AC | Formula Alpha 2023

Important

🚨REMOVE ALL PREVIOUS VERSIONS! This includes uninstalling the car(s), the extended controls app, and car setups. Otherwise, the most recent version of the car will cause problems in game. 🚨

To function, the Formula Alpha 2023 requires Content Manager (CM) and Custom Shader Patch 0.2.2 (or above). 

In V1.4 starter, ignition and the brake bias adjustment controls must be configured in the extended controls app.

Description

As a continuation of the VRC tradition, and as with the FA22 project, we once again tried to develop and push the limits over the game's capability, with the help of CSP. This car boasts a 1000bhp engine, with 160bhp coming from an electric motor, a 722kg car weight, and plenty of downforce. It includes an upgraded ERS management system, a more realistic engine/differential simulation, and other features.

This vehicle makes extensive use of the extended physics features and requires Content Manager (CM) and Custom Shader Patch 0.2.2 (or above) to function properly.

Special thanks to schmawlik for making all these additional features possible!

Vanilla physics will also be given; while they may have limitations in some situations (altitude changes, for example), we wanted to ensure that people who choose not to board the CSP ship can still drive Formula Alpha 2023.

Features

Graphics

• In-game steering wheel can be changed, there are a total of four steering wheels available.
• Visual and simulated tire scuffing.
• Suspension: Visually modeled modifications for key parameters like camber, toe, and other suspension values. 
• Front Tip Options: Personalize your car's front end with two distinct front tip options, allowing you to tailor its appearance and performance to your preferences.
• Aerodynamic Kits: Array of distinct aerodynamic kits, offering three distinct rear wing types and two unique front wing types.
• Flexible Front Wing: Crafted to replicate the real Formula Alpha wings, this essential component is not only visually represented but also intricately integrated into our physics model.

Physics

• Advanced MGU-K profiles that allow you to precisely control the amount of energy deployed per lap.
• Added Differential Settings [ENTRY/MID/EXIT].
• Added various Pedal and Torque Mappings to the car.
• Added Brake Magic Brake Bias to heat up front tires more efficiently.
• Implemented Anti-Stall to avoid car turning off running too low revs.

Audio

• Multiple onboard audio mix options
  • TV/ Broadcast (separated engine and exhaust channels)
    • or
  • drivers' perspective (immersive blend of the two).
• Advanced sample chain logic dynamically layering several exhaust notes.
• Condition based layering: Varying sample sets depending on perspective, distance and/or speed of the car.

Manual

Quick-Guide In-Car Settings

Introducing the "EXT CONTROLS" app

We introduced a series of new features for this project that allow us to replicate key parts of physics that we deemed vital in defining the handling and utilization of modern Formula Alpha cars. In the EXT CONTROLS app, you can setup the additional key bindings for the additional features we've added onto the car. Important: To have the extra B Button assigned in AC Settings is mandatory in order to get the car started and moving.

Special thanks to schmawlik, nnco and kiboost for making all these additional features possible!

Differential

The degree of differential locking can now be adjusted during the Entry, Mid-corner, and Exit phases of a corner. The driver can fine-tune the behavior in those three phases to particular corners by changing these settings both in the setup menu and while driving. For instance, the driver can increase the ENTRY setting level to increase stability on corner entry, decrease the MID setting level to improve turn-in, and increase the EXIT setting level to make the car feel a little snappier if the car feels "understeery" on exits. The rate at which the differential locking values transition from the DIFF MID setting to the DIFF EXIT/HISPEED setting can also be adjusted. It goes without saying that prior aero/suspension tuning is still required to fine-tune the car's general behavior.

Brakes / Brake Magic Brake Bias

In order to increase stability on turn entry and, in the worst-case scenario, prevent rear tires from locking up first, new configuration options were added to allow the driver to alter the brake bias migration during the braking period.

The "Ramp" option determines the pedal travel position from where the ramping will begin, while the "Brake Migration" setting modifies the amount of the highest brake bias achieved during the braking phase. For instance, a driver might want to have a rear-biased brake balance to improve the car's ability to turn in high-speed sections while allowing for stable braking operation in slow corners; this entails a low brake bias and an aggressive migration setting once a certain amount of brake pressure is reached.

Additionally, we introduced an option called "Brake Magic Brake Bias" that controls the brake bias applied when the brake magic button is pressed. This enables the front tires to heat up during out-laps without wearing them out.

Torque Mapping / Pedal Maps

This function enables a more accurate simulation of the engine's response to throttle application. In general, part-throttle conditions will allow the most torque the engine is capable of producing at the specified RPM, improving power delivery, throttle response, and torque control. The engine's responsiveness across the engine power spectrum is controlled by the WET, LOW, BALANCED, and HIGH settings, which are the options available. On-the-fly changes can be made to this setting.

It is intended for throttle input in pedal apps not to replicate your pedal input!

According to the track conditions, the tire compounds being used, and the driver's preferences, the accelerator pedal sensitivity can also be changed. This can be changed to five different modes: WET, PROGRESSIVE, LINEAR, HIGH SPEED, and AGGRESSIVE. On-the-fly changes can be made to this setting also.

Battery (ERS) Management

Due to the flexibility of "STRATS", it is now possible to have numerous deployment strategies STRATS to allow for a finer control of the available electric energy during the race.

The desired deployable energy in Megajoules (MJ) per lap and the strategy's objective (Recovery or Delivery) can both be specified for each STRAT. In the case of the latter, "Recovery" will cap the maximum Turbo boost value to enable more MGUH energy gathering, while "Delivery" will permit a higher boost at the expense of MGUH energy harvesting. For the latter, the higher the setting, the higher the battery usage will be.

The amount of energy deployed manually will not be deducted from the maximum deployment allowed; for example, if the maximum value was set to 2MJ and 0.5MJ was manually deployed, the total amount of energy deployed for the lap will be 2.5MJ. It should be noted that due to manually deployed power and circuit length restrictions, the power unit might not always be able to meet the required values, but it will always attempt to come as near as possible.

The deployment window (minimal-maximal speed) for DRS ON/OFF situations and the distribution of the energy deployment per track split are two examples of general parameters that can be adjusted in addition to the STRAT-specific ones. These settings must be precisely adjusted for each track and cannot be modified on the fly.

This mod does not officially support RAIN tires.

Audio Settings

We recommend you to run following in-game audio settings:

If you're using Pure Config, we recommend turning off all sound effects to achieve the most genuine audio experience:

Version History

V1.4 (2024/03/02)

Physics:

• Updated torque maps.
• Minor modification to HDF kit aeromap.

LUA:

• Fixed AI hard crash issue.
• Fixed energy store not resetting sometimes when switching sessions.
• Fixed ERS lap deployment not resetting while overtake is being held.
• Fixed led colors not behaving when post-processing is turned off.
• Fixed differential MPS switches.

V1.3 (2024/02/17)

Physics: New setups will be needed!

• Re-worked the tyre's model.
• Updated suspension geometries and wheelrates/bumpstops.
• Aeromaps are more sensitive now.
• Reviewed drag levels of different kits.
• Re-worked ICE torque curve.
• Updated torque maps.
• Lowered braking torque to match the current EB, MGUK coast torque levels.
• Updated gear ratios.

Model:

• Re-added windshield.

LUA:

• Integrated new Extended Controls feature set.
  This change also fixes an issue related to car shutdown while holding KERS Overtake excessively.
• Overhauled energy recovery system.
• MGU-K recovery is limited to 120KW of power now, not possible with vanilla implementation.
• Replaced Strat Priority with EBOOST setup item. EBOOST will open the wastegate and the MGU-H will spin the turbo, allowing for more power to the ICE and higher energy drain from the energy store.
• Deployment Splits are now defined by min/max speeds.
• Added KERS Anti, which will cut energy deployment, useful for conserving energy in preparation for an overtake.
• KERS Overtake/EBOOST properly drain high amounts of energy while active, preventing overuse.
• Fixed vanilla AC issue where the energy store would reset to 100% during pit stops.
• Added aeromap/wing anticheat.
• Improved Brake Migration feature.
• Brake Bias Coarse/Fine now represent the "Peak Brake Bias", rather than the "Base Brake Bias".
• Added Engine Brake maps.
• Added setup item to determine pit speed limit.
• Added Constant Speed Limiter, useful for setup testing.
• Fixed teleport to pits not keeping engine running.
• Increased engine startup time slightly.
• Torque/Pedal map cockpit changes will only be applied while in the setup menu or while driving through the pit lane, change was made to enforce
  sporting regulation regarding this topic.
• Removed Torque/Pedal map adjustment from Quick Switches.
• Added Mid-Hispd Switch differential adjustment to Quick Switches.
• Fixed Quick Switches settings overlap while both switches are active.
• Fixed small camera outline that didn't get hidden while Halo was set to hidden.
• Tyre wear/shine tweaked.
• Car safety lights added.
• Rear light activation conditions tweaked. Rear lights also flash at appropriate rate depending certain conditions.
• Strat 1 is now forced to be the "Recharge" strat, 2 red RPM lights also indicate when this strat is active for ease of identification.
• Fixed some setup descriptions, and added new descriptions for items that didn't have some before.
• Added a gyro to one of the F6 cameras.
• Rearranged wheel leds, added yellow flag leds

V1.2 (2023/09/16)

NEW: 

• Added decals on the outer side of the halo as well as mirrors and cockpit area.
• Added gear syncing feature
• Added extra display popups
• Added mirror dirt accumulation after a certain distance driven
• Added tire wear config to ext_config.ini
• Added ability to kill the engine manually

Fixes:

• Fixed rear lights flashing behavior
• Fixed online clients being able to see rear lights
• Fixed quick switch message popup when brake bias is changed
• Fixed disabling pages in setup menu
• Fixed tire sidewalls being off colored with certain ppfilters
• Fixed brake magic not working due to brake bias maximum being too low
• Fixed user flag popping up displays for AI
• Fixed displays and LEDs showing up in saved replays
• Fixed EB not reverting to original value after disabling quick switches
• Fixed driver shadow causing driver model to be too dark during night time

Tweaks:

• Changed brake bias behavior
• Quick Switches default values updated; QS1 will stabilize the car and QS2 will make it looser by default. This behavior can be modified at the
  player's discretion.
• Removed "Ultimate power" mode when boosting with the Kers override button.
• Must hold Extra B button while in neutral gear
• Vanilla brake bias binding is obsolete. New 'Brake Bias Coarse' binding is required to change brake bias in large steps
• Changed tread for full wet tyres
• Changed anti-stall timer to 10 seconds

V1.1 (2023/09/03)

NEW:

• Added online/multiplayer compatibility to the CSP Version of the car.
• Added 2 "Quick Switch" button binds which allows for simultaneous cockpit settings changes to occur at a single button press.
• Added SOC button binds which allows for on the fly Deployment Target MJ adjustment.
• Added Charge button bind which allows for on the fly Strat Priority adjustment.
• Added "Engine Fail" warning when the car's engine life drops below 0.
• Added low and no fuel warnings.
• Added Tyre Temp Style option to select which tire temp reading is used for the display: Core, Carcass, or Practical.
• Added plank wear.
• Added crank down sounds when turning off Ignition.
• Added turbo spool down sounds when car suddenly stalls after excessive driving.
• Added rear axle locking sounds.
• Added suspension damage sounds.

Fixes:

• Fixed AI tire textures and shaders becoming lighter than intended.
• Fixed DRS lights flashing at rev limiter.
• Fixed some stability issues with Extended Controls. (CSP 1.80 previews still cause some crashes)
• Fixed auto clutch users getting antistall message stuck on the display.
• Fixed AI rolling backwards after session restart.
• Fixed engine stalling during pitstops.
• Fixed LEDs not turning to "off" state if the ignition is killed.
• Fixed displays being off in replays.
• Fixed general display font sizes, number caps, and spacing.
• Fixed brake bias fine adjustment popup not appearing upon making a change.

Tweaks:

• Improved torque maps shapes in order to have smoother power peaks (check the updated graphic on the car manual).
• Smoothened the transitions between differential states.
• Lua: Improved differential logic, use higher DIFF HISPD speeds (250kph+).
• Minor tweaks to the mechanical and aerodynamic grip (front to rear balance, overall performance should be identical to 1.0).
• Slightly increased MDF and LDF kits drag values.
• Limited turbo boosting time in "Delivery" mode when the Kers override button is used, ers boosting remains the same.
• Increased plank scratching volume.
• Tweaked internal gear shifts.
• Corrected transmission samples on the Vanilla version.
• Improved engine behavior on downshifts.
• Front right suspension animation tweaked.
• LOD B & C rear light visibility improved.
• Removed vanilla KERS Override and replaced it with custom KERS Override functionality that is activated with the Extra B button binding(“Starter”).
• Improved antistall behavior to be more realistic.
• Changed halo invisibility option to only be invisible while in cockpit cam and never in replays.
• Ignition Off state now requires a 1.5 second hold, turning the ignition on is still a single button press.
• Improved tire and brake temperature color lerping.
• Decreased tire wear required to remove new tire shine.

V1.0 (2023/08/25)

• Release version