We will take a look at that
Nice appreciation!
I guess at this point you're just annoyed by my countless posts but I think that the first thing which I will mention is equally as important as the rear wing position. The other couple of things are debatable but I will mention them anyways.
So, the first and most important part of my post is about the roll hoop shape and thickness when looking from the front.
1: The roll hoop on the NA18 is shaped like a triangle with a round edge on the top while the roll hoop on the IR18 is more shaped like a parabola, it looks wider/fuller.
2: The actual roll hoop on the NA18 is quite thin while the roll hoop on the IR18 is thicker/beefier, it looks more massive than the NA18 roll hoop.
I was driving the NA18 for a bit today and in replay I always thought 'hm, something is off, especially when looking from the front, the car looks 'thin' at the top.' And the roll hoop is the reason for that.
I've also included some shots from the rear of the car.
I also noticed that the rear wing endplates on the IR18 are bent heavier than the NA18 endplates but I think that the roll hoop has a much bigger impact on the overall look of the car. Also the curves/angle changes on the NA18 endplates are pretty sharp, on the IR18 the endplate curves are much more smooth/fluent.
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Remember when I said that the fin on the engine cover is too small?
Just increasing the size of the fin isn't enough actually, the car looks 'flat' from the side because the actual engine cover (without the fin) is too flat. I roughly marked the shape of the engine cover in my pics to give you an idea.
But I would understand if you only edit the fin and leave the engine cover as it is because I think that changing the engine cover itself is much more work than reworking the fin only.
Another minor detail I've noticed on the roll hoop when looking from the side (minor detail because it doesn't have that much of an impact on the overall look, rear wing position and roll hoop from the front are much more important):
When looking from the side the IR18 roll hoop is a bit wider than the NA18 roll hoop and the part of the roll hoop that extends towards the rear of the car is longer on the IR18 (I've also roughly marked the shapes from the side). The angles are all a bit different as well.
This shot from Alexander Rossi gives you another nice look concerning the bigger engine cover, edited fin and adjusted roll hoop shape (side view).
Summary:
As I've said earlier, rear wing position and roll hoop geometry (frontal view) have the biggest impact on the overall look. The shape of the engine cover is a close second though, especially in side view the car would look a lot better with that bigger engine cover. Just changing the engine cover fin might be a compromise but the car would still be too flat in that case.
Extending the roll hoop further towards the rear (side view) and adjusting the angles a bit would be welcomed but getting the engine cover and the fin right would be more important in my opinion than editing the roll hoop (side view).
The fin on the front should be a quick fix compared to the stuff I've mentioned above and reworking the rear wing endplates would be nice, but it certainly isn't a 'must'.
All of the things mentioned also apply to the Oval version of the car (except the rear wing position of course).
Well, I hope I don't come across as a dude who doesn't appreciate your work.
VRC and RSS are the teams that keep creating fantastic open wheel cars for AC so you have my highest respect for all the mods that you've created so far.
But since I've started giving feedback on the 3d model I wanted to give proper and usable feedback and I promise, that was my last post about it.
Because everything else from physics, to sounds, to overall quality is exceptional on the NA18.
And since IndyCar will keep using this car for a couple of more seasons it would actually be worth it to invest some more time into fixing certain areas of the 3d model.
Cheers!