Trukz: Let's buy things (or not), pt 4

Aluminum Wheels - $2,600.00 - Decreases the weight of your truck thereby increasing your maximum legal haul weight +1,000 lbs over the legal limit. Good until 1/3/2009. Item sells with truck.

Anything that raises your haul weight over the legal limit without any negatives is usually a good thing. Aluminum wheels stay with for a year and that's enough time for them to make you back your money plus extra. It won't be much, but every little bit helps. I probably wouldn't get these right away, though, I'd wait until I'd purchased my second or third truck. Early on you can take that $2600 and really upgrade to something a bit better.

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Low Gear Ratio - $2,500.00 - Increases your trucks load limit +2,000 lbs. (not the legal load limit) Reduces the top speed of your truck -5 MPH. Good until 4/23/2008. Item sells with truck.
High Gear Ratio - $2,500.00 - Decreases your trucks load limit -2,000 lbs. (not the legal load limit) Increases the top speed of your truck +5 MPH. Good until 4/23/2008. Item sells with truck.

What are these all about? Twenty-five hundred dollars for a trade-off? Get there faster and make less money, or take longer to make a little less? Sorry, I don't see the value. So many items in the game seem to be poor substitutes for upgrading your truck. And now that there are more trucks in the game, there's no reason not to climb that ladder instead of throwing money away on improvements that don't really improve anything.

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Frequent Flyer Discounts - $750.00 - Provides a 25% discount on airline tickets across continents. Good until 3/24/2008. Item stays with driver.

Speaking of throwing your money away, is there any reason for having this "discount" in the game? Yeah I've complained about it before, but jesus, what's the point of a 25% discount on a flight when I have to sell my truck at a loss before traveling? I mean, maybe there are a lot of jet-setters in the game, not running routes, just flitting all over the map, but I doubt it.

Easy fix: allow drivers to have two trucks, one in Europe, one in the US. I would likely use the air travel option a lot more if that was the case. Sure, maybe you can only land back in the city you left from, but that'd be okay. It might even be profitable buying the discount.

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Double Trailer Endorsement - $10,000.00 - Allows you to drive routes with double trailers thereby increasing your maximum legal haul weight +5,000 lbs over the legal limit. Does not stack with other driver endorsements. Good until 9/26/2008. Item stays with driver.
Triple Trailer Endorsement - $25,000.00 - Allows you to drive routes with triple trailers thereby increasing your maximum legal haul weight +10,000 lbs over the legal limit. Does not stack with other driver endorsement. Good until 1/23/2009. Item stays with driver.
Oversized Load Endorsement - $50,000.00 - Allows you to drive oversized loads thereby increasing your maximum legal haul weight +15,000 lbs over the legal limit. Does not stack with other driver endorsements. Good until 1/22/2009. Item stays with driver.

Obviously these are the big money-making improvements in the game. Really insane return on your investment when you get the better endorsements. Quick example: I just started a 2000+ mile route yesterday that would have paid in the $5k range with a Double Trailer, but I'd been saving for the Oversized Load for a while and decided to make the switch before I left. New payout? Just over $7k. That's $2000 extra for about a day and half's worth of driving.

No, a route like that won't happen three times a week, but even three or four times a month would mean $70-96k extra per year. Minus the endorsement cost and that's still $25-46k pure profit. Combine that with the aluminum wheels (which I have) and there's no reason not to go for an endorsement.

Personally I skipped straight from Double to Oversized. By the time you've been playing for a while and have a nicer truck, maybe you're in a company that gets contracts, the money comes in a lot faster. When I hit $25k I thought "Well I could get a Triple Trailer, or just wait a week and a half and get the next size up." And since you really do need to keep the endorsements for a while to make any profit, may as well go for the best when you can.

Just be sure to have enough set aside when the time comes to re-buy so you aren't caught out.

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Well, that's it for the item reviews. I realize I don't suggest buying many of the items for purchase, but that's just me. Many of them are too expensive for what you get. And some don't seem to offer anything worthwhile, except for your own personal satisfaction. Which I guess is satisfying, for some people.