2007 Subaru Impreza WRX

Scott | June 7, 2020 | Cars | 2 Comments

The below is written by the creator (aphidgod)!

Self-promotion really isn’t my strong suit but I can’t post this car without bringing to light just how much attention to realism and detail we’ve put into it. Starting with the most obvious bit, Dan built the entire thing on a full 3d photo scan I took of the real car in my driveway. From there I spent about a week playing photo monkey, dodging rainstorms & getting detail shots of anything that needed it. I then spent a solid week playing the “well actually” game with any and every detail I noticed that wasn’t spot-on. It wasn’t practical in a game model to perfect literally everything, but I genuinely doubt there’s a more 3d-accurate sim mod around. Dan is a wizard. This thing is flat-out fantastic.

On the physics side the car is built from the most accurate and specific data I’ve ever had for a project. (Unsurprising, I know.) I’ve logged and matched as many things as can possibly be tracked with my OBD-II datalogger. The entire suspension was measured on a lift and rechecked at static height on the alignment rack. It matches plotted curves to within a couple hundredths of a degree throughout its full travel. The aero data is from a Prodrive wind tunnel session at MIRA & the brake calculations are based on excellent data from the forum autocross community. We ran my dampers on a dyno before installing them and the weight of every modded part, deleted system & lightened bit is taken from real life. To the best of my driving & translation ability & within the constraints of the sim, it’s a match for the real thing.

And finally, the sounds. Davide is a generous man and a literal pro – this outcome went far beyond any of my expectations. He was not only kind enough to give us permission to use the soundbank he originally made for the Rally Legends 22B, but he then sent us a modernized update, then a second update customized to more closely fit the mechanical setup of my car. I have to say, allowing for the unavoidable difference between reality and sim when it comes to audio, these sounds are pretty much spot on. It’s a mild (sounding) setup with a substantial turbo, so it’s civilized enough (and 50-state noise legal) but there’s that sinister hiss from the turbo when you step on it.

Just like the real thing.

Credits:
@aphidgod – Owner, physics, project lead
@A3DR – 3D model, livery, visuals
@elMariachi90 – Sound design

A project like this also involves a lot of help from others with this bit or that, so a huge thanks as well to @mclarenf1papa for tires & advice, @Giuseppe Abagnale for the rear geometry, @Kyuubeey for help with ARBs and some aero bits, Baker for a great hydraulic brake calculator, and @AlleyViper for the usual CSP adjustment & troubleshooting (and especially for getting the odometer working.) And reaching back a bit, @Storm Rider for helping me import my first bits of data way back in the day, when I knew even less about what I was doing than I do now.

A shout also to the fantastic WRX/STI forum community which has (mostly passively and without their knowledge) provided me with more good data than I’ve found in the public sphere for just about any other car I’ve ever worked on. You rock. My brothers.

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