Car Detailing Simulator

Developer: Games Incubator, GameFormatic S.A. | Publisher: Games Incubator, PlayWay S.A. | Release Date: 2022 | Genre: Casual / Simulation / Indie | Website: Official Website | Purchase: Steam

Some people love cars for what’s under the hood, but then there are those who admire them for their aesthetics. Of course, it is also possible to appreciate both, but Car Detailing Simulator is a game that is geared toward fans of the latter. The basic premise for the game is that you run your own detailing business that specializes in restoring cars to their former glory. Accepting jobs from clients bring in the money and increases your reputation, but you can also purchase your own vehicles via auctions. These can then be spruced up before displaying them in your showroom or auctioning them off for a tidy profit.

Even though Car Detailing Simulator only focuses on the cleaning of cars it turns out that quite a lot goes into this job. Cars brought in by clients range from being dirty on the inside or outside to being scratched to pieces. Fortunately, there is a to restore just about anything at your disposal, provided you have enough money to purchase the required kits. Cleaning the exterior of a car is as easy as applying some foam, washing it off with a pressure washer, and then drying up all the moisture with a washing cloth. Cleaning up all the scratches is a little more involved, though, as you might have to hunt for them with a flashlight, use sandpaper, a brush, and an orbital polisher to buff out the deep ones, and then finish the job with a car polisher. The other tasks you’ll encounter include cleaning wheels, washing windows, polishing lights, and giving cars a fresh coat of paint.

As is expected, Car Detailing Simulator starts players out with a limited selection of tools in a small garage. Once players earn enough money and reputation they can invest in better tools, upgrade their garage or move to a new garage entirely. The game does attempt to inject a bit of a story via one or two cut-scenes, but these are largely forgettable and don’t impact the gameplay at all. Jobs can be selected via a computer and there are usually a few to choose from. Initially, when money is tight, players must ensure that they have the correct tools for the job before committing to them. Failure to do so could result in not being able to complete the job, which means less money and reputation.

Apart from the occasional jobs that have time limits, Car Detailing Simulator is a very relaxing game. It doesn’t take too long to make enough cash for all of the tool kits and their upgraded versions or to move on to a better garage. The act of cleaning cars is also quite soothing, although there is obviously a lot of repetition involved with the tasks. For this reason, we found Car Detailing Simulator to be a game that is best enjoyed in short bursts or while listening/watching something else in the background. Some parts of the job are a little more tedious than others too, with the drying of cars and buffing of scratches being some of the main culprits.

Dragging a washcloth across an entire car while trying not to miss a spot becomes a little old after a while and it is easy to miss some moisture spots on cars with darker colors. Fortunately, you can use a flashlight and your character has a “special sense” that can be activated with a right-click, which highlights spots you’ve missed. This is useful, but in some cases, these spots can be so tiny that it is still hard to find them.

Car Detailing Simulator is a decent-looking game and there’s a wide assortment of vehicles available to clean. It is very satisfying to see a dirty, scratched-up car transformed into a shiny, sparkling one and you can even take photos to put up on your wall for bragging rights. It is possible to get inside each car too and players can zoom in on individual sections of the cars for thorough cleaning. As an added bonus, some cars contain unusual trinkets for players to discover and these can even be displayed in your garage.

The music in Car Detailing Simulator isn’t too bad, but the sound effects are really good. ASMR fans will appreciate how every tool has its own unique sound. Everything from wringing out your washcloth to using sandpaper on a seat or a spray bottle on a window sounds exactly like it should. The game is played in first person and features an intuitive menu system to access everything. Each job has its own kit and players can cycle through the items in this kit using a radial menu or the mouse scroll wheel. A checklist of all the tasks required for each job is shown at all times and individual steps have gauges to highlight how close players are to completing them. For tasks that can only be done in a certain order, such as cleaning headlights, the game will automatically switch to the correct tools as needed. Players must still keep an eye on certain tools, such as the washcloth that has to be wrung out if it becomes too wet or the car polisher that requires paste to work. In addition, the game is a lot more interactive than simply pointing the right tool at the right spot and players have to perform certain motions with their mouse to do a proper job.

As with all of these simulator games, Car Detailing Simulator is a niche title that will be very appealing to some players, but not that enticing to others. There is something very satisfying about cleaning cars, though, so this game does have a slightly broader appeal than some of its more technical contemporaries. Overall, we enjoyed working our way to the number one spot and ended up sinking a lot more time into the game than expected. We didn’t encounter too many glaring issues either, but it is great to see that the developers have already released a major update for the game after paying close attention to the ideas, suggestions, and expectations of players. Whether you are a car fanatic who enjoys seeing these machines restored to their former splendor or simply a casual player in search of a low-stress way to pass some time, Car Detailing Simulator will be a good fit for your library.