Offroad Truck Simulator: Heavy Duty Challenge®

Can't recommend this in its current state. I get that it's a lower price tag, but the performance and visuals are sub par. I'm running a AMD 7900 xtx, Ryzen 7 5800, SSD and 32 gb ram and it stutters, it's grainy and has low fps. I tried various graphical settings with little improvement. On the absolute lowest settings I would get decent FPS, but the visuals and pop in were pretty bad. Visuals aside, the wheel support is either broken, or just not sufficient. There is NO force feedback...that defeats the purpose of using a wheel. I couldn't map certain functions to the wheel either. Thrustmaster TS-XW with Sparco P310. I plan to let it sit on the shelf for a bit and hope for some improvements.

terrible game. constant crashing skips frames steering of trucks lacks any self centering cant zoom out in 3rd person camera throttle seems delayed and restricted buggy game that shouldn't be released until way better. disappointing. such a shame, a game like this could be great fun

Im sorry but in its present state i cannot recommend this game. 90% of the time it will not load the first mission and when it does the graphics are terrible. I have tried adjusting every setting for the graphics and nothing seems to work. I have not had any issues with titles that have greater graphics than this game. It needs alot of work to get it to what could be an awesome game but for now it is not up to par. I have requested a refund and will be going back to snow runner until they can make this game playable.

Vid of playthrough during playtest (not day one build): https://youtu.be/IY8IO46uOF4 ========================================== **I received a playtest pre-release key and played a good bit, its been updated since my playtest to the official release which I only found out playing it today which led to writing this review** --- Great start to a niche market title. While a lot of folks have said its like Snowrunner - it really isn't. For example HDC is like Dirt Rally whereas Snowrunner would be more like Forza Horizon. Sure they're 2 games with big trucks, but they couldn't be more different. This is a game based on the Europa Truck Trial and it does a relatively good job of simulating its real life counter part. It's a technical and ofcourse challenging game with physics at its heart. Some trucks (primarily the Man and Mercs) sound nice and the models look fantastic, esp with all the chassis bits articulation and flexing. Within the title are sort of "free roam" areas and the championships themselves along with an online leaderboard. The maps are stunning set in real life locales as per the IRL Europa Truck Trial. There are 2 axle, 3 axle and 4 axle trucks - 12 presently all officially licensed thus far. You progress by competing, earning money and xp to purchase new trucks, truck upgrades, repairs and reinforcement. The developer Nano games built the game engine themselves so Its not a Unity or Unreal game - it looks great, the rock and ground textures to the trees and mountains, lighting, particles, skybox etc etc - its visually pleasing as are the trucks themselves. That being said, it could def use some optimization. Some maps are smoother than others and there is hitching here and there whilst looking around. I've got a ryzen 5800x rtx4070ti on 32gb sys ram installed on an SSD w/ windows 11 and it should def run smoother on my hardware. It's not unplayable by any stretch but its not always fluid. The title supports trackIR, gamepads, m&kb as well as steering wheels (precisely which, I've no clue... I do know it works with a g920 and g29) which I tested one and all. The FFB for the wheel is seriously left wanting, there is currently no calibration or settings to optimize your experience. That said, they do feel nice to drive with the wheel - so long as you like wrestling a bear. The transmissions are also bothersome, when you're not on the brake or throttle the trucks seem to stop themselves - like a heavy engine brake. They don't seem to want to coast at all Personally my 2 biggest gripes are simply the FFB and optimization. The devs to seem to care about their product and are receptive to feedback and have already added some things to the game before the day 1 official release. Challenge is in the title of the game and they mean it - feels rewarding completing a course with these behemoths and figuring out ways to navigate some of the insane set pieces and obstacles. Since my playtest they've given us FOV settings which were desperately needed (lol Starfield) as well as toned the FFB wheel/bear strength down a bit. According to the devs, more updates to come. I play games/sims to have fun. Simple as. I have fun playing this. Due to Steams black and white review settings, I give it a thumbs up. In all actuality I'd say its about a --6.5 out of 10-- at the time of writing (9/15/23) Solid foundation needing a bit more reinforcement and further updates, content and optimization.

I really wanted to like this game, hoping for Snowrunner but more detailed and a better sim but I just couldn't get to grips with the camera mainly and found it very frustrating trying to drive with either no vision or being blinded by a terrain object or the vehicles exhaust/smoke generator. That being said, while the game isn't to my taste it runs very well and graphics are nice, I didn't hit any bugs in my albeit short play time and if you can get over the (imo) dodgy camera movement then you'd probably really enjoy it. For me though it's a pass.

Interesting idea and genre. Looks promising, but unoptimized as hell. Also slightly overpriced (at least at my region.) For now it's refund.

The game has easy-to-understand mechanics and an effective tutorial to assist in learning the game. It also automatically picked up my wheel and pedals and offered various presets for controls, allowing custom setups for personalised experiences as well. The driving feels responsive, and the mechanics are realistic. It also offers a diverse driving system that allows for the player to adapt to different environments and eliminates the blandness of other off-road games. There is good progression with unlocking new vehicles and a nice open world to explore in various environments to keep you busy. The game ran smoothly, with few frame drops. Although it was a bit heavy on the PC, it looked visually pleasing, and I have no complaints with the overall performance. ---{ Graphics }--- ☐ You forget what reality is ☐ Beautiful ☑ Good ☐ Decent ☐ Bad ☐ Don‘t look too long at it ☐ MS-DOS ---{ Gameplay }--- ☐ Very good ☑ Good ☐ It's just gameplay ☐ Mehh ☐ Watch paint dry instead ☐ Just don't ---{ Audio }--- ☐ Eargasm ☑ Very good ☐ Good ☐ Not too bad ☐ Bad ☐ I'm now deaf ---{ Audience }--- ☑ Kids ☑ Teens ☑ Adults ☑ Grandma ---{ PC Requirements }--- ☐ Check if you can run paint ☐ Potato ☐ Decent ☑ Fast ☐ Rich boi ☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer ---{ Difficulty }--- ☐ Just press 'W' ☐ Easy ☑ Easy to learn / Hard to master ☐ Significant brain usage ☐ Difficult ☐ Dark Souls ---{ Grind }--- ☐ Nothing to grind ☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks ☑ Isn't necessary to progress ☐ Average grind level ☐ Too much grind ☐ You'll need a second life for grinding ---{ Story }--- ☑ No Story ☐ Some lore ☐ Average ☐ Good ☐ Lovely ☐ It'll replace your life ---{ Game Time }--- ☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee ☐ Short ☐ Average ☑ Long ☐ To infinity and beyond ---{ Price }--- ☐ It's free! ☑ Worth the price ☐ If it's on sale ☐ If u have some spare money left ☐ Not recommended ☐ You could also just burn your money ---{ Bugs }--- ☑ Never heard of ☐ Minor bugs ☐ Can get annoying ☐ ARK: Survival Evolved ☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs ---{ ? / 10 }--- ☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5 ☐ 6 ☐ 7 ☐ 8 ☑ 9 (One of the better off-road games on the market) ☐ 10

[u][h1] Offroad Truck Simulator [/h1][/u] [table] [tr][th]Genre[/th][td] Simulation Gamel [/td][/tr] [tr][th]Campaign[/th][td]Yes[/td][/tr][tr] [th]Game length[/th][td] 17h [/td][/tr] [tr][th]Difficulty modes[/th][td]3[/td][/tr] [tr][th]Metacritic[/th][td]50%[/td][/tr] [h1][b] 💡Overview[/b][/h1] 🔸 [I] Offroad Truck [/i] Roam expansive open-world landscapes and embark on a relaxing journey across the country in your preferred truck, or engage in a thrilling scavenger hunt to uncover hidden secrets within the vicinity. Participate in competitive championships modeled after authentic truck trial tournaments. Conquer challenging obstacle courses, earn prestigious trophies, and ascend the ranks on online leaderboards. 🔸Operate meticulously recreated, officially branded trucks that mirror real-life vehicles with utmost precision. Enhance your gameplay with a wheel controller and opt for a cabin view to immerse yourself completely. Immerse yourself in a custom-designed, highly realistic physics simulation for an unparalleled experience. [h1]Graphic optimization [/h1] [list] [*]🔸 Playing the Heavy Duty Challenge game on the "low" preset gives everything a reminiscent shade of a PS2 game, albeit with a sharp and clear appearance. Despite aiming for a 60fps experience, the game doesn't quite reach that mark. I opted for a 1080P resolution since attempting to run it across two monitors at 1440×1080 wasn't feasible. Throughout my playtime, I noticed that the gameplay mostly hovered around 40fps, maintaining a somewhat consistent frame rate but occasionally dipping below 30fps. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3105427656 [*]🔸 Even when pushing the settings to the highest possible, maintaining above 30fps at 1080P was challenging. Interestingly, this same PC can smoothly run games like Red Dead Redemption 2 and Cyberpunk on Ultra settings at 60fps, yet it struggles with Heavy Duty Challenge, especially at lower settings. [*]🔸 It sounds like you're really disappointed with the graphics and optimization of Heavy Duty Challenge. It can be frustrating when a game doesn't meet expectations, especially when compared to others that run smoothly on the same system. Have you found any ways to improve the performance or graphics settings to make it more enjoyable, or are you considering exploring other games instead? [/list] [h1]Gameplay[/h1] [list] [*]🔸 Heavy Duty Challenge offers a mixed bag of gameplay experiences, blending elements of open-world exploration, truck trials, and competitive championships. Here's a detailed breakdown of its gameplay: [*]🔸 Open-World Exploration: The game invites players to traverse vast open-world environments, which is a refreshing aspect. However, the exploration lacks depth, with limited interactive elements and repetitive scenery. [*]🔸 Truck Trials and Obstacle Courses: The truck trials and obstacle courses provide a decent challenge, requiring players to navigate through various terrains and overcome obstacles. These segments offer some excitement but may feel repetitive after extended play. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3111430649 [/list] [h1]The Final Word⌛[/h1] [list] [*]In summary, Heavy Duty Challenge offers a diverse mix of gameplay elements, from open-world exploration to competitive championships. However, it falters in terms of graphics quality, optimization, and repetitive gameplay elements. Improvements in these areas could significantly enhance the overall gaming experience. [/list] 🟩 [b]Pros[/b] [list] [*]Trucks look nice, and can be upgraded [*]Decent gameplay between frame drops [*]Driving is interesting, juggling the controls [/list] 🟥 [b]Cons[/b] [list] [*]Gameplay focusing around slowly replaying small courses in different variations of truck. [*]Buggy and crashes on a whim. [*]Poor performance [*]A lack of guidance [*]Landscapes are poorly realised [/list] [quote][url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/7871885/]Follow our curator page,[b] OCG-Curations[/b], if you like and want to see more reviews like this one.[/url][/quote]

STEAM is rife with fake & copy/paste Reviews, the Forums are Toxic & Endorse Censorship [h3]Click Here to See REAL Gameplay, Analysis & Honest Reviews [/h3] https://youtu.be/u5880DhwRAA

First and foremost, the lack of proper steering wheel support is mind-boggling. I mean, who releases a truck simulator game in this day and age without comprehensive wheel support? It's 2023, people! Moving on to the controls with a gamepad; they are downright uncomfortable. It feels like trying to drive with a potato. The sensitivity is all over the place. It's like the developers never even tried to playtest with a controller. Now, let's talk about the frame rate. If you enjoy playing games that look like PowerPoint presentations, HDC is perfect for you. The FPS drops are so frequent and severe that it's nearly unplayable. You'll spend more time looking at a slideshow than actually driving. But wait, there's more! The game decides to mess with your monitor's brightness settings and doesn't bother to reset them when you exit. So, every time you play HDC, be prepared to fumble around in your monitor settings. All the trucks in the game handle pretty much the same. It's as if they copied and pasted the same driving mechanics onto different truck models. Where's the variety? Where's the realism? And don't get me started on the maps. There's a shocking lack of diversity in the landscapes. It feels like you're stuck driving through the same boring environments over and over again. Where's the excitement of exploring different terrains? If you were hoping for some realistic mudslinging action or the challenge of crossing deep waters, you're in for a rude awakening. The game's depiction of mud and water is laughable at best. Finally, the price. HDC is a highway robbery when you consider the pitiful content it offers. There's no way this game should be priced so high. It's like paying for a gourmet meal and getting a soggy sandwich instead.