Mazda 787B

Mazda 787B IMSA/Group C

Designer:	Zapper
Released:	2024
Game version:	1.1
Engine specs:	Mid Engine, RW Drive 4-rotor Wankel, 2616cc
Torque peak at:	6500 rpm
Max horsepower (est.):	690 hp
Transmission:	5-speed
0-60mph:	2.8 s
0-100mph:	4.8 s
Half mile:	?
Flat track top speed:	216 mph
Real top speed :	223 mph

Performance data refers to BB 1.1 version unless the car is for 1.0 versions only.

The Mazda 787B racing car from 1991, which stands out as the first car equipped with a rotary engine that won at Le Mans, is a custom car to fit in a fast category cars on Stunts between Indy and IMSA cars of the game.

Development

The creation of the 3D shape of this car began from easily obtainable photos and blueprints (as well as detailed decals of scale models) of its livery because of its uniqueness and popularity as a racing car, particularly in Japan. It has as many details as the allowed limit of vertices to be presented in both the showroom (car0) and drive (car1) models, for instance, the last detail to be modeled and somehow sacrificed were the cooling intake vents below front headlights that had to be shown as a pair of lines instead of a proper grille.

The dashboard was also made from scratch and using the best approach possible taken from the real photos and video footages (example: Youtube - Mazda 787B onboard lap with Johnny Herbert at Le Mans 2011). It also uses an inverted use of the tachometer needle to mimic as best as possible the movement of the black gauge bar from real lcd cluster.

The car has 3 paint jobs which recreates the livery of the Le Mans winning car #55 787B chassis 002, the 6th placed #18 787B chassis 001 (similar to 8th placed 56# 787 chassis 002), and a livery used in post Le Mans event car 787B chassis 003. Unfortunately, due to the game's limited color palette, the bright orange of car #55 turns into a brownish orange.

On 21st June a new 1.1 version of the car was available with some corrections on wheel coordinate values that caused movement of the car when supposed to be stand still. The paint job of the 18# car changed the color of the band on top of the windscreen to yellow. And the dashboard presents a visible wing/fender and a correction on the number 9 speed digit. When using "Needle colour mod", it is also possible to see the inverted rev bar as a grey needle to match lcd panel background color.

Performance

The performance of the car were parameterized from the 24h Le Mans car specification document found at mulsannescorner.com (exernal link below) and fd3s specs table in order to match it's real figures. In the game, this numbers resulted in a car that was faster than other IMSA cars found in game (perhaps for being underpowered comparing to real cars), but not as fast as Porsche March Indy.