Underground Garage

I track these mechanic-sim hybrids obsessively, so Underground Garage landed straight on my radar when it hit 1.0 in January 2026 after a stint in Early Access. The premise is genuinely structured around systems I care about: you run a failing garage, take repair and tuning jobs that feed into a main campaign, unlock new tools and workstations as the story progresses, then validate your builds by actually racing them on city streets. On paper that feedback loop, wrenching a car into shape, then immediately stress-testing it against traffic and opponents, is the kind of tight design that keeps sim fans glued for hours. The mechanical depth is the strongest argument for buying in. The game boasts over 6,000 interactive parts spread across more than 30 vehicles, and the part-level granularity goes far enough that you are managing engine oil, coolant, brake fluid, and a fuel octane system before each race outing. The 1.0 release added seven new engine variants and three distinct race modes, practice, time attack, and competitive race, which at least gives the racing side some structural variety. The workshop customisation layer is broad too: paint, decals, spoilers, neon lighting, and material swaps all feed into both aesthetics and, to a degree, performance. Community-created engine guides and tiered parts lists have already appeared on the Steam hub, which is a healthy signal that a dedicated playerbase exists and is paying attention to the numbers. The problems, though, are not cosmetic. The shop interface demands you re-select engine and car model every single time you open it, a repetitive friction that adds up badly over long sessions. Control remapping is absent entirely, which is a significant gap for a sim where precision mouse interaction and driving inputs need to coexist. The driving physics at 1.0 launch drew consistent criticism: steering response was described as binary rather than graduated, and minor environmental objects could end races abruptly. The AI opponent quality was also flagged as inconsistent, which blunts the satisfaction of winning. On the bug front, reviewers documented save-threatening softlocks tied to installing incorrect ECU components on the wrong vehicle, race unlock triggers that failed silently, and cars disappearing off lifts mid-job. Steam's overall review score sits at mixed, with 64% positive across 628 reviews, and the most recent 30-day window has slid further negative, signalling that post-launch patches have not yet resolved community frustration. Who is this actually for right now? If you are a committed mechanic-sim player who has exhausted Car Mechanic Simulator entries and wants a title that adds illegal street racing as a natural extension of the wrench loop, the concept is sound enough to justify cautious interest. The campaign structure, procedural mission layer, and part-depth give it more backbone than a pure sandbox. But if you prioritise a smooth, polished experience from session one, the current state asks too much patience. The lack of control remapping, the shop UI friction, and the lingering bug reports position this as a game that still needs several meaningful patches before it earns a confident recommendation.

Diego · Scout Team

Strategy & simulation

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