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Squirrel's Pick Squirrel's PickThe best game on this page. If you only try one, try this.
Open WorldDrivingAutomobile Sim
$19.99 ~83.7 hr median co-op complexity: moderate 93.7% of 9k
The Squirrel's verdictMotor Town swaps Automation's engineering-from-scratch tinkering for driving and hauling in a persistent open world with a working (if messy) economy. Trucks, buses, motorsport vehicles, all drivable rather than designed. Co-op is native here, not bolted on. Suits players who want the car-life fantasy without the CAD-style suspension and cam-profile work Automation asks for.
Not for you if you want to design vehicle internals rather than drive finished ones, or you dislike economy systems that push toward public multiplayer.
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Hidden Gem Hidden GemLoved by the players who found it, but still under the radar.
EconomyAutomobile SimCapitalism
$19.99 ~136.8 hr median no co-op complexity: heavy 89.7% of 1k
The Squirrel's verdictGearCity swaps Automation's engineering sandbox for full company management: R&D budgets, factory placement, distribution, and competing against AI automakers across decades. Where Automation lets you obsess over cam profiles, GearCity makes the business itself the puzzle, with a UI reviewers compare to 90s spreadsheet software. Fits players who wanted Automation's tycoon layer to go deeper, not the car designer.
Not for you if you came to Automation for hands-on engineering and car design rather than menu-heavy business simulation.
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EconomyAutomationResource Management
Strong Mods Strong ModsA deep, active modding scene extends it past its base content.
$24.99 ~23.9 hr median no co-op complexity: moderate 82% of 3k
The Squirrel's verdictProduction Line puts you on the factory floor rather than in the design suite: lay out assembly lines, manage loans, balance production flow, and push cars out the door efficiently. The core loop rewards systematic thinking about throughput and economics. Reviewers note it holds attention for dozens of hours before the puzzle runs out of new problems to solve, though reported bugs and abandoned post-launch support are recurring complaints.
Not for you if you want to design engines and bodies rather than optimize the factory that builds them.
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Closest Match Closest MatchThe most similar game to the anchor, by what players say.
ActionAutomobile SimCrafting
$19.99 ~61.5 hr median no co-op 81.6% of 708
The Squirrel's verdictRevhead swaps Automation's ground-up engineering for scavenging and rebuilding existing cars: buy wrecks, strip parts, mix components across vehicles, and flip the result for profit. No custom engine design here, just hands-on mechanic work with an economy layer. Suits players who wanted Automation's tinkering without the design-doc depth, on a smaller car roster.
Not for you if you want to design engines and bodies from scratch rather than repair and flip existing wrecks.
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Budget Pick Budget PickThe best game here for the least money.
DrivingImmersive SimTrading
$14.99 ~13.2 hr median no co-op complexity: light 79.4% of 1k
The Squirrel's verdictUsed Cars Simulator builds a narrative around acquiring and flipping vehicles: buy or steal cars, carry out repairs, negotiate sales, and navigate police encounters and survival needs like eating and sleeping. Reviewers who finished the main content clocked around seven hours. The appeal is the scrappy car-ownership story rather than any engineering simulation.
Not for you if you want hands-on mechanical depth or a game focused purely on cars without survival and story elements.
How the Squirrel matches games
Not tag overlap. We compare what players actually say across hundreds of
thousands of reviews about how each game feels to play, then break
the comparison into the mechanics you can see in each card. The mark on
every bar is Automation - The Car Company Tycoon Game's own score, so you can read where a match runs
hotter or cooler than the anchor.
Verdicts are written against a fixed editorial standard, machine-audited,
and human spot-checked. Which games make the cut is a human call. Prices
and review data refresh automatically. Full method & AI disclosure →