Board Thread:Game Discussion/@comment-37667252-20190202065757/@comment-29898480-20190204170053

Lotus78markIII wrote: May I please ask what you mean by "momentum car"? Thanks. I'll give this a try. A "momentum car" is a car that handles well but has slow, linear acceleration. The key to driving a momentum car fast is maintaining speed all the way through a corner, as any over-slowing of the car leads to a speed deficit (relative to a well driven car) which cannot be reduced due to the slow, linear acceleration.

This contrasts with power cars that accelerate quickly to a high speed and then the acceleration slows and levels off, and which often don't handle as well (because usually speed = weight). Speed deficits are less of a problem in these cars, as the rapid acceleration to high speed where acceleration tails off leads to a rapid reduction in the speed deficit. For these cars, staying in the high speed zone for maximum time is more important.

The two types of cars require different cornering styles - more constant radius in a momentum car, more squared-off in a power car.

I've painted these differences rather starkly here, obviously IRL there's a continuum of behavior.