SimCity developer Maxis is testing several changes to address the game's traffic and congestion problems, including tuning options and emergency and service vehicle priorities, lead gameplay scripter Guillaume Pierre wrote in a recent update.
Maxis began investigating the game's traffic problems on March 13 after players reported problems with "clumping," resulting in longer wait times and overcrowding. The video above demonstrates tuning changes, where Pierre builds roads around a congested highway and redirects traffic.
"In his blog post earlier this week, Stone Librande, our Lead Designer, mentioned how our congestion avoidance system works, with roads being weighed based on 25 percent, 50 percent and 75 percent congestion rates," Pierre wrote. "Although this system was in the game at release, it was tuned a little too low."
Emergency and service vehicles, including fire trucks, ambulances and buses, will now have priority in traffic, Pierre said. Any traffic in front of the building emergency vehicles leave should stop to let them out. You can read the full update here.
