Confessions of an Automationeer, Part 233: Day of the Jackals
Although the '09 Jackal was merely one of many new body sets introduced in the Al-Rilma update for Automation, I am so surprised at its versatility (across multiple market demographics) that I have chosen to dedicate an entire post to it. There are 5 wheelbases (2.33m, 2.57m, 2.75m, 2.85m, and 3.03m), with a multitude of body types for each one - whichever one suits you best depends on the market demographic (and its corresponding price range) you're targeting. While the SUV variants cover the Utility market, the sedan and wagon variants are just the ticket for the Family and Premium segments, if an edgy design is what you're after. The coupe and convertible variants, meanwhile, can be easily adapted for the Muscle/Pony and Sports/Super demographics, among others.
To give an example, the '09 Jackals have a wide range of adjustment for their hood angle morphing zones - while a higher angle is well-suited to SUV/truck builds, a lower angle makes more sense if you're building a dedicated sports car or pony car, especially the former. In fact, the Jackal has dozens of morphing zones to go along with its diverse body style choices. But that's not the only good thing about them; they have a lot of colorable body panel and trim areas, as most vanilla body sets should, but it's how they're arranged in particular that stands out. Specifically, the wheel arches are not a single area, but rather a set of them, so you no longer have to have the entirety of the arches either color-coded or in a contrasting color/material; you can apply this treatment to that particular section of bodywork.
In fact, I liked the Jackal line so much that I decided to start work on a build based on it: the 2005 HPG HP8, a front-engined, rear-drive convertible sports car powered by a 32-valve, dual overhead-cam-per-bank V8 developing 400 horsepower, breathing through individual throttle bodies per cylinder and revving to 8000 rpm, hooked up to a 6-speed manual gearbox and a helical limited-slip differential. Built on an all-aluminum body/chassis, with dual wishbone front suspension and a multi-link rear end, I positioned it as a high-end product, and fitted a full-on luxury interior/sat-nav stereo sound system, with adjustable adaptive dampers and a full set of driving aids (stability/traction control, plus anti-lock brakes) as standard. Low-profile high-performance tires (245/40R19 front, 265/35R19 rear) surrounding 19-inch forged alloy wheels and large vented disc brakes (350mm/4-piston caliper front, 320mm/2-piston caliper rear) endow it with cornering and braking ability commensurate with its price tag ($60,000 AMU as shown in the market tab). Finally, a hidden automatic soft top allows the car to maintain a sleek profile with the roof up or down.
The reason I chose the Jackal as the basis for this build is that, compared to other similarly sized body sets (such as the '05 Mercy and '05 Villain), its shorter wheelbase made it easier for me to keep it smaller and lighter by comparison. In fact, I could've made it smaller still, but chose not to go too far in that direction. Also, I realized that I could add a fully detailed interior and/or Beam export cameras if I wanted to, after being satisfied with the exterior design - and sure enough, I did just that. Here is what it looks like in its current form:
Above, from top: The HPG HP8 is my first attempt at creating a fully detailed build based on the '09 Jackal body set, in any variant or size - this is the soft-top convertible variant, complete with hidden Beam export cameras (one each on the centerline of the hood and in the interior, on the driver's side approximately at eye level).
And for anyone who's interested in the interior, here it is from the inside:
Above, from top: The inside of the HPG HP8 in its current form from various angles.
In short, the new '09 Jackal body set took some getting used to, but I was able to create a fairly convincing build based on it, and I enjoyed doing so right until the end.
