On The Road - Truck Simulator

An incredibly realistic sim with day/night cycle and dynamic weather. The trucks are a joy to drive, as long as you're happy to just watch the scenery go by. Building your haulier empire, hiring drivers, and managing routes all add to the fun. For budding kings of the road.

Travel hundreds of miles in an articulated lorry, respecting the highway code and refining your reverse parking. For some gamers, a trucker's life is the key to happiness.

As you might expect in a simulation, On the Road - Truck Simulator places you in the shoes of a businessman who is pursuing his dream of creating his own transport company. It all begins with a small business with a single lorry, before you start adding to your fleet and hiring staff.

The good news is that your first lorry is free, and even if you grow into the next Eddie Stobart, most of On the Road takes place behind the wheel on the open road, as the name implies. At least, the autobahns of Germany, where this game is set.

From Cologne to Berlin, via Rostock on one side and Munich on the other, the map bears the promise of a nice long drive, and with 16 cities to visit, it has plenty to keep you occupied.

We liked the feeling of scale and distance. The game world is genuinely huge, giving Truck Simulator a great head start on its competitors. A trip from Leipzig to Berlin, for example, will take around half an hour, if you stick to the speed limit. It all feels just like real life.

The cities are big, too, and all feature their own unique architecture.

Our tip to help you on your way: Scania lorries are easier to drive than MAN's.

Once you're on the road, the concept is a simple one: various companies in each city offer different kinds of delivery missions. You're free to choose missions according to your rig, setting out a logical delivery schedule and delivering everything safe and sound to earn both money and reputation points.

Then you can start buying a few more trucks and different kinds of trailers (tandem, bolter, Gigaliner) so that you can take on as much work as possible.

Just remember that there's a tachograph that monitors your driving, forcing you to take those compulsory breaks from the wheel.

The weather and the day/night cycle are dynamic, and it's a joy to be cruising along to the sound of the rain.

Our favourite part? The amount of planning the game demands. The weight and dimensions of different goods force you to use your brain, because you can't just choose any cargo you like: you need to make these decisions according to your truck's load capacity.

Cargo can also get damaged by accidents, with damage shown as a percentage and incurring deductions from your pay and your reputation.

A polished simulation for fans of trucks and wide-open spaces.