Engine sound simulator

How the simulator makes the sound

Most car sound apps loop a recording and change its playback speed, which is why they sound like a tape being sped up. Drive mode works the other way round. It models the engine's crankshaft turning and fires each cylinder at its real point in the 720-degree four-stroke cycle, routes every pulse into the exhaust bank that cylinder feeds, and passes the result through a model of the pipes and muffler.

That is why the engines sound different for the right reasons. A cross-plane V8 fires its two banks unevenly, so each exhaust gets an irregular rhythm and you hear the familiar burble. A flat-plane V8 alternates banks evenly and sounds higher and smoother. A V12 fires every 60 degrees and the pulses blur into a continuous wail, while a rotary's short, sharp pulses give its distinctive rasp.

Drive it like a real car

The gas pedal is analog: feather it to blip the throttle, floor it to pull hard. There is a clutch model, so you can stall it, and a 6-speed H-pattern shifter that grinds and refuses the gear if you rush a shift. Lift off at high revs and you get pops on the overrun.

Each car's gearing and pull are calibrated so the speedometer reaches its real 0–100 km/h time and tops out near its real top speed. Hold it on the rev limiter for too long and the engine lets go, so watch the tachometer.

Real recordings too

Outside Drive mode every car has its recorded start-up, idle and rev clips, the same ones you can play on this site. Flip the straight pipe switch in Drive mode to hear what the engine would sound like with the mufflers removed.