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There is no developer-validated “best settings” preset for Used Cars Simulator. The most reliable approach is to start with a low overall preset, lower the settings that create the largest image-quality compromises for you—usually shadows, vegetation, view distance, reflections, ambient occlusion, water, or resolution scale—and then raise one control group at a time while testing the same scene. This guide applies to the Windows PC version listed on Steam, released on October 9, 2026 according to the live store page.
Steam’s minimum and recommended specifications are useful reference tiers, not promises of a particular frame rate. No independent benchmark establishes a universal frame-rate target or proves that one setting is always the biggest bottleneck. Treat the settings below as a repeatable tuning method, and recheck the live store page because the listed requirements and in-game options can change as development continues.
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What “smooth performance” can realistically mean
A smooth game is one that responds consistently at the resolution and image quality you actually want. A high average frame rate does not automatically remove hitching, and a lower but stable result can feel better than a fluctuating one. Your practical target depends on your monitor, tolerance for input delay, and whether your PC is limited by its processor, graphics card, or memory.
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One free scan finds every outdated or missing driver and matches the right update for your exact hardware.Free scan · exact hardware matchNo controlled tests by graphics card, resolution, or preset are published for this game. That means a claim such as “use these exact values for 60 FPS” would be guesswork. Instead, use a controlled comparison: load the same area, keep your display resolution unchanged, alter one setting group, and compare camera movement, driving, and busy outdoor scenes. Record what you see before changing anything so you can undo a change that makes performance worse.
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Check your PC against the current Steam requirements
The Steam listing identifies DreamWay Games as developer and PlayWay S.A. as publisher. Its Windows requirements, accessed in October 2026, are published tiers rather than independent performance measurements. Steam warns that requirements may change while development continues.
| Component | Minimum listed requirement | Recommended listed requirement |
|---|---|---|
| Operating system | Windows 10 64-bit | Windows 10 64-bit |
| Processor | Intel Core i3-4130 at 3.3 GHz or AMD FX-8350 | Intel Core i7-9700 at 3.6 GHz or Ryzen 5 3600 at 3.6 GHz |
| Memory | 8 GB RAM | 16 GB RAM |
| Graphics | GeForce GTX 1050 Ti or Radeon R9 280 | GeForce RTX 3060 or Radeon RX 5700 |
| Storage | 20 GB available space | 24 GB available space |
These figures come from the publisher’s Steam listing, not from a test showing how many frames each configuration produces. A computer near the minimum tier may need substantially reduced image quality, while a system near or above the recommended tier can still encounter a limit caused by a particular scene, driver state, background workload, or a setting that is expensive on that hardware. Check the current Steam requirements before making a purchase or hardware decision.
Prepare a useful baseline before tuning
Changing several options at once makes it impossible to know which change helped. Establish a baseline first:
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- Choose a repeatable test route: use the same dealership, road, yard, or other outdoor area, and perform the same short drive or camera sweep each time.
- Start with the current preset and observe both ordinary driving and the densest view you regularly encounter. The heaviest scene is more informative than standing in an empty room.
- Close unnecessary applications and overlays that compete for memory or GPU time. Do not interpret a single brief hitch as proof that a setting is responsible; repeat the same movement to see whether it recurs.
- Change only one setting or one closely related group, then repeat the route. Keep the last change if the image remains acceptable and motion is steadier; restore it if not.
If the game exposes a frame-time or frame-rate display, use it consistently. If it does not, judge the same camera movement at the same location rather than relying on a different scene that may simply be lighter.
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Use a low starting point, then rebuild image quality
A Steam Community user recommends beginning with very low overall graphics quality, then raising individual options; the same discussion mentions lowering resolution and disabling high-end lighting. That is anecdotal advice, not a tested universal preset, but it is a sensible way to isolate expensive controls.
- Select the lowest or very low overall graphics preset available.
- Keep your normal display resolution initially if the picture becomes too soft when the preset changes. If performance is still inconsistent, lower the in-game resolution scale or display resolution as a separate test.
- Load the repeatable test route and drive through the busiest section.
- Raise one option at a time, beginning with the settings whose visual benefit matters most to you. Test after each change.
- When motion becomes inconsistent, return the last option to its previous value and continue with the next setting. The result is your own practical balance, not a claim that one preset is optimal for every PC.
Which settings to test first
A community-maintained settings reference lists controls for resolution scale, shadows, vegetation, view distance, screen-space reflections (SSR), ambient occlusion (AO), and water quality, among other options. No current official inventory confirms that reference’s exact names or availability, so the names and availability may differ in your current build. Confirm every control in the game’s own menu.
| Setting or group | Lowering it usually changes | How to test it |
|---|---|---|
| Resolution scale or display resolution | Overall sharpness and the number of pixels the GPU must render | Lower it temporarily while repeating the same drive. If motion improves clearly but the image becomes too soft, restore some scale and reduce another setting instead. |
| Shadows | Shadow detail, distance, and softness | Reduce shadows one step, then inspect both nearby cars and distant scenery. Keep the lowest level that preserves the shadow definition you care about. |
| Vegetation | Density and detail of grass, bushes, and trees | Compare the same outdoor route. Far vegetation can cover a large portion of the view, so test while looking toward the densest greenery rather than at a building wall. |
| View distance | How far objects and environmental detail remain visible | Lower it one step and look down a long road or across an open lot. Watch for distracting pop-in before deciding whether the performance gain is worth it. |
| Screen-space reflections (SSR) | Reflections calculated from the current screen image, especially on glossy or wet surfaces | Compare a reflective surface while moving the camera. If the difference is small to you, keep SSR reduced; if reflections are important, raise it only after heavier settings are settled. |
| Ambient occlusion (AO) | Small contact shadows where objects meet surfaces | Toggle or reduce AO and inspect cars, walls, and ground contact. Decide whether the added depth is visible enough to justify the cost on your system. |
| Water quality | Water surface detail and related effects | Test near water if your normal route includes it. Do not judge water quality in a scene where water is absent. |
| High-end lighting options | Advanced lighting appearance and potentially additional rendering work | If your menu exposes such an option, disable it temporarily as the community discussion suggests, then compare the same scene before deciding. |
The order in this table is not a benchmark ranking. It is a practical sequence that lets you see the visual cost of common controls without claiming that any one of them is the definitive bottleneck. A setting can be cheap in one scene and expensive in another.
Resolution scale: the broadest performance lever
Resolution scale affects the workload across the whole image, so it can produce a visible change when the graphics processor is the limiting component. The trade-off is immediate: text, distant objects, and edges become softer. Lower scale only as far as needed, and restore display resolution before judging other settings if the blurred image makes comparisons difficult.
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Shadows and distant vegetation
Shadows and vegetation are particularly relevant to this game because the developer has described reducing shadowcaster data on far vegetation and trees as part of performance work. That update indicates that distant foliage shadows were an optimization target; it does not establish a fixed performance gain on your computer. Lowering shadows or vegetation can still be worthwhile if the same outdoor route remains unstable, but verify the result in your own scene.
Reflections, AO, water, and lighting
Reflections and ambient occlusion add depth, while water and advanced lighting can change the appearance of specific locations. Their value is highly scene-dependent. Test them where they are visible, not in an area that never uses the effect. If disabling reflections makes a glossy yard or vehicle look substantially worse but has little effect on motion, restore the setting and reduce another option instead.
Tell whether the limit is more likely the GPU or CPU
The same in-game setting can behave differently depending on which component is saturated. A useful experiment is to keep the scene and settings fixed, then lower resolution scale. If motion improves substantially, rendering workload is likely important; if it barely changes, the limiting work may be elsewhere. This is a diagnostic comparison, not proof of a specific hardware fault.
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- A GPU-limited system often benefits more from lower resolution scale, shadows, reflections, AO, water, or advanced lighting.
- A scene limited by processor work may show little improvement from lowering resolution. Vegetation density, view distance, and the number of visible objects are reasonable settings to test, but the game provides no published benchmark proving which one dominates.
- Insufficient memory can cause loading pressure or stutter that a graphics preset does not fully solve. The listing specifies 8 GB RAM minimum and 16 GB recommended; compare your installed memory with those tiers before assuming every hitch is a GPU problem.
Use your operating system or graphics-driver monitoring tools if you already have them, but compare readings over the same repeatable route. Do not buy a component solely because a requirement table names it.
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Keep the game current while you tune
Performance can change between builds. The developer has reported two relevant efforts: reduced shadowcaster data for far vegetation and trees, and what it called “significant FPS gains due to reflection optimization.” That wording is the developer’s description of an update, not a guarantee of the same result on every PC.
Install available game updates before drawing conclusions from a preset. If a patch changes the menu or adds a control, redo your baseline rather than assuming an old configuration still behaves identically. The Steam listing also notes that requirements may change as development continues, so use the live page for current hardware guidance.
Two practical starting profiles
These are starting points for testing, not verified presets. They deliberately avoid a universal frame-rate promise.
| Situation | Starting approach | What to raise first |
|---|---|---|
| Hardware near the minimum tier | Very low overall quality; retain the highest display resolution that remains responsive, then reduce resolution scale only if needed. Keep shadows, vegetation, view distance, SSR, AO, water, and advanced lighting conservative where those controls exist. | Raise one setting that matters most visually, usually view distance or vegetation, and test a busy outdoor route before changing anything else. |
| Hardware between the listed tiers | Low overall quality with native display resolution as the initial goal. Reduce the settings that visibly destabilize outdoor scenes, then rebuild quality one step at a time. | Try shadows, vegetation, and view distance separately; test SSR, AO, and water only where their effects are visible. |
| Hardware at or above the recommended tier | Begin with a medium or high preset if available, but keep a baseline and test. A recommended-tier computer is not guaranteed to hold a particular frame rate in every scene. | Lower only the option associated with a repeatable hitch. Preserve resolution and the settings whose visual improvements you can actually see. |
When changing settings does not fix the problem
The game is still inconsistent at very low quality
Repeat the same route after an update and compare it with your original baseline. If lowering resolution scale makes almost no difference, investigate whether the processor, memory capacity, or a non-game background workload is the constraint rather than continuing to reduce image quality.
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The image is too blurry after lowering scale
Restore display resolution first, then raise resolution scale in small steps until text and distant objects are acceptable. Recover performance by lowering shadows, vegetation, view distance, SSR, AO, water, or advanced lighting instead of keeping an unnecessarily soft image.
Reflections look wrong or performance changes after a patch
Check that the game is fully updated and retest SSR or other reflection controls in a scene that actually contains reflective surfaces. The developer’s reflection optimization statement describes an update-level change, so an old setting comparison may no longer represent the current build.
Settings appear missing
Menu labels and available controls can change. The community reference is not an official or exhaustive inventory. Use the controls shown by your current game version and do not assume a setting exists because it appears in an older discussion.
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First establish that the GPU is the limiting component with the resolution-scale comparison and consistent scene testing. Steam’s recommended tier names an RTX 3060 or Radeon RX 5700, but that requirement alone does not prove either card is necessary or that buying one will solve a particular player’s issue. Check power, case clearance, system compatibility, and the rest of your configuration before spending money.
Tune software first or upgrade hardware?
| Route | Use it when | What the evidence can and cannot tell you |
|---|---|---|
| Tune the existing system | Your PC is close to the listed tiers, the game is playable at low settings, and one or more controls clearly affect the repeatable test route. | Settings changes can improve your personal balance, but no source establishes a universal FPS gain for any option. |
| Investigate a hardware upgrade | Your system falls below a listed tier, or lowering image quality and resolution still leaves the same repeatable limitation. | The minimum and recommended parts are reference specifications. They do not quantify the improvement an upgrade will deliver in your particular system. |
A measured comparison is more useful than a shopping list: identify the limit, change one variable, and confirm the result. If the game already runs acceptably after tuning, an upgrade may offer less value than preserving your current configuration.
Quick Recap
A concise repeatable checklist
- Confirm the current Steam requirements and your actual Windows version, processor, graphics card, memory, and free storage.
- Update the game before testing; its developers have reported optimization work affecting distant vegetation shadows and reflections.
- Record resolution, resolution scale, preset, and a repeatable busy scene.
- Start at low overall quality.
- Test resolution scale, shadows, vegetation, view distance, SSR, AO, water, and advanced lighting individually where your menu provides them.
- Raise one control at a time and keep the last change only if the image-quality benefit justifies the observed performance cost.
- Use the resolution-scale comparison to distinguish a likely rendering limit from a limit that needs further investigation.
- Do not treat a Steam requirement or a developer optimization statement as a guaranteed frame-rate result.
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