TLDR: E-Class cars are getting way too many 1.0 specs. This needs to be scaled better so that the game doesn’t lump all lower-class cars with drastically different Speeds, Braking, Acceleration & Handling as all being “1.0”. The lowest PI car has a PI of 181 & is nearly 1.0 across the board.
Historically, cars with 1.0 specs in any category, speed, braking, handling or acceleration were truly appallingly slow or bad at that respective trait. But now, it seems that a car getting 1.0 in one or more of those categories is extremely common. Practically every E-Class car & even some D-Class cars have 1 or more 1.0 specs. The '68 Mustang went from specs of Speed 5.7 to 3.0. Handling plummeted from 3.9 to 1.0. Acceleration from 3.4 to 2.3 & Braking dropped from 2.3 to 1.0.
This is going to make it very difficult to gauge how well these cars actually perform when so many cars have the “max low” 1.0 spec. Now both a '70 Honda S800 with a PI of 210 has the same 1.0 score for speed as a 1969 Mercury Cougar which has a PI of 369 AND 4.5x the horsepower. It’s absurd. In FM7 the Honda had a speed score of 3.7 & the Cougar 4.6. This gives the player a MUCH better idea of the actual capabilities & differences between the cars in terms of their speed, whereas this game just lies to you and gives basically every E-class car 1.0s.
What’s going to happen if/when there are truly slow cars added to the game? In prior titles, it would take there to be cars as tediously slow as a Volkswagen Bus or Peel P50 to reach those appallingly low 1.0 scores. If we’re already nearly at 1.0 across the board at a PI level of 181, will every car just have full 1.0 specs with any PI lower than this? Makes no sense & needs a major scaling revision or extend the range to go lower than 1.0
