First off: I am a racing game and Truck Sim *GAMER*. I have clocked probably 50k+ hours in games like Gran Turismo, Forza Motorsport/Horizon, Dirt, Formula 1, Assetto, I-Racing, American Truck Sim, etc over the years. And let me say: Motor Town is an INCREDIBLE DRIVING sim. Now, note what I said: "DRIVING Sim". This is NOT a game focused on racing, however it INCLUDES racing. If you are looking for hard racing sim, go somewhere else. If you want to DRIVE and FEEL progression, stay with me as I tell you why you should play Motor Town. I bought this on a whim, scrolling through early access games of every genre. This review is in NO way sponsored. bought, or biased. This is a racing gamer's opinion. Motor Town presents to you a graphically reduced American Truck Sim combined with the tuning and customization of a simplified Forza Horizon and the free roam capability of Grand Theft Auto. In 1 hour you can go from racing a personally modified race/drift car like a Lamborghini or BMW E30, to picking up a randomly spawned hitch-hiker, to towing a crashed Supra on the side of the road, to delivering a fuel tanker load to some farm across the map, to picking up randomly spawned passengers on a bus, to insuring the quick transport of some guy who needs a taxi to the city hall, to chasing some idiot in a fast car in your police car (sirens and all), to free roam drifting in the rain at night on glistening roads in the mountains, to drifting through the desert on back roads that are yet uncharted. YOU FORGE YOUR OWN PATH. If you want to focus on being a truck driver delivering mass freight across the map, you are rewarded for doing just that. Each vehicle type has a "mastery" level of sorts, and you gain experience and money at exponentially higher rates based on how much time you spend doing that specific activity. If you want to be race car driver, you can rent and buy cars and tune and upgrade them in your own garage and put them to the test on multiple racetracks. There are cars that dont belong on public roads that you can just DRIVE on public roads. There are houses and garages you can buy everywhere. You can LITERALLY get out of the car and WALK into a bank and get a loan. You are driving and you see a car you like in a random parking lot, walk up to it and buy it. OR JUST TAKE IT AND DRIVE IT UNTIL IT BLOWS UP. You can WALK into any convenience store or gas station or repair shop and buy fuel, quality of life items like cargo straps/flashlights/car parts, and more. Are you a race car driver? Well you better hop out of the car periodically and check your tire and brake temperature so you don't melt everything. Be careful of the cops, they are a little dumb but with every update I've noticed they've gotten more and more aggressive. Some are undercover, but if you pay attention you'll see the blue+red light bars hidden inside their windshields. Are you looking for something to use your brand new Fanatec/Logitech wheel? This is it. Fully customizable bindings, Force Feedback, splitter configurations for semi trucks, etc. E-Brake, paddle shift, clutch, pedal, +etc. I recommend connecting a controller and your wheel - controller for running around outside of the vehicle and wheel for precision driving. Speaking of running around outside the vehicle, dont expect to just roll up to a car with your tow truck and have a crashed car magically pop onto your truck. Nope, manually hook the car onto your winch and tow bar and pull it out of the ditch. (It's WAY easier than BeaMG). And be careful, if you dont upgrade your suspension or tires your truck will be flung across the road when trying to tow something heavy - like a trailer full of Porsche 911's you personally procured and loaded. Driving a flat-bed truck? Well make sure you hop out and strap your cargo down so it doesn't fly everywhere if you hit a curb - those apples or cars need to get to their destination. While you're making your delivery or racing around the track, make sure to play a good radio station. Unlike ATS where you have to do complicated importing of radio stations, this game has a pre-built list of real life radio stations you can choose from. This is the only driving game that I've chosen to listen to radio instead of my own spotify. Of course, your mileage may vary based on your musical taste. It's actively being updated (even as of March 14 2024) and the change logs actually give credit to each individual person who found a particular bug and reported it. The devs care, they listen. This is more than worth the price. All this said - it is not without its problems: Graphics may not be your cup of tea. But this thing can run at incredible fidelity on a potato. There are optimization options for damn near anything. Im playing on a 55inch tv through HDMI, Logitech G29+Pedals+Shifter and it's just buttery smooth at ultra on a toaster laptop. Standing NPCs around the map are brain dead. While they do improve immersion, such as when you pull up to a random hitch hiker who has their thumb up, or a bunch of people at a bus station who physically walk toward and into your bus -often they bug out and just remain stiff on the side of the road or glitch through the ground in a sitting position as if they're driving invisible cars on the side walk. However, they are voice acted and will greet and thank you for taking them to their destination. Now, put more than an hour into this and you will enjoy yourself if you like open world driving games. THIS IS NOT ASSETTO. THIS IS NOT A RACING SIM. THIS IS A LIGHT HEARTED DRIVING SIM that gives you a PLETHORA of features to choose your path. What you put into it is what you get back. And it has given me more joy than any other driving game I've played in the past 5 years, right behind Gran Turismo 7 VR.
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