Taxi Life: A City Driving Simulator | Patch Notes #2
Hello Drivers!
This week's patch focuses on enhancing your driving experience with important wheel support adjustments, critical bug fixes, and improvements that the players have been letting us know about.
PATCH NOTES
Wheel Support Improvements
G29 & G920 Support: We've implemented fixes for both G29 and G920 wheel support, ensuring a more responsive and immersive driving experience.
Force Feedback on flat Roads: Adjustments have been made to the force feedback on flat roads, enhancing the players control over the vehicle while using a steering wheel.
Bug Fixing
AI Improvements: Fixes have been applied to both Car’s AI and Pedestrians’ AI.
Language Stuttering Fix: We’ve addressed the stuttering issues encountered in Japanese, Korean, Simplified and traditional Chinese languages.
Traffic Law Adherence: The frequency of AI drivers ignoring red lights has been reduced, promoting a safer and more law-abiding city environment.
Illumination Adjustments: We’ve toned down the illumination effects caused by the player's car lights.
Floating AI Vehicles: The occurrence of floating AI vehicles has been reduced.
Management issue: Fixed the issue when the player was unable to change employee's starting hour without switching district during shift assignment
Minor fixes to the menus navigation
As always - we wanted to thank the community in providing invaluable feedback. We encourage to keep it coming and we wanted to remind everyone that our community managers, developers and other management are always monitoring what the players are writing about. Your voices are being heard and we are rolling out patches, improvements and eventually more content for Taxi Life. We have a roadmap in the works that will give the players a better idea of the direction that we're going in with Taxi Life.
With that being said, on behalf of Nacon and Simteract - thank you for playing Taxi Life and your continued support for our game.
We're excited to announce the latest patch for Taxi Life to the community. We're bringing you a host of improvements and community-requested features to make your experience playing Taxi Life more enjoyable. Without further ado, let's dive into the details of what's included in today's update.
Patch Notes
Performance Enhancements
Reduced instances of framerate stuttering, ensuring smoother gameplay for all drivers navigating the bustling streets of our city. Slight stuttering issues can still be occurring in some areas, the team is still working on it for a next patch.
Pedestrian and AI Improvements
Resolved issues leading to fewer collisions from AI cars into player's, making for a more realistic driving environment.
Controller Input Enhancement
Introducing a helpful tooltip hint feature! Press LB/L1 on your gamepad to discover which controller inputs can be combined to execute specific actions. For seamless integration, restore Controls to default in the SYSTEM SETTINGS menu under the CONTROLS tab using the "Reset to default" function.
General Fixes
Addressed various issues related to AI cars, GPS functionality, Settings menu navigation, environmental elements, car damage mechanics, and audio performance, ensuring a smoother and more enjoyable driving experience overall.
Community-Requested Feature
NPC taxis are now cruising the city streets, adding an extra layer of realism to your driving adventures 🚖
On behalf of Simteract and Nacon, we wanted to also thank the entire community for their continued support and passion for Taxi Life. A game that we have been putting our hearts and souls in for the last 2-3 years - making it all worth it in the end. We encourage the community to keep the feedback coming on our Discord, social media and Steam. We have more stuff planned for PC and beyond, so stay tuned!
Here we are. Taxi Life was released a week ago today.
First of all, we'd like to thank you for all your support and feedback to improve the game. Reading your feedback, your kind messages and your encouragement has given us a lot of fuel for this first week. We are glad to read that many of you are enjoying driving in Barcelona!
Now, let's get straight to the point.
We are aware that you're interested in what is going on next in Taxi Life. And in this News, we want to share with you how our first week was for the team, and what’s coming in the future of Taxi Life.
Driving Wheel:
The main feedback we've received is that there aren't enough steering wheels compatible with the game. During the development of Taxi Life we worked with the driving wheels that were available for us. There are a lot of models out there, and it takes a lot of time to make every single driving wheel compatible with the game. It's not an excuse, but this was our situation.
We really want to expand this list, and improve some actual driving wheels. We have a step-by-step plan that we are polishing right now and should let you know in more detail soon how it will look. In parallel we need to fix other issues you're already experiencing in-game.
AI issues:
Recreating the life of a real city was a challenge for us. We think we've succeeded in modeling a part of the city of Barcelona. But our AI is a complex system and there’s a lot of randomization. We tested it as carefully as we could and believed that balance would work. Now we see there’s still work to do.
At the moment, we're working on improving the behavior of the cars. For example we know some cars can run into the back of your car quite randomly. It can happen to you once every five minutes, but it can also never happen to you. Our second piece of AI work focuses on pedestrians. Especially those who use crosswalks too often and can block the player.
More details bellow.
Performance issues & bugs:
Performance issues are also a challenge for us. We're getting feedback that on some high-end PC’s the game runs very badly, and on others that, and I quote, "are several year old potatoes", the game runs very well.
So we're going to work on that. We want to provide a good Taxi Life experience to many players, and we understand that stuttering and frame loss are not fun and can be frustrating.
More content?
To be completely transparent, we've got lots of ideas, and you've shared with us some great ideas for improving the game as well. But for the moment, it's still a bit early to think about what we're going to add to the game. So for now, we encourage the community to keep the ideas and feedback coming and please know that we’re always reading everything.
We'd like to add more cars, expand the map, add more features, cities etc... but we need to stay focused on improving what's already there, rather than ignoring the problems and adding content just to hide the dust under the carpet.
Rest assured, as soon as we’re ready to talk about what's next for Taxi Life, we will communicate it, no doubt.
Oh, and we'll add NPC taxis driving around the city in the next patch upon community's request!
Let's stop talking, what's going to happen in the next few weeks?
Our IDEAL plan is to release a patch every one or two weeks or so until Taxi Life reaches a standard that satisfies you, the players. Over the next few days, we will be releasing patches to correct bugs and improve AI. This is our plan for the patches that will be arriving shortly.
At the time of writing, a patch is being tested by our quality assurance (QA) team for validation before going live in a few days.
To give you more details, we decreased the number of random collisions between AI vehicles (or with your car). We've also reduced the amount of pedestrians a little bit and some of the crossings shouldn't be problematic anymore.
For the past week we've been making lists of the most popular steering wheel models to prioritize which ones we're going to add. We'll try to add a little at a time.
Finally, a quick word for our console players; We are still working on the performance issues you have on Playstation 5. We have a solution that is currently being tested by our QA, it should arrive very soon.
We are glad to announce that Taxi Life will be available on March 7, 2024 on Steam!
Check pour new pre-order trailer for consoles: But don't worry PC players, the vintage convertible car DLC will be free on Steam during the first week of launch!
As promised, we're back about the topic on the Catalan translation.
The players from Barcelona were particularly pleased to see their beautiful city represented in a video game, but expressed their disappointment that the Catalan was not included.
We have decided to respond positively to their request. We hope you all enjoy the game when it's released!
Happy Holidays from Simteract and Nacon! | Dev Blog #15
Hello Drivers!
Bug Fixes and Polishing in Full Swing
As we gear up for 2024, our team has been like busy mechanics, fine-tuning every aspect of Taxi Life. We've been squashing bugs (so many bugs!) and polishing the game to a shine. We're committed to making Taxi Life not just a game but an experience you'll remember.
Testing Steering Wheels
We're making sure that most steering wheels will be compatible with Taxi Life. Soon, we will share a list of compatible steering wheels with the community. So stay tuned to find out if yours is!
Top questions from the community
During the announcement of Taxi Life, we recieved a very epic response from gamers asking a variety of questions. There were a few questions that stood out over and over again, so we decided it would be a good idea to answer the most frequently asked questions here. So lets begin:
Q: Will Taxi Life have steering wheel support? A:Yes. Taxi Life wil have steering wheel support at launch and will be compatible with most steering wheels.
Q: Will Taxi Life have VR support? A:No. At launch Taxi Life will not have VR support. However, this does not mean that the conversation is off the table and we might go back to it depending on the success of the game and the needs of the community.
Q: Will Taxi Life have Catalan Language? A:Keep your eyes peeled. We will have more information regarding adding the language soon.
LEGO Taxi Figurine Giveaway
Last week, we hosted a giveaway where lucky winners snagged an exclusive LEGO Taxi figurine! Congratulations to the winners - we can't wait to see where these mini-taxis end up. Stay tuned for more giveaways in 2024!
Happy Holidays and a Thrilling 2024 Ahead!
As the holiday lights twinkle, we want to extend our warmest wishes for the festive season. Happy Holidays and a fantastic New Year to all of you! We're buzzing with excitement to share what's next as we count down to Taxi Life's release in 2024.
Stay tuned, fasten your seatbelts, and enjoy the holiday season!
RELEASE DATE ANNOUNCEMENT | Taxi Life: A City Driving Simulator
Hello Drivers!
Release Date
We're happy to announce that Taxi Life is cruising into your Steam library on February 2024! Get ready for a full game launch on PC and all next gen consoles.
We initially planned to drop Taxi Life this year, but after some back-and-forth with Nacon, we've set our sights on February 2024. As you all may know, December's a bit like a traffic jam packed with new releases, and we didn't want to get lost in the shuffle. So, we're steering clear and gearing up for a fresh start next year.
Gameplay
The game gives you a real chunk of Barcelona to play with—460 km of roads built just like the real ones. As you drive around, it feels pretty much like you're cruising through the actual city. Your main job is to pick up passengers and get them where they're going with great service. While you're planning your routes, you'll need to think about unexpected stuff like accidents, roadwork, parades, and the weather. You can also have a chat with your passengers while you drive. At the end of the trip, they'll give you a rating and, if you did well, some tips—just keep one eye on the road!
Company Management and Challenges
It's not just about driving. You're in charge, too. You get to use the money you make to buy better taxis, hire people, and create schedules for your drivers. If you like to drive fast, there are also challenges where you can show off how good you are at taking corners and beating the clock.
New Announcement Trailer and Livestream
We hope you enjoyed the trailer! We're also going to be doing a livestream this week on November 9th @ 6PM CET! So mark your calendars and tune into Simteract's Twitch channel and talk with the dev's to ask questions, get some insights and maybe even share a meme or two.
AI Vehicles in Taxi Life: A City Driving Simulator
Explore the city streets where the AI acts just like us humans, keeping things interesting and challenging! It’s all about quick decisions and smart strategies to keep up with the ever-changing road situations. Let us know your thoughts! 🚗🌍💭
How do you think that roundabout exit went? 🤔
All vehicle cabins in Taxi Life will be FULLY INTERACTIVE
Every vehicle in Taxi Life boasts fully interactive interior.
Experience the thrill of tiny details, from adjusting the sun visor to switching on the A/C or tuning the radio. if you're not keen on manually selecting the buttons in the cabin, you can always use the quick select wheel to make a choice.
