and 1.78s in the standing half mile.

Race start

Yes it's rigged. AI cars receive an additional acceleration boost for the first 20 seconds of a race. This is defined as a faster increase of power units per tick, depending on track position:

• Normal car set: 2 for 1st place down to 1 for 16th place, compared to 1 under normal conditions.

• Advanced car set: 3 for 1st place down to 1.5 for 16th place, compared to 1.5 under normal conditions.

In practice, most AI cars will hit the acceleration cap (2 Whips/tick) at the start of a race.

Coasting

Deceleration in Whips/tick based on each car's $Drag$ coefficient defined in ENGINES.C:

• Correct gear: $\frac{V_{max}}{Drag \times 256}$

• Low gear (over-rev): $\frac{V_{max}}{Drag \times 256} + 1$ and a 1-tick blip at $\frac{V_{max}}{Drag \times 256}$ on subsequent downshifts

• Neutral (engine running): 6 except MAYTE which is instant

• Engine stalled (low speed): 1

Car	Drag	Coasting decel (Whips/tick)		Coasting Vmax-0 (s)
		Correct gear	Over-rev	Correct gear	Over-rev	Neutral*
Auto Ariel	5.7	0.392	1.392	40.5	11.4	2.6
DeSilva	4.9	0.445	1.445	34.8	10.7	2.6
Pulse	6.2	0.366	1.366	44.1	11.8	2.7
Global	8.0	0.288	1.288	56.9	12.7	2.7
Million Plus	6.6	0.333	1.333	46.9	11.7	2.6
Mission	4.4	0.504	1.504	31.3	10.5	2.6
Zizin	6.6	0.341	1.341	46.9	11.9	2.7
Reise Wagon	9.7	0.245	1.245	69.0	13.6	2.8
Godley PLC (MAYTE)	1.9	1.289	2.289	13.5	7.6	Instant
Other cheat cars	2.9	0.845	1.845	20.6	9.4	2.9

*Assuming instant shift to neutral and no stall at low speeds.

Braking

Deceleration in Whips/tick:

All cars except MAYTE

• Correct gear: $min \{ \frac{V_{max}}{Drag \times 36}, 6 \}$

• Low gear (over-rev): 1 tick of $min \{ \frac{V_{max}}{Drag \times 18}, 6 \}$ on downshift followed by $min \{ \frac{V_{max}}{Drag \times 18} + 1, 6 \}$

• Neutral: 6

Special MAYTE braking

• Correct gear: $\frac{V_{max}}{Drag \times 36}$

• Low gear (over-rev): 1 tick of $\frac{V_{max}}{Drag \times 18}$ on downshift followed by $\frac{V_{max}}{Drag \times 18} + 1$

• Neutral: Instant stop

Note: $Drag$ = seconds taken to brake to a stop from $V_{max}$ while staying in top gear.

Car	Drag	Braking decel (Whips/tick)		Braking Vmax-0 (s)
		Correct gear	Over-rev	Correct gear	Over-rev	Neutral
Auto Ariel	5.7	2.788	6.000	5.7	2.6	2.6
DeSilva	4.9	3.168	6.000	4.9	2.6	2.6
Pulse	6.2	2.602	6.000	6.2	2.7	2.7
Global	8.0	2.047	5.094	8.0	3.2	2.7
Million Plus	6.6	2.370	5.741	6.6	2.7	2.6
Mission	4.4	3.583	6.000	4.4	2.6	2.6
Zizin	6.6	2.426	5.852	6.6	2.7	2.7
Reise Wagon	9.7	1.745	4.490	9.7	3.8	2.8
Godley PLC (MAYTE)	1.9	9.167	19.333	1.9	0.9	Instant
Other cheat cars	2.9	6.000	6.000	2.9	2.9	2.9

For optimal braking performance, the Global, Million Plus, Zizin and Reise Wagon should be shifted into neutral as quickly as possible. The Auto Ariel, DeSilva, Pulse and Mission can just be shifted into a lower gear.