Harvesting takes me an hour. That’s an hour in which I drive at little more than walking pace from one end of a field to the other and back again 20 or 30 times. It’s not the most fun I’ve had in a video game, but then I do need the money.HT: Marginal Revolution
Farming Simulator 17, released on 25 October, is the latest game in a series made by Giants Software in Schlieren, Switzerland. Players start out with little land and few machines and must plant, tend and harvest crops – or raise livestock – to earn money to buy more land and more machines.
Running a successful farm can get your goat. You need to carefully manage your spending on fields, fuel and fertiliser to make a profit. You have to decide when trading in your beaten up tractor for a new one makes more sense than paying for repairs. There are loans to consider and investments to monitor. But at its heart, Farming Simulator is a game about driving heavy machinery up and down in straight lines. And there’s a zen-like buzz to the monotony.
For many, that’s a bigger draw than the frantic action of a shooter. Most games are all about winning or losing, says Mason, who plays to unwind. “When I play Farming Simulator there is no losing – it’s just me driving a tractor.”
Farming Simulator games often top sales charts in the US and Europe. And they are not the only popular video games about farming. Games like Harvest Moon and Stardew Valley give players idyllic cartoon farmsteads to run. And at its peak, Zynga’s 2009 Facebook hit FarmVille hooked several million people into a daily routine of tending their crops of carrots, albino pineapples and watermelon babies. But FarmVille never let you spend hours behind the wheel of a Holmer Terra Felis 2 eco sugar-beet loader.
Racing games often let you cruise around in pixel-perfect replicas of real-life vehicles, boasting licensing deals with car makers. Last year’s Forza Motorsport featured hundreds of virtual rides, including supercars like the Aston Martin V12 Zagato and the Lamborghini Veneno.
Farming Simulator is no different. The Holmer Terra Felis 2 is just one of around 250 licensed farm machines you can take for a spin – from the Massey Ferguson 7726 with Joskin Betimax RDS 7500 trailer (capacity: nine pigs) to the Ponsse Buffalo forwarder, a forestry vehicle used for thinning trees.
It’s not always about speed, though. Truck-driving sims such as Euro Truck Simulator and American Truck Simulator have even more fans that Farming Simulator. There are driving sims for everyone, whether buses, trains, tanks or diggers float your boat. All drop you into the cab of a large vehicle and simply let you drive....MORE
Previously (yes, there was a previously):
Apparently A Farming Simulator Has Sold One Million Copies
Who knew?
And its gone through 15 iterations....
The Farming Simulation Competition Is About to Heat Up
Can you feel the excitement?...
