VDrift Graphical Upgrades

[zimluura]

got a few questions that you guys might be able to help me out on.

first one is artistic vs. performance: pondering 4 different designs for wheel edges.
first image here
http://sites.google.com/site/zimluuraprojects/vdrift
A will look ok from common view angles
B will look ok from all angles
C will look good from common angles
D will look the best from all angles
poly and vertex counts mostly go up proportionally as the letter approaches D. lots of vertexes will need doubles because we'll likely want somewhat hard angled lighting. i think B and C might have the same vert/poly load.
with 32 segments the tire is 264 verts and 448 triangles. so i'm guessing option D will be somewhere around that number.

second is artistic vs. complexity. since the wheel edge is mostly a sort of lip. should i include tweak-able parameters for making it bevel inwards and another parameter for how thick a wheel is? i think i'm in favor of this, but if it makes wheels too difficult to define then maybe not.

third question is a technical one about tires. does the measurement of the wheel_width equal the tire's section width?