News
16th May 2023 v0.46.0
Capacity Improvements & Members Choice XVII!

Welcome to the release of the 17th Members Choice Pack!

  • 1998 Dooyae Muris 0.8 SE+:
    With a chirpy looking front end, a thrummy 3 cylinder under the bonnet and a practical shape it became dependable post-retirement shopping transport.
  • 1995 McLaurence S1 6.1 LM:
    A celebration of Le Mans success, the LM version provided a more track orientated take compared to the standard road car.
  • 1994 Roamer B20 2.0 Turbo Coupé:
    A classic example of a relatively humdrum car looking resplendent in coupé form. It was the fastest they'd ever produced at the time and looked great.
  • 1982 Faerro Milieu 2.9 QV:
    One of the most affordable ways to get the badge and often overlooked. With an Italian mid-engine V8 powering it, enjoy the experience for far less.
  • 1997 Rheanol Sofra 2.5 RXE Executive:
    (Bonus) Executive French cars weren't a big seller in the UK but more popular in Europe. With French luxury and a dependable 5-cylinder Swedish designed power-plant, perhaps this is one worth revisiting?

As usual the above vehicles may be available new or second hand in the classifieds, as appropriate, from time to time! All players can access these vehicles. A big thank you to those that have contributed towards getting these in-game!

Single Race Capacity Improvements!

Whilst it might look broadly similar at first glance, the capacity of the single race events has now doubled with the opportunity to scale it up as I see fit. Further changes will roll out in future!

  • Each race will now split into heats when the capacity for a race is exceeded.
  • When races are split into heats, any vacant entrant slots will be filled by AI competitors in a similar way to before.
  • Heats are currently limited to two but they have been tested higher than this and this will likely come in the near future!
  • Race results now have medals for the top 3.
  • Player's position is now highlighted in race results.
  • Max players are no longer visible as it is semi-irrelevant.
  • The join button for full races is now 'greyed' out and reports 'Full' instead.
  • Viewing a single race now uses the event section shared UI component.
  • Much re-factoring of legacy code! More to do but this makes it easier to work with.
Vehicle Updates
  • McLaurence S1: Corrected data and balanced stats following the inclusion of the S1 LM
  • McLaurence S1: Additional photo

With the Job Centre offering the ability to do much more in the game, there has never been a better time to join! Every penny makes a difference and it only costs from as little as £1.99 a month! (when paid yearly)

Don't miss out on the full experience!

Other noteworthy changes since v0.45.4:
  • Added note to say that it costs £5 to send a challenge.
  • Added vehicle to own car submissions list.
  • Created tools to assist me with testing scaling.
  • Quick sell now shows formatted money.
  • Fixed a couple of typos.
  • Decommissioned Multiple Account feedback form and updated locked account text.
  • Fixed inability to login or out when multiple account lock in place.
  • Improved tracking of player-to-player interactions for anti-cheat and abuse purposes.
  • Improved reporting relating to cheat detection.
  • Slightly re-factored player search page.
  • Further clarified the rules for own vehicle submissions.
  • Updated sustainability metrics and development roadmap.
  • Some improvements to my tooling for car creation.
  • Platform Upgrades and code quality improvements.

31st Mar 2023 v0.45.4
Community Photos & Discord Events!

Having got the members choice pack out of the way earlier than usual, it has allowed me some time to get some of the previous photo submissions that the community contributed into the game! Updates are as follows:

  • New photo: 2000 Croissen Scara Artiste 1.8 i 16v SX
  • Two new photos: 1989 Limbogenie Contaretoro 5.2 25th Anniversary
  • New photo: 1993 Matsurza RC-7 2.6 R
  • New photo: 1987 MC Moment 1.3 Turbo
  • New photo: 1990 Nesson Sunrise 2.6 GZR
  • New photo: 2000 Rheanol Chloe 1.2 Grande
  • New photo: 2000 Rheanol Chloe 2.0 16V Sport 172
  • New photo: 1986 Terrota Spinner 1.6 True EXACT
  • Two new photos (And 1 changed): 2000 Verdhent Astrumvan 1.7 Envoy DTi 16v
  • Updated photo: 1993 Hyjinkai Stratum 2.0 16V GLS

I do still have more photos (and vehicles) to add and update when I get time, both from submissions a long time ago as well as those that have been posted into the Discord #feedback "The great picture update thread" and I plan to get as many of these included as possible in time.

Submissions that have been made where the vehicles are modified, or slight variations on those in-game will have to come later. If modifications are fairly subtle or vehicle appropriate then they may be included earlier (as per one of the above) but this is not guaranteed.

As always, a big thank you to those that submitted the above and for those that haven't yet made it in-game!

Discord Events & new Moderator!

A new #events channel has been created on the Discord server! Events will be advertised in here and threads created within the channel for anything that's going on!

The first event, by our latest moderator SgtStig (welcome!) called `Singin’ the Blues` will be taking place on "Friday evening Eastern Standard Time (basically Saturday morning GMT)" and unsurprisingly is about owning blue cars!

To quote SgtStig: "On Sunday morning there will be a Cars and Caffeine event open to all cars. So if you don’t get to participate in the Singin’ the Blues event, we hope to see you at Cars and Caffeine!"

Quotex is also planning on running a "24 hours of Snickerton" event within a thread in #general and may also be running future events in the #events channel too, so keep your eye out for those too!

Not enough time on login fix

Very occasionally players may have found themselves unable to log in to the game due to not having enough game-time or money to travel home. Travelling home is automatic when you log in to the game, hence the issue. There was also the rare possibility for a player to be unable to do anything in-game if they completely ran out of money and they had quit their passive income job.

I have now released a fix which should hopefully fix both of these issues.

New target: Income Goal 3!

I am pleased to say that the game has continued to meet goal 2 after hitting it in February which is fantastic news! Therefore I have now moved the income target to the 3rd stage! Each stage has a huge impact on my living standards, so I am supremely grateful both to new members and to older members that have or continue to support the game. Without your support it simply wouldn't be possible to develop the game at this pace - thank you!

It does feel like there is a light at the end of the tunnel and that is an amazing feeling after so long!

With the Job Centre offering the ability to do much more in the game, there has never been a better time to become a member! Every penny makes a difference and it only costs from as little as £1.99 a month! (when paid yearly)

Don't miss out on the full experience!

Other noteworthy changes since v0.45.1:
  • Further work on Patreon integration

24th Mar 2023 v0.45.1
Members Choice XVI Pack Released!

Welcome to the, slightly earlier than normal, release of the 16th Members Choice Pack!

  • 1993 Rheanol Twizmo 1.2:
    The most beloved of meme cars. With a "face" like that, is it possible to hate it?
  • 1998 Fawn Catamount 2.5 X:
    Another attempted reboot of MotorNation's cover car, unfortunately like its predecessor it never quite made it!
  • 1975 Lancrossi Sirius 2.4 Stradale:
    Coupling fantastic 1970s wedge styling, rally prowess and an italian V6 under the hood - you don't need to look far to find a reason to like it.
  • 1991 Hamda Brief:
    Completing the ABC of Japanese Kei-class sports cars, the brief gives you a lot of fun in a (very) small package!
  • 1992 Lalland DEI 400 2.5:
    (Bonus) The mid-late refresh of the British-Dutch staple. Filling up the fleets of many firms, from postal vans to the folks in blue.

As usual the above vehicles may be available new or second hand in the classifieds, as appropriate, from time to time! All players can access these vehicles. A big thank you to those that have contributed towards getting these in-game!

Longer Classified Adverts for Members!

As you may have already seen, members can now advertise vehicles for up to four weeks at a time! This means less work selling cars in the classifieds and it does work out slightly cheaper per week of advertising.

Vehicle Updates
  • Updated 1987 Croissen VC 2.5 25 DTR Turbo 2 Safar stats
  • Updated Auby B-4 cargo capacities
Members Choice XVII Finish Date & Possible Frequency Changes

The finish date of the next members choice poll will be moved back to the 17th April due to holidays. In future, I am thinking of launching a poll about the possibility to increasing the time between members choice polls to allow other content and features to be delivered sooner.

At present my ability to deliver other content, features and tools is more limited due to the time taken and frequency of the vehicle packs. I do however very much appreciate that everyone will have different preferences and ultimately I'm just trying to strike the best balance! So keep an eye out for that to have your say!

With the Job Centre offering the ability to do much more in the game, there has never been a better time to join! Every penny makes a difference and it only costs from as little as £1.99 a month! (when paid yearly)

Don't miss out on the full experience!

Other noteworthy changes since v0.44.2:
  • Updated vehicle count, up from 380
  • Began the process in automating Patreon memberships
  • Added more vehicles to own car submissions
  • Updated sustainability metrics and development roadmap
  • Platform upgrades

28th Feb 2023 v0.44.2
Poll Results & Members Choice XV Pack Released!

Welcome to the release of the 15th Members Choice Pack!

  • 1987 Croissen VC 25 DTR Turbo 2 Safar:
    Very French in all the right ways. A huge load lugger with fantastically advanced suspension.
  • 1998 Fawn Filament 4.0 Gear VCT:
    With a somewhat controversial edge on design, it is otherwise a simple and dependable beast for travelling Australia.
  • 1987 Alfretti C3 1.7 Green Clover:
    A popular small family car with the Italian flare that you might expect.
  • 1984 Parchet 25 T16:
    The standard 3 door hatchback in maximum 80s attack 'Hulk' mode!
  • 1967 Panlevard B4 CT:
    (Bonus) A unique, futuristic looking, two-cylinder boxer engined swan song.

As usual the above vehicles may be available new or second hand in the classifieds, as appropriate, from time to time! All players can access these vehicles. A big thank you to those that have contributed towards getting these in-game!

Members Choice Pack XVI - Poll Results!

The following vehicles have been chosen by members to inspire the vehicles of the next Members Choice vehicle pack!

  1. 1993-98 Renault Twingo 1.2 Hatchback
  2. 1999 Ford Cougar 2.5L X
  3. 1973-78 Lancia Stratos 2.5 HF
  4. 1991-96 Honda Beat

And the bonus ball results...

The following vehicles are recognised as being nominated on at least three unsuccessful occasions and one of these was randomly selected to be added as part of this car pack:

  • 1986 Ford Escort RS Turbo
  • 1989 Isuzu Piazza XE
  • 1990-1992 Ford Fiesta 1.6 RS Turbo
  • 1989 Subaru XT Turbo
  • 1982 Talbot Tagora SX / GLS
  • 1989 Trabant 601s
  • 1997-2000 Toyota Prius 1.5 Saloon
  • 1985 Citroën BX 4TC
  • 1978 Renault 4 GTL / 1986 Renault 4 1108cc
  • 1989 Lancia Thema 8.32 2.9 V8
  • 1997 Ford Puma 1.4 Coupe / 1997 Ford Puma 1.7 Zetec VCT
  • 1988-1992 Renault 19 Chamade 1.4 TSE / 1992-1996 Renault 19 Charmade 16V
  • 1985 Renault 5 Maxi Turbo
  • 1997 Rover 200 BRM 1.8 VVC / 1996-1999 Rover 200 Vi 1.8 Hatchback
  • 1962-1964 Ogle SX1000
  • 1983-1989 Nissan Silvia 1.8 Turbo Hatchback
  • 98-99 Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR Straßenversion 6.9L
  • 1997-2000 Ford Econoline 6.8L V10
  • 1956 4.9L I6 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud I Saloon
  • ‘98 Light Car Company Rocket 1.0
  • 1984-1996 Leyland DAF/Freight Rover/LDV Sherpa/200/400 Series Van 2.0D
  • 1994 Volkswagen Golf 2.9 VR6 Syncro Hatchback / 1996 Volkswagen Golf GTI 16v Anniversary / 1993-1998 Volkswagen Golf 1.8 GTi 16V (MK3)
  • 1991-1996 Renault safrane 3.0 v6 / 1992-1995 Renault Safrane 2.1dT 5-door Hatchback / 1996-2000 Renault Safrane 2.5 20V Executive

And finally the bonus ball result is:

1984-1996 Leyland DAF/Freight Rover/LDV Sherpa/200/400 Series Van 2.0D

A special thanks to everyone that participated in this poll!

The next poll will go live shortly and will be found in the General section of the in-game forums!

More News Items for members!

Members can now have up to 30 news items, up from the standard 15, for the in-game News feed! Further improvements will come in future.

Second funding goal reached! (for now at least)

The game has finally hit the second funding goal! However, this is in part due to a "temporary" boost by two annual Diamond memberships (a big thank you for those!). This means that whilst the goal has been hit at present, this funding level is by now means guaranteed going forwards since annual memberships provide a great cash injection, but they are of course annual rather than monthly. Both are valuable and much appreciated but for different reasons!

In the longer term I hope to automatically calculate the current income, where annual memberships would be calculated as if they were split across the year for more balanced income tracking!

With the Job Centre offering the ability to do much more in the game, there has never been a better time to join! Every penny makes a difference and it only costs from as little as £1.99 a month! (when paid yearly)

Don't miss out on the full experience!

Other noteworthy changes since v0.44.0:
  • Updated details for 2 vehicles following community feedback
  • Updated sustainability metrics and development roadmap
  • Improved handling when part info requested for a part that does not exist
  • Fixed special reservations appearing when it shouldn't
  • Minor improvements to vehicle adding process

8th Feb 2023 v0.44.0
Slammin 70s Race, New Perk & Classified Tweaks!
Single Race Changes!
  • New Race: Slammin 70s! Don your flares and hand paint your car in your favourite shade of racing brown!
  • All race series now run daily
  • Increased pay-out spread and number of positions that will receive a pay-out (up to 18th)
  • Increased max drivers in all races to 24
New Own Vehicle Submission Perk for Diamond Members!

It has come up a few times now at least, so without further ado...

When a Diamond member submits their own vehicle for inclusion into the game, they now have the option to have first refusal to that vehicle for up to one month. They will have the choice to be the first to buy their vehicle and as soon as they have it will be unlocked for everyone else.

The vehicle will appear in a new 'Offers' -> 'Special Reservations' section of the classifieds that will only appear if you have a reserved vehicle available. If they do not buy it after a month, the lock will release automatically for everyone else to buy it!

The submit your own vehicle page within the support section has now been updated to cover this and other situations in a more detail. This perk is limited to Diamond members for now as it was time consuming to implement and will require some additional on-going effort. I will review this in time but please note that more perks are coming for other tiers too!

This feature does also bring us closer to potential inter-player trading however...

New Bonus Vehicle!

Following on from the above, a new vehicle will soon begin appearing in-game. The 1998 VoltPogen Transfer MPV! This vehicle is currently serving as a test bed for the above feature and will initially be limited to a Diamond Member. Once they have bought it, or a month elapses, whichever is sooner then it will start becoming available for everyone else!

Classified Tweaks!
  • Tweaks to import vehicle rarities! Vehicles that were less likely to be imported to the UK in 2000 will now appear less often in the classifieds.
  • Vehicles with only one photo will now appear slightly less often in the classifieds to improve realism by reducing duplication
  • Created a new system that will help me tweak spawning rarities in the classifieds
  • Increased spawn rate of limited production vehicles by approx. 66%
Further Head-to-head Tweaks!

Following the recent changes to the head to head system, a few weeks ago I released some changes that improved the winning odds across all three difficulty levels. I intend to review the effects of this in time but ultimately, I'm hoping this change will have at least brought it back on par to how profitable it was before the tweaks that were made in December!

With the Job Centre offering the ability to do much more in the game, there has never been a better time to join! Every penny makes a difference and it only costs from as little as £1.99 a month! (If paid yearly)

Don't miss out on the full experience!

Other noteworthy changes since v0.42.0:
  • Corrected minor discrepancy with F class style
  • Various work behind the scenes to help me manage the game better
  • Added an additional test for helping to ensure race result order is working correctly
  • Fixed a couple of bugs to do with race times / best laps
  • Fixed errors when someone tries to view a vehicle model that doesn't exist
  • Added vehicles and a new manufacturer for Members Choice Pack 14 (see previous news post)
  • Fixed an issue with vehicle imports
  • Fixes to site news system
  • Further membership automation tweaks
  • Updated sustainability metrics and development roadmap
  • Platform upgrades

13th Jan 2023 v0.42.3
Members Choice XIV Pack Released!

Happy New Year & welcome to the release of the 14th Members Choice Pack!

  • 1985 MC Montague 2.0 Turbo:
    Featuring a very respectable 150 BHP, especially in the 80s, this car was sure to get people to move over!
  • 1999 BWL NE 4.9:
    One of the finest sports saloons ever made!
  • 1996 Terrota Starlite 1.3 Glesna:
    A popular JDM import, the turbo turned a humdrum hatchback into a hot hatch for the PlayStation generation!
  • 2000 Panini Zultan 7.0 C12-S:
    A carbon fibre Italian supercar for the millennium!
  • 2000 VoltPogen Parkour 1.6 GTi:
    It took until the refresh around 2000, that the Mk3 GTi finally made it to the UK after the earlier supercharged variants!

Also: Data corrections to the existing Alsten Montague cars.

As usual the above vehicles may be available new or second hand in the classifieds, as appropriate, from time to time! All players can access these vehicles. A big thank you to those that have contributed towards getting these in-game!

Other changes, including those that were delayed from before the Christmas break will be coming soon but you will need to bare with me as I catch-up after the holidays!

With the Job Centre offering the ability to do much more in the game, there has never been a better time to join! Every penny makes a difference and it only costs from as little as £1.99 a month! (when paid yearly)

Don't miss out on the full experience!


News From Other Years

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In memory of Grandad
© Andrew Taylor 2023
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