Hey Gas Jockeys!
We’re excited to share the first glimpse of our upcoming update: custom fuel pricing paired with the brand-new Traffic Meter. These two systems work in tandem to give you deeper control over customer flow and profitability than ever before.
Custom Fuel Pricing
A new, intuitive slider lets you set pump rates anywhere within a defined bracket (for example, $1.50–$2.00). As you tweak the price:
- Lower Rates draw in more budget-driven drivers, boosting traffic and overall sales volume.
- Higher Rates slim your customer base but increase profit per liter sold.
This direct trade-off is designed to inject meaningful strategy into each pricing decision. Early playtests suggest that small adjustments—just $0.05 up or down—can shift your daily revenue by noticeable margins. Your goal? Find that sweet spot where volume and margin intersect for maximum daily haul.
Traffic Meter
Located in the upper left corner of the HUD, the Traffic Meter displays real-time road activity on a scale from VERY LOW to EXTREMELY HIGH. It aggregates multiple gameplay factors like time, popularity, fuel price, decorations, landmarks or upcoming events, so you can instantly see how attractive your station is to passing drivers:
- Responsive Feedback: Watch the meter climb during peak hours, after adding new decorations or landmarks, or when you roll out limited-time discounts.
- Strategic Timing: Spot impending dips in traffic and preemptively launch flash sales—or capitalize on surges by raising prices slightly for extra profit.
- At-a-Glance Clarity: Color-coded segments help you read conditions instantly: blue for LOW, green for NORMAL, yellow for HIGH, and red for EXTREMELY HIGH.
Why This Matters
By linking pricing and traffic, we’ve added layers of tactical depth and replayability:
- Revenue Optimization: Track how every pump-price tweak affects both volume and per-sale profit, all within one unified interface.
- Dynamic Variety: Time-of-day bonuses, special in-game events, and your own pricing choices now interact in rich, evolving ways—no two days play out the same.
- Player Agency: Whether you aim for mass-market dominance with rock-bottom rates or carve out a high-end niche, these tools empower you to define and refine your unique strategy.
Looking Ahead
This is only the beginning. We’ll be rolling out additional features and surprises in future devlogs—so stay tuned for more insights into how we’re expanding gameplay depth and player choice.
Thank you for being part of our community. We can’t wait to see how you leverage custom pricing and the Traffic Meter to keep the cars—and profits—rolling in!
P.S. Rev your engines - only 13 days until Car Dealer Simulator hits the showroom! 🚗💨 And just yesterday, the Garage Monkeys team unleashed a squeaky-clean devlog on in-game car wash progression. Get ready to suds up your profits and park your hype in neutral! 🧽✨
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2404880/Car_Dealer_Simulator/