What is WOSSOM and how to play it:

Welcome, darlings. If you've managed to land here, either you're terribly lost or incredibly lucky. Either way, congratulations! You've just discovered WOSSOM. I'm Tati Markova: British by birth, precision-obsessed by nature, and utterly intolerant of atrocious design.

If you're wondering what on earth you’ve stumbled into, don’t panic. Start with the video. It won’t answer all your questions, but it will at least confuse you in the right direction.

Name’s Benny 'Boost' Parker. I keep it cool, I keep it fun, and I speak fluent horsepower.

This here is where folks from all over build wild cars and toss 'em into some of the most chaotic challenges you've ever seen. It’s about speed, style, and havin’ a blast with the crew.

Here’s the deal. You build your own car in a game called Automation, whatever you want. Then we take a look, run the numbers, and figure out which rides are getting the most love. That’s your sales. More sales, more bonus to upgrade it into a proper race machine.

After that? We drop it into BeamNG.drive, Mr. Franco drives it like he’s got unpaid tickets, and we see who’s got the fastest build out there.

That’s the big picture. Now I’ma pass things over to Rusty, who’ll walk you through the nitty-gritty. He’s got oil in his veins and about five conspiracy theories about spark plugs.

Alright y’all, listen up, cause I’m only explainin’ this once. WOSSOM is like that chili cookoff we had back in Tallahassee — but for cars. It’s a web-based buildin' challenge for gearheads like us. Best part? It’s free. Well, sorta. You do need a game called Automation, which ain’t free, but it is worth every penny if you dream in pistons and torque curves. Grab it on Steam or at automationgame.com.

Now, if you wanna see what your Franken-car can do, that’s where BeamNG.drive comes in. It’s optional, but sweet baby corn, it’s fun. Grab that on Steam too. Mr. Franco uses it to drive our cars like he’s late for a barbecue.

Quick Start Guide: Rusty Style

First things first — you’re gonna need yourself a factory car. And before you even think about crankin up Automation, head over to the WOSSOM website and click on that Car Requirements tab. Once you’re there, slide on over to the Factory Car section. Youll see three numbers starin back at ya. Quality Sliders set to zero, Model and Trim Year locked at nineteen forty six, and Tech Pool maxed at five. That’s your holy trinity right there. These numbers ain’t just decoration — they’re the law around here. And they might change every season, so always come back and check before you start buildin somethin that gets banned before it even starts.

Now while you’re still in that Car Requirements tab, take a gander at them pictures down yonder. Those ain’t just there to pretty up the page — they’re your visual cheat sheet. These are real good references to help you shape your own ride so it don’t look like it drove in from the wrong decade. For example, you’ll notice there ain’t a single LED light in sight — because back in nineteen forty six, folks were still usin’ candles in their outhouses, let alone LEDs in their bumpers. So your car’s gotta match the look and feel of the time. Stick to what was possible back then, and you’ll be just fine.

Now we ain’t buildin’ the whole car from scratch just yet — that deep-dive’s comin’ later. For now, we’re just gonna show you where to toss those numbers we talked about earlier.

So whether you built your own car or had the AI whip one up for ya, there’s a few things you gotta do before it’s ready for WOSSOM. First off, set that year to whatever’s on the website — right now it’s nineteen forty-six. That goes for both the model and the trim year.

Next, you’ll see some pages with sliders called “Quality Sliders.” Don’t get fancy — set every single one of ‘em to zero. Then, if you see a Tech Pool button — yep, you guessed it — set that to five across the board. Zero sliders, five Tech Pool. That’s the WOSSOM way.

Now, onto the name stuff. You’ll see two red fields. The first one’s for your company name. That name’s gotta stay the same for every car you make under that brand — don’t go changin’ it like your shirt. The second field’s for the car name. Most of the time that’s just one name, like “Stallion” or “Rustbucket.” But if you’re makin’ a version, like a Baja or Rally trim, just stick that on after the name. You can even throw a nickname in quotes if you wanna get spicy.

Example? Sure.

Company: Dusthound Motors
Car Name: Coyote Baja “Sand Dancer”

Boom. Nailed it.

Once you’re done buildin’ your car, don’t just slap the hood shut and call it a day — look down at the bottom left of the screen. You might see some warnings pop up, and they ain’t just there for decoration. Hover your mouse over ‘em and it’ll tell you what’s wrong.

Now here’s how you read ‘em:
Blue? Eh, you can probably ignore it.
Yellow? That’s worth a second look.
Red? That’s trouble, partner — fix it before Mr. Franco throws a wrench at his screen.

And before you send that car our way, don’t forget the mandatory fixtures. That means basic stuff like headlights, taillights, door handles, fuel caps — all the bits a real car needs to not be arrested in public. If you ain’t sure what that looks like, check the reference cars on the site. They’ll steer you right.

Interior’s optional for now, so don’t worry if your seats are invisible. Nobody’s judgin’ that. Yet.

Alright, here’s Rusty wranglin’ that part into plain, easy-to-follow words:

Alright, now you got yourself a car ready to hit the big leagues. Here’s what you do next:

Head back to the main Car Designer page. Find your car’s picture and give it a click — just once, don’t go beatin’ on it. Then look around for the button that says “Export Car Save File” and click that too.

After you do that, hit the “Open Folder” button. That’ll pop open a window showin’ you the file it just created — that file right there is your golden ticket. That’s the one you’re gonna send to us.

Confirm the export if the game asks, then saddle up and head back to the WOSSOM website. Look for the “Submit Car” button and smack it.

You might have to sign in with a Gmail account — nothin’ scary, just makin’ sure you ain’t a robot or somethin’. After that, hit “Add File,” go find that car file you just made, and toss it in.

Boom. You’re officially in the race, partner.

Now that you got your factory car all buttoned up, it’s time to head back to the website and see what kinda madness is comin’ up next. There oughta be a calendar or somethin’ tellin’ you the date of the next competition.

Competitions can be all sorts of things — drag races, top speed runs, time trials, city street rallies, gravel rallies, even wild Baja rallies. And if you’re wonderin’ what each one’s about, you’ll find all that explained in the Car Requirements tab on the site.

While you’re snoopin’ around there, take a look down at the bottom. You’ll see a list of mandatory factory components for competition cars. Those parts — like the chassis, engine block, and a few other important bits — gotta stay the same between your factory car and the competition version. So don’t go rippin’ the guts out and puttin’ a rocket motor in there.

Also, if you’re wonderin’ how much quality bonus you can slap onto your competition car, head over to the Factory Cars tab. Find your car in the list. If you sent it in on time and it passed inspection, you’ll see your quality bonus sittin’ there waitin’ for ya. That bonus number’s the limit for all your quality sliders on the comp car — so if it says nine, you can crank them sliders up to nine and no more.

Now once you got your competition car built, you’re gonna send it in the same way you sent the factory car — same Submit Car button, same deal.

After that, we’re gonna line ‘em up for a car inspection to make sure nobody’s tryin’ to sneak in a jet engine or somethin'. Then we run the competition, and whoever comes out on top bags the most reputation for their company.

Now, reputation — that’s your score in WOSSOM. Every company starts out with a clean hundred points. When you enter a competition, you’re investin’ part of that reputation. If your car’s actually racin’, you lose twenty percent of your reputation up front.

If you’ve got a car sittin’ on the sidelines — meanin’ you ain’t racin’ but you got a car built — you still lose ten percent. Can’t just park it and expect to win by spectatin'.

When the race is done, the winners get the biggest slice of the reputation pie. Folks near the bottom might lose some, ‘cause around here, racin’ ain’t just about showin’ up — it’s about showin’ out.