Confessions of an Automationeer, Part 31: The Kee to Success
When I was given my first chance to host CSR in over a year, I immediately jumped at the chance. However, having seen how the previous round failed to utilize the full potential of UE4, I realized that I had to find a way to avoid this problem, and the only way to accomplish this was to revert to the original Kee version of Automation until UE4 was fully sorted. Being the enthusiast that I am, I themed CSR61 around sports coupes on a moderate budget ($25000 with a 20% markup) for the 1999 model year. I could have made CSR61 about economical compacts for the 2009 model year, but chose not to do so, the reason for which will be discussed at the end of this post.
Within a day, I started receiving entries from other users. Given that the reviews for CSR26 were very long, I decided to make them much more concise this time around, but as was the case back then, I made a draft of the reviews as soon as I had received the corresponding entries. And as before, the plan worked. This time, I only received 25 entries, but this was still a big undertaking. Inevitably, the reviews provided quite a few surprises... and a few things that weren't so surprising.
The first thing I did was to narrow down the field to a few contenders. If it didn't handle well enough, was too difficult to drive, had insufficient power, or quite simply lacked the looks, it was out on the spot. That left me with just nine cars to choose from - but for some strange reason, five of them were totally identical to each other (and also five of the cars I had cut previously) under the skin, so from that lot, I was forced to cut all of them except for the best-looking one, which, like the other four finalists, remained in contention purely on merit.
Then came the time to test-drive the last few remaining cars: the Orion XS-1, Centauri Buffalo GTZ, JHW Huntsman, Dragotec Vienna and GBF La Astuzia. After this second round of research, the Huntsman was cut for being too tame, and the XS-1 was the next to go, due to not feeling enough like a premium product despite its impressive technical specification. Separating the top three was much more difficult, though.
The futuristic La Astuzia took the bronze medal. It looked, felt, sounded and drove like a true thoroughbred, but its complex suspension was much more maintenance-intensive than I wanted, and so it could not finish any higher. The Vienna also looked and felt like a potential winner, and was without doubt the best all-rounder of the top three, with astounding performance stats across the board. What held its back were its merely average build quality and reliability. This, combined with its relative lack of drama, ensured that it would finish a close second, behind the V8-powered Buffalo. That car was not only more reliable, but better built as well.
After awarding the win to the big blue Buffalo, I pondered on what to do with the clone cars. It took me around an hour of deliberation, but I settled on a brutal car chase along Highway 1 from Santa Monica to Malibu, with all 10 clone cars chasing the Buffalo. Five of the "clones" were destroyed in a crash just before the tunnel, and the rest were wiped out on the westward run to the junction at Sunset Boulevard. To be fair, the epilogue was not entirely necessary, but I added it anyway just because I hadn't done so before.
Given that CSR62 recently reintroduced UE4 Automation to CSR after that version received several major updates, it is possible that CSR61 could be among the last few rounds to use the original Kee version. Still, I'll look back on this round as a fairly pleasant experience for all involved. I will give a rundown on CSR62 after it has concluded. In the meantime, I'll see you back in the brave new world of UE4 - but I will still revisit Kee when I have to.
Within a day, I started receiving entries from other users. Given that the reviews for CSR26 were very long, I decided to make them much more concise this time around, but as was the case back then, I made a draft of the reviews as soon as I had received the corresponding entries. And as before, the plan worked. This time, I only received 25 entries, but this was still a big undertaking. Inevitably, the reviews provided quite a few surprises... and a few things that weren't so surprising.
The first thing I did was to narrow down the field to a few contenders. If it didn't handle well enough, was too difficult to drive, had insufficient power, or quite simply lacked the looks, it was out on the spot. That left me with just nine cars to choose from - but for some strange reason, five of them were totally identical to each other (and also five of the cars I had cut previously) under the skin, so from that lot, I was forced to cut all of them except for the best-looking one, which, like the other four finalists, remained in contention purely on merit.
Then came the time to test-drive the last few remaining cars: the Orion XS-1, Centauri Buffalo GTZ, JHW Huntsman, Dragotec Vienna and GBF La Astuzia. After this second round of research, the Huntsman was cut for being too tame, and the XS-1 was the next to go, due to not feeling enough like a premium product despite its impressive technical specification. Separating the top three was much more difficult, though.
The futuristic La Astuzia took the bronze medal. It looked, felt, sounded and drove like a true thoroughbred, but its complex suspension was much more maintenance-intensive than I wanted, and so it could not finish any higher. The Vienna also looked and felt like a potential winner, and was without doubt the best all-rounder of the top three, with astounding performance stats across the board. What held its back were its merely average build quality and reliability. This, combined with its relative lack of drama, ensured that it would finish a close second, behind the V8-powered Buffalo. That car was not only more reliable, but better built as well.
The Centauri Buffalo GTZ - bold, brutish and brilliant on the road.
Given that CSR62 recently reintroduced UE4 Automation to CSR after that version received several major updates, it is possible that CSR61 could be among the last few rounds to use the original Kee version. Still, I'll look back on this round as a fairly pleasant experience for all involved. I will give a rundown on CSR62 after it has concluded. In the meantime, I'll see you back in the brave new world of UE4 - but I will still revisit Kee when I have to.
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