"18 Wheels of Steel: Pedal to the Metal" question.

Giles Habibula · Post by **Giles Habibula** » Tue Nov 09, 2004 10:26 pm

I've just completed my first mission or delivery or whatever in this game, and I just gotta ask: Is this truck SUPPOSED to be so goddam underpowered?!? Or might I have something set up wrong?

It takes forever to climb an entrance ramp to get on the interstate, and even when I get there, my top speed is about 45 to 50 mph! I've always loved the concept of these games (I own them all from this Hard Truck series), but I don't remember being so underpowered before. I'm not sure I can keep playing much longer if I have to go this slow.

On the plus side, it still looks and runs great on my old system, and amazingly, it takes up only 100 megs on my hard drive! They've added a bit more eye candy such as planes flying overhead and even a UFO I think--I'm pretty sure I spotted one anyway. And now you can even drive into Mexico along with the entire United States (though greatly scaled down).

My current joystick has no throttle so maybe that has something to do with my trouble. I've got it set to push up on the stick to accellerate and it seems like it's either on or off, with no gradiation between.

Rip · Post by **Rip** » Tue Nov 09, 2004 11:21 pm

What truck are you driving. The basic trucks suck. You need to upgrade a level or 2 to get a decent rig.

Giles Habibula · Post by **Giles Habibula** » Wed Nov 10, 2004 1:19 am

Apparently I gotta suffer a bit more then. How much money does it take before you can switch into something better? The "manual" is virtually useless as far as actually playing the game.

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Wed Nov 10, 2004 3:37 am

The basic trucks are VERY underpowered, and that's the way it is in real-life. Heck, some of thsoe engines barely put out 250 hp.

Pick shorter jobs for your initial assignments. If you start on west coast, don't do SF to LA without a GPS. If you get on 101 and go south you'll never make it before you fall asleep.

Zekester · Post by **Zekester** » Wed Nov 10, 2004 9:45 am

The basic trucks are VERY underpowered, and that's the way it is in real-life.

Especially with a full load.

Mark, have you checked your throttle calibration to see if it's at least maxing out?

Giles Habibula · Post by **Giles Habibula** » Wed Nov 10, 2004 1:05 pm

Kasey Chang wrote:The basic trucks are VERY underpowered, and that's the way it is in real-life. Heck, some of thsoe engines barely put out 250 hp.

Pick shorter jobs for your initial assignments. If you start on west coast, don't do SF to LA without a GPS. If you get on 101 and go south you'll never make it before you fall asleep.

NOW you tell me!
Last night I ran my underpowered POS from Mexico to Toronto for my third run. Took me two hours of real-life time and I was a full day overdue (thanks to missing two exit ramps--the 1st time I managed a U-turn, but when I tried a Uie the second time it was too tight and I lost the trailer--THAT was interesting--try re-hooking up when you've got a line of traffic trying to push by), but I had the game set up to pay me anyway.

I now have the next truck up in the line. The difference in power is remarkable. Can't wait to try it out.

Are there even more trucks to choose from after this?

Giles Habibula · Post by **Giles Habibula** » Wed Nov 10, 2004 1:11 pm

Zekester wrote:
Mark, have you checked your throttle calibration to see if it's at least maxing out?

No, but I'm running a 10-year old ($200 at the time) CH Products ForceFX stick. It's huge, heavy, has two great hat-switches and a ton of buttons.....BUT NO THROTTLE!

I do have a brand new MS Sidewinder 2 FF stick sitting here in the box that might work better (I'm still running Win98 so it'll work), but I love my old ForceFX!

Is there in fact a gradual throttle, though in this game, or is it strictly on/off?

My power is way up now anyhow thanks to my new truck.

Rip · Post by **Rip** » Wed Nov 10, 2004 3:06 pm

Giles Habibula wrote:
Zekester wrote:
Mark, have you checked your throttle calibration to see if it's at least maxing out?
No, but I'm running a 10-year old ($200 at the time) CH Products ForceFX stick. It's huge, heavy, has two great hat-switches and a ton of buttons.....BUT NO THROTTLE!

I do have a brand new MS Sidewinder 2 FF stick sitting here in the box that might work better (I'm still running Win98 so it'll work), but I love my old ForceFX!

Is there in fact a gradual throttle, though in this game, or is it strictly on/off?

My power is way up now anyhow thanks to my new truck.

Yes there is full gradual throttle. I play with my steering wheel and pedal. Now that rocks!

Also there are several trucks each one better and more expensive, just like real life