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Dodge RAM 1500 LARAMIE Hemi '04
Can you say "sleeper?" I was very, VERY disappointed that this is the only AWD truck. I would think the ubiquitous Toyota 4x4, favoured by off-road officials as well as technicals in rebel armies the world over, would have made an appearance. Oh well, Toyota's loss.
Let me break it down to brass tacks. ALL THE FIXINGS.
Racing Exhaust, Racing Brakes, Brake Controller, NA Tuning 3, Port Polish, Engine Balancing, Racing Chip, Nitrous is for cheaters so none of that, Full Customize Tranny, Triple Plate Clutch, Racing Flywheel, Full Customize LSD, Carbon Driveshaft, Supercharger, Racing Suspension, VCD, Weight Reducton 3, Increase Rigidity, Rigidity Refresher Plan.
Everything but Nitrous.
Take a look at the NA power curve. (As I understand it, the power curve is from where you get up to about 75% torque, to where you drop down to about 75% HP. It works for me in practice to compare cars.) Not bad, I wish more cars had this kind of torque right up to peak HP. Now put in the Supercharger. (I get the NA just in case. You'd think that all the upgrades listed under NA would help a turbocharged/supercharged engine, but I'm no gearhead.) "Oh no I lost 166HP!!" Yeah wonderful, good for you. Look at the damn curve.
Doing some calculations with a ruler, I found that you get most of your torque by 2100RPMs, and it lasts until around 4000. You drop to the same torque as 500RPM gives you by around 5700RPM. Peak torque is at 4200RPM, and from about 3200 on up to about 4500 you're running at REALLY close to peak torque. Respectable HP comes in around 4000RPM, peak HP is at 5400RPM, and it drops to about the same as 4000RPM by the time you hit redline.
In other words? Your powerband is from 500RPM (438 torque out of a peak of 632? Yeah, your powerband starts at idle) to redline (~435HP). A more conservative estimate is 2100RPM (~600FT/LB) to 5500RPM (~475HP).
Guys, I'm a rubbish driver. I got all golds in braking, and that took months. I'm not a very good tuner either--I tune things "good enough" and then pretty much leave it be. I bought this because I wanted to do the ice races and from personal experience know that a 4 wheel drive truck is king of the ice. Then I went to the rest of the Special Condition races, where even the Toyota RSC Rally Raid Car was starting to fail me. I'm on the IB-class Chamonix Rally, and that's starting to give me fits. (IB Grand Canyon I'm considering won--I haven't played that one sober yet.)
I was stuck at about 9% completion until I played with this puppy. I'm at 11.3% now, and rising. That's like unlocking another 25% of the game! I have smoked every race in Beginner and Pro that I've tried, except the Tuning Car Grand Prix.
I cannot win a race if it's worth 50 A-Spec Points or more. Or at least that's what I thought until I got this puppy. You don't normally appreciate torque, because it's usually not there in appreciable quantities for very long. Even the designers fall into this trap--most races with my Laramie are 200-pointers. Only the IB rallies have been as low as 125-175. The points are based on HP, for the most part... but when you've got enough torque to be able to do an entire lap in reverse pushing the AI sideways through Capri Rally/Costa diAmalfi (again, drunk, and pissed off at the damn AI ramming me in the front half of the truck so that I'd get the 5-second penalty)...
Torque, at least like this supercharged monster gives you, is amazing.
All settings in F/R format.
Suspension:
Springs: 9/10
Height: 212/262 (looks aggressive; drop front to 192 to look like some crazy axe-murderer like Jack Nicholson in The Shining is driving your truck)
Bound: 7/8
Rebound: 5/6
Camber: 2/1
Toe: 1/0
Stab: 5/5
Tranny:
Auto 6. I normally tune the hell out of tranny (not very well either), but with this setup I usually get into 6th on the straightaways, only coming near the limiter on road-races.
Aids: TCS 2, others 0.
LSD: Default
VCD: 40. Some road races I'll drop to 35, on ice I do closer to 50/50.
Brakes: 3/3 playing with 4/8. Really need to find the smoke-point.
Can you say "sleeper?" I was very, VERY disappointed that this is the only AWD truck. I would think the ubiquitous Toyota 4x4, favoured by off-road officials as well as technicals in rebel armies the world over, would have made an appearance. Oh well, Toyota's loss.
Let me break it down to brass tacks. ALL THE FIXINGS.
Racing Exhaust, Racing Brakes, Brake Controller, NA Tuning 3, Port Polish, Engine Balancing, Racing Chip, Nitrous is for cheaters so none of that, Full Customize Tranny, Triple Plate Clutch, Racing Flywheel, Full Customize LSD, Carbon Driveshaft, Supercharger, Racing Suspension, VCD, Weight Reducton 3, Increase Rigidity, Rigidity Refresher Plan.
Everything but Nitrous.
Take a look at the NA power curve. (As I understand it, the power curve is from where you get up to about 75% torque, to where you drop down to about 75% HP. It works for me in practice to compare cars.) Not bad, I wish more cars had this kind of torque right up to peak HP. Now put in the Supercharger. (I get the NA just in case. You'd think that all the upgrades listed under NA would help a turbocharged/supercharged engine, but I'm no gearhead.) "Oh no I lost 166HP!!" Yeah wonderful, good for you. Look at the damn curve.
Doing some calculations with a ruler, I found that you get most of your torque by 2100RPMs, and it lasts until around 4000. You drop to the same torque as 500RPM gives you by around 5700RPM. Peak torque is at 4200RPM, and from about 3200 on up to about 4500 you're running at REALLY close to peak torque. Respectable HP comes in around 4000RPM, peak HP is at 5400RPM, and it drops to about the same as 4000RPM by the time you hit redline.
In other words? Your powerband is from 500RPM (438 torque out of a peak of 632? Yeah, your powerband starts at idle) to redline (~435HP). A more conservative estimate is 2100RPM (~600FT/LB) to 5500RPM (~475HP).
Guys, I'm a rubbish driver. I got all golds in braking, and that took months. I'm not a very good tuner either--I tune things "good enough" and then pretty much leave it be. I bought this because I wanted to do the ice races and from personal experience know that a 4 wheel drive truck is king of the ice. Then I went to the rest of the Special Condition races, where even the Toyota RSC Rally Raid Car was starting to fail me. I'm on the IB-class Chamonix Rally, and that's starting to give me fits. (IB Grand Canyon I'm considering won--I haven't played that one sober yet.)
I was stuck at about 9% completion until I played with this puppy. I'm at 11.3% now, and rising. That's like unlocking another 25% of the game! I have smoked every race in Beginner and Pro that I've tried, except the Tuning Car Grand Prix.
I cannot win a race if it's worth 50 A-Spec Points or more. Or at least that's what I thought until I got this puppy. You don't normally appreciate torque, because it's usually not there in appreciable quantities for very long. Even the designers fall into this trap--most races with my Laramie are 200-pointers. Only the IB rallies have been as low as 125-175. The points are based on HP, for the most part... but when you've got enough torque to be able to do an entire lap in reverse pushing the AI sideways through Capri Rally/Costa diAmalfi (again, drunk, and pissed off at the damn AI ramming me in the front half of the truck so that I'd get the 5-second penalty)...
Torque, at least like this supercharged monster gives you, is amazing.
All settings in F/R format.
Suspension:
Springs: 9/10
Height: 212/262 (looks aggressive; drop front to 192 to look like some crazy axe-murderer like Jack Nicholson in The Shining is driving your truck)
Bound: 7/8
Rebound: 5/6
Camber: 2/1
Toe: 1/0
Stab: 5/5
Tranny:
Auto 6. I normally tune the hell out of tranny (not very well either), but with this setup I usually get into 6th on the straightaways, only coming near the limiter on road-races.
Aids: TCS 2, others 0.
LSD: Default
VCD: 40. Some road races I'll drop to 35, on ice I do closer to 50/50.
Brakes: 3/3 playing with 4/8. Really need to find the smoke-point.
In the special license course this track is the worst one.
As for ballast, I might do that. Simulate the toolbox.
