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 others admire them for their aesthetics. Of course, it is also possible to appreciate both, but Car Detailing Simulator is a game 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 brings in the money and increases your reputation, but you can also purchase your own vehicles via auctions. Players can spruce these up before displaying them in their showroom or auctioning them off for a tidy profit.
Even though Car Detailing Simulator only focuses on cleaning cars, quite a lot goes into this job. Cars brought in by clients range from dirty on the inside or outside to scratched to pieces. Fortunately, you can restore just about anything, 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 attempts to inject a bit of a story via one or two cut-scenes, but these are largely forgettable and don’t impact the gameplay. 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 being unable to complete the job, which means less money and reputation.

Besides occasional jobs with time limits, Car Detailing Simulator is a very relaxing game. It doesn’t take long to make enough cash for all the tool kits and upgraded versions or move on to a better garage. Cleaning cars is also quite soothing, although a lot of repetition is involved with the tasks. For this reason, Car Detailing Simulator is a game 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, highlighting 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 a wide assortment of vehicles are 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 also possible to get inside each car, and players can zoom in on individual sections of the vehicles for thorough cleaning. As an added bonus, some cars contain unusual trinkets for players to discover, and players can even display these in their garages.

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 always shown, and individual steps have gauges to highlight how close players are to completing them. The game will automatically switch to the correct tools for tasks that can only be done in a specific order, such as cleaning headlights. Players must keep an eye on particular tools, such as the washcloth they must wring out if it becomes too wet or the car polisher requiring paste. In addition, the game is much 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 appeal to some players but not be 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 sank a lot more time into the game than expected. We didn’t encounter too many glaring issues either. Still, it is great to see that the developers have released significant updates for the game after paying close attention to players’ ideas, suggestions, and expectations. The game even released a free “Track Day” DLC that allows players to test all their cars on a racing track.

Whether you are a car fanatic who enjoys seeing these machines restored to their former splendor or simply a casual player searching for a low-stress way to pass some time, Car Detailing Simulator will be a good fit for your library.