Things I've Learned From Playing Automation

For those who don’t know - Automation is a game where you develop a car almost from scratch. You decide on materials, on construction, design, engine (yes, you actually build the engine) and pretty much everything. The game is still on early development, but is already pretty good. Over a few months of gameplay creating over 100 cars, I’ve learned a few things. So if you are to play this game, here’s what you’ll experience.

You’ll learn a lot, even if you already know a lot

Okay, so this won’t make you a car guru, but I’ve learned a huge amount of things through the gameplay. I’ve learned about how the size of turbochargers effect economy, about bore and stroke and even about different suspension. If you were to begin playing, I recommend you start off carefully and listen to the tutorials, as they teach you very well on what’s what.

The most fun bit is actually doing it properly

‘Fun’ is different for everyone, but for me the most fun part was actually designing a car specifically to sell and compete against actual rivals. Taking a car that exists in real life and seeing if a better car can be created. If you, for example, try to make a Toyota Hilux rival, you’d want a reliable, durable and relatively economical off-roading pickup that is very simple and cheap. If you made it properly, the market would show you that it fits very well, and when it does it’s simply satisfying. Of course it’s quite fun to make a speed record car or break circuit records too, but the satisfaction of making a near-perfect car is immense when you do it right. So far the best vehicles I’ve managed to make are actually a pickup truck and a van .

Designing the car would be one of the best stages, if there were more parts

It goes like this - you choose a shape, and you can tinker it a bit. Make a longer boot or a wider body. Then you get to place headlights, grills and so on. You could spend so much time there for the making of the perfect design, however there are not enough parts. Rear lights, for example, is what I struggle with the most. But other than that, designing your car is one of the best parts in the game. Weather you spend time on making it just right or quickly putting it all together is a great task in the game you’d definitely enjoy.

Doing it properly is a challange

Okay, so you want to make a sporty hatchback. You want good reliability, economy and also sportiness, but cheap. As easy as it sounds, you will face hard decisions - If you have a well made engine, it will be fairly powerful and still be economic and reliable, but not cheap. If you have cheap powerful engine, it won’t be reliable or economical. If you make a economical and reliable, it won’t be powerful. Doesn’t matter how you put it, doing a proper car is a challenge, hence why a good result is super satisfying.

Fine tuning the car is what makes it closer or farther away from perfect

Before you finish a part of the car, you have tune it a bit. The engine is the best example. Air/fuel mixture, size of different parts of the turbo, exhaust diameter, ignition timing and so on.. It’s what makes of breaks your car. Often, again, it goes one instead of the either, commonly economics and power. Doesn’t matter what car you are building, it’s all down to priorities.

To sum it up, Automation is one of the best car engineering game out there (one of the only too). From making the dullest economy family cars to a Bugatti rival, you will find whats to create next. Even though it’s still in early stages, it’s 100% playable in sandbox mode, and highly recommended.