Car Detailing Simulator is another in a long line of simulation games recently finding their way onto consoles. First released in 2023 on Steam, the widely appreciated game has recently been ported to Xbox and I was pleasantly surprised with how it turned out. Anyway, enough preamble, here are my thoughts on Car Detailing Simulator.
Car Detailing Simulator Graphics
With Games Incubator being an independent studio, I was never expecting Car Detailing Simulator to be richly adorned with mind-blowing graphics. More often than not, these games come in graphical stylings reminiscent of PlayStation 2 games. However, my early trepidations were soon laid to rest when I first loaded the game.
Car Detailing Simulator opens with a short quirky cartoon that told me straight away that this was going to be different early on. During my playtime, I only cleaned and valeted one car but that single job told me all I needed to know.
The actual in-game graphics by far surpassed my expectations; attention to detail had been paid, with satisfyingly foamy foam, great reflections and lighting, and a pleasing water droplet effect stays on the car before you chamois leather it away.
All in all, the graphics in Car Detailing Simulator are beyond the usual games of this ilk.
Car Detailing Simulator – Gameplay
Usually with these kind of simulation games, you start the game by cleaning a seemingly never-ending scattering of garbage away. Not in Car Detailing Simulator, though — no siree. This delightful clean-’em-up title throws you right into the action with work needing done on an auction car that has been dropped off at your shop.
This is where Car Detailing Simulator offers a little cleaning therapy and sudsy satisfaction. The on-screen prompts guided me nicely in what I had to do. Starting with a foam lance, you cover the car in a thick foam, before jetting it off with a water lance and this, dear reader, offers the odd sort of satisfaction that many of us took from Power Wash Simulator.
After the car is nice and shiny, you need to work on its windows, to give them that gleam the customer so rightly expects. Here, I was guided to a shelf that contained three kits: exterior, interior and window cleaning packs; think of them like FPS loadouts, each contains all the tools you need for the job at hand. The window cleaning element had me using a window spay to attack the grime and then a wash cloth (chamois leather) to absorb the leftover water. Not quite as enjoyable as the exterior but gratifying nonetheless.
Lastly, the interior had to be cleaned. This is done by removing the seats, feet mats and trunk mat, before giving them a good clean with the upholstery shampoo and then hoover them with a compact vacuum cleaner. Again, another oddly fulfilling exercise but one I can’t wait to repeat with the next car.
Car Detailing Simulator – Summary
Having gone into with the lowest of expectations (and perhaps the odd eyeroll), I really wasn’t expecting to enjoy it. However, after around twenty minutes, I found myself to be completely absorbed in the task at hand.
With cleaning games – or games with cleaning elements – there always seems to be a real hit or miss when it comes to balancing the lines of balancing boredom and an immersive experience. Car Detailing Simulator certainly hit the nail on the head during this balancing act and the result is a rewarding game with a lot to offer.
Furthermore, with the title now ported to Xbox, it was nice to be able to kick back and relax, as opposed to playing at my gaming computer.
RATING
OUR RATING - 8
8
SCORE
A refreshingly immersive addition to the simulator video games family. It's not perfect but what it?
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