Modern V8 engine sound

Two V8s sit in this library and the difference between them is instructive. Both are eight cylinders firing four times a revolution. What separates them is how evenly those firings land and how long the exhaust is: this one carries unevenness of 24 against the muscle car's 38, and a 125 pipe against 150.

Ten seconds from a standing start. The launch, the gearbox working up through the ratios, then the overrun as the throttle closes. Driven by the same gearbox model the simulator runs, so the shift points are the ones you would hear in the car.

Unevenness here is 24, against 38 on the muscle V8. Still enough to be recognisably a V8 rather than a flat-plane engine, but tight enough that the lope tightens into a hard even note as the revs rise. Pipe length is 125 against 150, which lifts the comb resonance and shortens the decay.

Brightness goes up to 105 from 85, and bass comes down to 101 from 128. Those two moves together are most of what makes this read as modern: less weight underneath, more information on top. The saturation drive drops to 105 from 115, so it stays cleaner under load.

The gearing tells the same story. Eight ratios against four, a 7,000 redline against 6,200, and a shift point at 3,400 rpm against 2,900. It works the engine harder and keeps it in a narrower band, the way a modern automatic does.

Overrun pops sit at 25, moderate. Enough to hear on a lift, restrained compared to the turbocharged presets, which is about right for a naturally aspirated engine with a modern exhaust on it.

Eight closely stacked ratios mean it is rarely far from the shift point. First runs to 63 km/h at the limiter and top gives 51 km/h per 1000 rpm, so it cruises at 100 km/h near 1,960 rpm and still has four gears to drop for an overtake.

Specification

Every figure above is read from the preset the app actually runs, not retyped.

Drive it

Open the simulator with this engine selected, allow location, and press ignition. See how it works for what happens between GPS and sound.

Related

• Muscle V8 engine sound
• V10 engine sound
• Inline-six engine sound

Every other engine

• RECORDED CARS
  • BAC Mono
  • Ferrari 458
  • BMW M1 Procar
• SUPERCARS
  • Muscle V8
  • V10
  • V12
  • Anti-lag rally car
  • Air-cooled flat-six
• NORMAL CARS
  • Three-cylinder
  • Four-cylinder
  • Turbo hot hatch
  • Inline-six
  • Diesel
  • Flat-four boxer
• FUN SOUNDS
  • Steam locomotive
  • Radial prop plane
  • Jet turbine
  • Alien craft
  • Single-cylinder thumper

All twenty on one page, with redline and gear count for each.