Why couldn't McQueen just get an upgrade to become faster?

#NedWheeler #CarsExplained #PixarCars

[nedwheeler]

Some fans have pointed out that McQueen can’t get upgraded because of NASCAR’s rules.
1:30 Goof: He’s actually a steamroller :)

[epicdude]

I'll be honest, Cars 3's plot is ruined when you consider that, in racing, there are different... classes? Divisions? I don't know, but technically, Jackson Storm and all the newer cars shouldn't've even been in the same race as McQueen. It should've been a different racing division that the new cars were in while McQueen and his buddies were all still able to race together with all of the other "older" race cars.

[thesexybatman]

The engine could be an analog for a heart. It can be replaced if it was really necessary, but extremely risky and may leave sequels that actually reduce performance.

[TheStormBolt-gfqi]

I thought he was going to be upgraded in cars 3 to be honest

[gggaming]

To be honest, they treat the cars racers more like athletes than actual machines. You can’t replace organs and muscles just cause your getting older, you’ve gotta work with what ya got. Just like any athlete, eventually you have to know when it’s time to hang up the hat and leave to the new kids. Allow them to have their time in the sun. It’s apart of growing up, learning that nothing lasts forever and to just enjoy it while you can. Truly an amazing message/theme for this movie and why I genuinely loved it. 😎👍

[blerst]

It might be due to McQueen's body's limits. You can engine swap any car, but only if the engine bay is the right size and shape. Maybe McQueen already has the best upgrades his chassis allows. And as for Rod Redline, he probably meant he could replace his engine with the same model, which will obviously fit inside him.

[Primus_]

It could be seen as Illegal in a racing series to perform body modifications. Can you imagine an athelete coming in with a full Mech armour to enhance his performance or replacing parts of his body with mech in Olympics. It's probably the same with cars. There might also be some pride involved which stops some others to do it

[theforestarcher]

Can't remember his name, but the German touring car from Cars 2, according to lore, was originally a street car. Through many upgrades and much training, he became a race car. Substantial upgrades are a thing in this universe.

[twistedaxles]

I think its above Piston Cup rules to be modified from the original piston cup shape and setup they were given, no matter how old they are, that would also explain why Chick Hicks and the King dint upgrade to 2003-2007 Piston Cup configs.

[PigMachineSenpai]

People generally underestimate how crucial tires are. McQueen could (in theory) get slicks with a better compound and train like he did in the movie

[simon]

"they can't open doors"
Meanwhile mater in cars on the road: *OPENS DOOR*

[Novak]

So basically, Piston Cup has restrictions on upgrades. There's a reason why Mcqueen is described as 'stock' race car. You might argue that 'why did World Grand Prix allowed upgrades', well its completely different to Piston Cup and Nascar.

[themysteriousveteran]

Great video! In my opinion McQueen didn't upgrade himself is because I think he wanted to gain speed instead of taking the easy way of upgrading, McQueen wanted to work hard and take it the difficult way, Besides it gave a purpose for McQueen to train for Cars 3 instead of upgrading himself.

Edit: This was a theory I made 4 months ago so I agree that I was wrong. You are free to disagree to this theory, So now that I think about it, I mainly think it's because of the plot, It wouldn't be as interesting because that's just taking the easy way of beating Storm. Basically the movie wouldn't have had a good purpose without McQueen training so I guess you could say he trained for nothing. But he didn't give up, I'm just gonna think that McQueen's Body or Model is something he loves most and would never change it (besides Cars 2), Maybe to support the Veteran legacy? I have no idea, McQueen basically just pushed himself. So what i'm basically saying is the plot wouldn't be as more interesting since McQueen would beat Storm nowadays and make life easier, So it's basically the lesson that it teaches us, That you have to work harder for the goal you want to reach. If McQueen upgraded in the movie, it wouldn't have been a good plot, It wouldn't teach kids/adults an important lesson. So my main reason for now that remains is the Plot.

[maxburner]

I believe it was the plot.

He got upgraded in Cars 2: He had a different set of wheels and brakes and a different spoiler. He probably had some other modifications done to him to tackle Francesco's challenge.

In the PSP games, McQueen goes through different transformations and modifications: he becones a dragster, a monster truck, a baja truck, etc. If he can do that, and it has been proven that cars can get modified in the films (look at the tuner gang or Mater stories), why can't McQueen get upgraded as well? You don't need a new engine to become faster, you can just modify your existing one. Or alter your gear ratio aerodynamics to gain top speed.

Also, the King was running for 45 years and Chick Hicks for 20, and still, they were very capable of beating newer cars.

Also, to those who say NASCAR don't allow modifications, it does not allow older cars to compete with newer cars neither, as they're obsolete and don't comply with the new rules. Meaning that McQueen would be force to retire and never compete against storm or go through a full body and mechanical redesign to become a next gen racer.

[nicklas]

I think its due of the fact the cars are actually living cars, so they actually age and train themselves.
In Cars 2, McQueen's top speed is 200 mph, but in Cars 3 is 198 mph.
Thats might be actually because of aging, Cars as they got older in this universe, gets slower, their top speed gets slowly reduced as years went by after their peak.
Another thing is that Mcqueen is training to be faster, in irl cars can never train to be faster, their top speed is set, they can get modification that let them be faster, but that is external and in the world of cars's case, will probably get slower as they age.
The fact they are living cars means they can train to be faster without modifications, get faster or slower by aging, something not possible for irl cars. But the fact they are still cars makes their aging not be as visible as humans, can be given modifications and can still become obsolete and useless of their purpose due of newer, better cars.

[bruxotlaloc]

Same as with a car, you can replace an engine block; but swapping for another entirely different engine is only possible through extreme modifications (including chassis, suspension, transmission and so on). So an "upgrade" wouldn't be actually possible. You could upgrade a few things without much ado, like putting a turbo. But still those small upgrades wouldn't make him as fast as Storm. He would need a whole new engine and transmission to be as fast.

[bjmaguireii]

Funny enough Murray clutchburn and floyd mulvihill got “plastic surgery” so technically it is canon that they can body swap

[MrMarket]

Considering that Mater got a bunch of upgrades as a Spy, as I'm pretty sure Mater did get rocket boost upgrades, it strikes me as a Stock Car racing rules thing that others have been mentioning. Cause otherwise nothing is keeping him from further enhancements, but then I wager it would give him a bit of an existential crisis, like in the movie, about how he's no longer top of the line. Chances are, it's also an analogy about aging with grace on Lightning's part.

[LuiTheBazui]

I’m so happy you included Dusty’s new form in the 1st film. Planes really proved that an airplane can get upgrades easily. Dusty’s taken on a few forms. Lightning? A few too but I don’t get why Lightning didn’t get upgraded in cars 3-

[alzade]

I want to note that in the original cars in the opening scenes, the commentator mentioned that “King” (dinoco) has a chip tuning. So basically, they could upgrade the engine.