First impression was terrible actually, but not because of the simulation itself but because of the pesky installation and online activation procedures. Beyond that however, I have to say this is a neat little sim with much potential to become so much more (if allowed).

It's perhaps one of the most boring and perhaps unrewarding in the long run, but it pulls of what it's designed to do. I checked it out simply because I'm a fan of realism and because I have a sturdy FF wheel and a TrackIR device. I can't imagine how anyone could use this app properly without one actually.

From a serious sim racing enthusiasts perspective, this game is not a vehicle simulation. It lacks a proper tire & suspension model etc. The reactor physics engine is not suitable for simulating car behavior but more suited to calculate props bouncing around in FPS games. City Car Driving can however be regarded as a "city driving simulation" and it could even be one of the better available for home entertainment. If City Car Driving had a more complete package with interesting and challenging "missions", for example transportation, delivery missions or racing (illegal), perhaps with cops then City Car Driving would end up being so much more then a simple learning tool for novices.

The graphics engine is potent enough to deliver a good game oriented experience. Imagine being able to cruise around and randomly challenge AI cars to race (maybe honking the horn) and then you simply choose the destination on the GPS and line up Such a feature would be fairly easy to implement and it would result in endless of fun! It would require some new AI code for the racing part however. Also, a simple form of damage model would be a good thing, just enough to keep you from driving too dirty. It could be some type of engine status, loosing power at 50% damage and terminal damage at 100%.

Just a few thoughts. I know City Car Driving can't compete with mainstream racing games but it's design is original enough to stick out and if it where more mission oriented it could gain renown for being the most fun and "realistic" driving challenge sim / game around.

Cheers.

I agree with the very first impression, however I disagree with your ideas, with respect. I believe the sole purpose of this game is to be a simulator, not a racing game. It is not meant to be 'endless fun', but simply a professional, well- thought out simulator for those who want to learn or become experienced behind the wheel. It would be ruined to the introduction of illegal transport and street racing, that is what Need for speed is for. However, I do agree they could use their current software to develop a completely separate quality game for all-around driving, including this.

Thanks.

I recently got this for my daughter to practise / have fun on before she starts driving lessons.

My experiences:
I too had Trojan horse virus alarms from AVG which are annoying as as long as the game is installed AVG will quarantine 2 files and then the game will not run. The only thing to do is turn off the virus scanner totally. Can't even switch off heuristic AVG will still quarantine the files. This needs to be resolved!

The next problem I had was the activation key sequence must be done in Administrator mode or it asks for the key again and then hangs with a white screen until you kill the enter key process.

I use a G27 wheel and pedals and City Car Driving reckonised it no problem but I was foxed by the need to click on the right most part of the individual control setting rows. Once I figured that out all the controls made sense, all pedals (we are manual gears in the UK of course) and even getting the gears to select N with the gear level is in neutral is fine.

The actual driving realism is pretty good - best I've seen so far and If you can drive you quickly get to progress through traffic and all the manoeuvres needed.
Graphics are good. The the start procedure realistic with stalling if clutch left out etc and time taken to restart / get a learner flustered also good.

Improvements would be:

It would be really good to have MPH readouts, driving on the left like we do in the UK, India, Japan, Australia etc - about a 1/4 of the worlds population in total so quite important. I have lived in Sweden (10 yrs) and driven in the US so it's not a problem for me but for learning it would be essential.

So I think this is a great effort that could be improved for world markets.