Vehicle Speeds

[Gus Smedstad]

I timed various vehicles traveling from one of the homesteads on the outskirts to the central park.  In the process, I discovered just how very screwy the vehicle selection can be - as often as not, the Sim would choose a slower vehicle, and on at least one occasion a vehicle that was marked as owned by another Sim.

The distance (43.6 km, or 27.1 miles) I measured by having a Sim jog the same route, and noted the distance covered in the Skill notes.

Vehicle	Time (minutes)	Speed (MPH)
Jog	267	6
Run	102	16
Bicycle	37	44
Cab	28	58
Jalopy	26	63
Vorn 328	24	68
Stretch Limo	24	68
Yomoshoto Evasion	20	81
Police Cruiser	16	102
VFN Komensator	15	108
Bwan Speedster	10	163
Magaret Vaguester	10	163

Most trips in the game are much shorter than this, so you don't really get much real time savings from cars until you get to the Evasion, unless you're living in the boonies.  Bikes, despite what I believed before, are simply a drawback for adults.  Certain career paths slow you down because you're forced to drive the Stretch Limo everywhere even if you have a faster car.  At least the Police Cruiser is worthwhile.

Children on bicycles are the same speed regardless of whether it's a default bike or a bike you purchased: 44 mph, the same as adults.  So there's no point in purchasing bike racks, since adult bikes are a drawback and children's bikes make no difference.

EDIT: added running speed, which turns out to be roughly 2.5x the pokey Jog.
EDIT: noted child bike speeds.

 - Gus

[Motoki]

As an aside, I've also noticed that for relatively short to moderate trips by the time all is said and done with the telephone dialing, talking (who the hell are they talking to anyway?) and animations and what not the fastest cars can sometimes be faster than even teleportation.

What compounds this is the teleportation of say 'teleport to work' often teleports them in at the exact opposite of the side of the building with the entrance. It also annoyingly tends to force the camera to follow them to their destination even if you just tell them to teleport to work.

And you are right about their means of selecting which car to use. It often makes very little logical sense and they frequently don't opt for the fastest option. They also have an annoying tendancy to still want to use cabs and carpools when you own vehicles, or to use a vehicle to get to a location that is literally next door or across the street. 

[J. M. Pescado]

(who the hell are they talking to anyway?)

They're talking to Scotty, duh. It's like this:
Quick! Scotty! Beam me u^?^?^?^H^H^HNO CARRIER

[Gus Smedstad]

I've completed testing.  Bikes simply suck.

Also, I fooled around with the teleporter, which I avoided previously as a cheat.  I'm not sure what you mean about "phone delays," since in my tests Sims simply walked into the teleporter and reached their destination directly.

Using the "teleport to..." interaction on the teleporter is a bad idea.  You can get a lot more precision by moving the camera where you want, clicking on the ground, and selecting "teleport here."  This puts you at the front door of the shop instead of the back.  I sent late kids to school that way a few times after getting them cleaned and fed, choosing the spot right in front of the school doors.  It's also handy (if you care to use the object at all) for teleporting right next to a target Sim on a remote lot, for questy-type things which require that you talk to a specific Sim.

 - Gus

[Motoki]

I'm not sure what you mean about "phone delays," since in my tests Sims simply walked into the teleporter and reached their destination directly.

You teleport back home from elsewhere via the cell phone. They will still call up and dial and talk to, err, someone. Then they'll materialize back home near the mailbox.

You can also use this functionality on your home lot such as to get back to the first floor without having to go down flights of stairs, which they are notoriously slow at doing, and you can teleport to and back from otherwise unreachable spots like a roof or an island.

[Gus Smedstad]

Ah.  I missed the phone interaction, since I pretty much never use the phone for anything but inviting Sims into the home lot.  It's useful that you can have Scotty beam you up.  If you're going to use the teleporter at all, that is, since I still regard it as a huge cheat.  I'm not a big fan of things that remove challenge from the game, though I'm still using more mundane lifetime rewards like "fast learner," "opportunistic," and "multitasker."

 - Gus

[Motoki]

Ah.  I missed the phone interaction, since I pretty much never use the phone for anything but inviting Sims into the home lot.  It's useful that you can have Scotty beam you up.  If you're going to use the teleporter at all, that is, since I still regard it as a huge cheat.  I'm not a big fan of things that remove challenge from the game, though I'm still using more mundane lifetime rewards like "fast learner," "opportunistic," and "multitasker."

I agree it's kind of cheaty but I would say more often than anything I just use it to get them up or down stairs quicker since they are maddeningly slow to traverse multiple flights of stairs.

[J. M. Pescado]

The teleporter isn't even that GOOD. It's the most outlandishly expensive aspiration reward in the game, and it's only barely competitive against the MV.

[Motoki]

The teleporter isn't even that GOOD. It's the most outlandishly expensive aspiration reward in the game, and it's only barely competitive against the MV.

It depends on what you are doing and where. If you're going somewhere far removed from a road to collect crap then it does make a big difference. If it's somewhere by a road though then yeah when all is said and done not a huge difference between it and the fastest car.