You can play as a taxi driver in many open-world action games, but real taxi simulators are very rare.
Probably because it’s hard to make this kind of gameplay exciting enough for a big audience.
The creators of Taxi Life decided to try anyway. Their game lets you work as a taxi driver in Barcelona, one of the biggest cities in the EU. The city is busy, people always need to go somewhere, and your job is to find passengers.
A Big City
One of the main features of the game is a 1:1 version of Barcelona. I haven’t been there myself, but I checked it using Google Maps to compare. Most places in the game look very similar to real life: the Arc de Triomf, Palau Güell, and even the cable car are there.
The streets are not exactly the same, but in some areas they look very realistic. For example, near an old monument to the mayor of Barcelona, there is a long row of bicycles — and in the game they are placed just like in real life.
Landmarks in the game are collectibles. When you visit them, you unlock small mini-stories.
Gameplay
You play as a taxi driver who just arrived in the city. After a short tutorial, you can start working.
When you open the map, you see many green icons — these are people who need a taxi. Jobs are different in difficulty, length, and payment, but at the beginning you usually accept everything.
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You cannot just drive around and pick up random people — you must choose a client on the map first. After finishing a ride, the game quickly lets you choose the next passenger, which is convenient.
Driving Rules
When you don’t have a passenger, you can drive however you want: run red lights, drive on the wrong side, crash into cars, and more. If the police see you, you get a fine, but it’s very small, so it doesn’t matter much. Even hitting a pedestrian only costs about 100 euros, which you can earn back quickly.
But when you have a passenger, everything changes.
The passenger notices every mistake, and their patience depends on your driving.
- Stop too long at a crossing — they get annoyed
- Hit another car — they don’t like it
- Hit a pedestrian — the trip ends immediately
Your mistakes affect not only whether you finish the ride, but also your tips. If you drive cleanly, you earn bonus experience points, so you try to follow the rules.
Passenger Interaction
Sometimes passengers ask you to do things.
- An old man may complain about a bug on the windshield
- A woman may say the radio is too loud
- Some ask to turn the radio off
Most of the time, they just want to talk. They may ask if you like your job or the city. You can answer politely or be rude. Being rude feels strange, and it’s better to answer nicely to get extra experience, especially at the start.
Overall Feel
There are not many difficult passengers, and you don’t always need to follow traffic rules strictly. But because you earn more money and experience for good driving and polite behavior, the game encourages you to play properly.
At first, you may want to drive fast like in GTA, but later you get used to driving carefully — waiting in traffic and slowing down in narrow streets.
The only problem is the AI. Pedestrians can act strangely, and other cars may crash into you for no reason. Luckily, this doesn’t affect your passenger much — unless it causes you to crash too.