Newbie here, also used the Steam-sale. So have had it... a week? but already spent more time than is good for my PhD on this 
I have started some 20 different games on Easy and Normal.
My observations.
Bugs: The game obviously still has its bugs (I've also experienced having different starting amounts of cash, not a clue how that happened!) I sometimes crash out (CTD) randomly, I have also experienced completely inexplicable sale-crashes (checked competition and nothing had changed with the month before). There is a bug where the headlight-placement somehow crashes the game, I had this happen several times and I think it is to do with putting the light on the front-right first and then hitting mirror.
Complexity: By God! This is one of the things that has me coming back all the time. I love the complexity and can see the potential to increase this even further with more advanced supply-line management and so on. One of my favourite games of all time is Capitalism II and that was simple-mode compared to the micro-management involved with this game.
UI: I really think there are a lot of UI improvements that can be made, for example the auto-commands (I think it is called) from the computer could do with having a more prominent place in the start-screen.
System-feedback: The game is short on informing you of reasons for certain things occurring. For example, I would like to know when a competitor releases a new car in one of my branch cities that competes with something I am selling, I would like to know what makes the competitor's cars tick and I really, really need more insight in how the score of a car is composed, I found a post somewhere explaining the key-factors that influence how a car-model is perceived on the market, but it doesn't seem to be in game, perhaps this could be done by adding feedback/assistance/reminders in the car-design system.
Skills: I find it inexplicably difficult to get my manufacturing skill up, even when I upgrade my factories to three/four star and have it in a city with 3/4 star manufacturing skill it still seems to take a long time for it to get to an acceptable level, I am also unsure what the added bonus is - does it make cars decay in overall quality slower?
R&D: This is potentially the most interesting part of the game, I find it hard to keep track of what is going on though, when I go to the "View" section and select a gearbox, I would like to know which current models use that gearbox, that way I can decide whether I need to replace it for a new one and update (modify) existing models. The R&D system also seems a bit over-complex on the staffing side, I know worked out that setting the R&D budgets unlocks better components for Engine, Chassis, Gearbox and Vehicles, but it is difficult to know how much to spend on each to achieve something. I also don't understand why designing new components is done by external workers, it would make sense if you have a good R&D funding you can use in-house employees to design new parts and lower the costs of doing so? Also, I haven't got a clue whether this is true or not, but I get the impression that there is a link between the two anyway, when my skills in engineering go up I seem to be able to make better parts for less money, is this true? Again a feedback issue.
Micro-management of branches and distribution: this seems a very important part of the game but it is also ridiculously time-consuming if you want to do it right, I'd like more of a guiding hand in linking branches to certain factories, designating my own retail-zones for pricing/marketing (Rather than the arbitrary 'continent' system that exists now. So for example, if I start in Birmingham and I add a branch in London and Leeds I'd like to be able to designate that the UK group, than when I move into Spain and open branches there I would like to dub that the Spain group, at that point it would be ideal if I could tell the Spain group to only obtain vehicles from the factory in Valencia. (hope that is clear).
Assistants: The game would become more manageable if you could turn certain aspects over to AI assistants, for example the pricing in branches, the marketing and so on.
Competition: Unless you (player) get the micro-management part spot on and expand like cabbage as a result of doing so, it is almost impossible to keep up with the market capitalisation of competitors. I have a game where I outstrip anybody in the American market (1900s start) in terms of sales, I produce more than any of them (as far as I can work out) and yet Forward (with fewer branches and fewer factories) has a market cap of 800 million in 1920 and I am stuck around 400 million - I outsell him in New York with a factor 2!. It is therefore impossible for me to even consider buying him out. I suspect I could change that by introducing more Marques, but that seems odd to me and also adds a lot of extra micro-management that goes beyond reasonable (in my book).
Pricing of vehicles: I would like the game to recommend a price for a product, this doesn't have to be optimal, but it would help - in the early game I just set a price relative to production cost (2:1) and it took me a lot of fiddling to work out that with some models (Above Average/High demand vehicles for example) you can easily go to 4:1, I suspect this is also linked to the focus (target group) but the function of this is completely opaque (as many other things are), making it difficult to work out exactly what is going on.
Long first post, take that as a sign of approval! I really like the potential of the game, this could be one of the best economics/management games ever and could potentially serve as an ideal educational tool as well as being an addictive game.
PS: I am an information manager by trade, if you want feedback on specific issues than do feel free to contact me, I appreciate you guys are probably on a shoe-string budget and can do with all the help you can get.
I have started some 20 different games on Easy and Normal. My observations.
Bugs: The game obviously still has its bugs (I've also experienced having different starting amounts of cash, not a clue how that happened!) I sometimes crash out (CTD) randomly, I have also experienced completely inexplicable sale-crashes (checked competition and nothing had changed with the month before). There is a bug where the headlight-placement somehow crashes the game, I had this happen several times and I think it is to do with putting the light on the front-right first and then hitting mirror.
Complexity: By God! This is one of the things that has me coming back all the time. I love the complexity and can see the potential to increase this even further with more advanced supply-line management and so on. One of my favourite games of all time is Capitalism II and that was simple-mode compared to the micro-management involved with this game.
UI: I really think there are a lot of UI improvements that can be made, for example the auto-commands (I think it is called) from the computer could do with having a more prominent place in the start-screen.
System-feedback: The game is short on informing you of reasons for certain things occurring. For example, I would like to know when a competitor releases a new car in one of my branch cities that competes with something I am selling, I would like to know what makes the competitor's cars tick and I really, really need more insight in how the score of a car is composed, I found a post somewhere explaining the key-factors that influence how a car-model is perceived on the market, but it doesn't seem to be in game, perhaps this could be done by adding feedback/assistance/reminders in the car-design system.
Skills: I find it inexplicably difficult to get my manufacturing skill up, even when I upgrade my factories to three/four star and have it in a city with 3/4 star manufacturing skill it still seems to take a long time for it to get to an acceptable level, I am also unsure what the added bonus is - does it make cars decay in overall quality slower?
R&D: This is potentially the most interesting part of the game, I find it hard to keep track of what is going on though, when I go to the "View" section and select a gearbox, I would like to know which current models use that gearbox, that way I can decide whether I need to replace it for a new one and update (modify) existing models. The R&D system also seems a bit over-complex on the staffing side, I know worked out that setting the R&D budgets unlocks better components for Engine, Chassis, Gearbox and Vehicles, but it is difficult to know how much to spend on each to achieve something. I also don't understand why designing new components is done by external workers, it would make sense if you have a good R&D funding you can use in-house employees to design new parts and lower the costs of doing so? Also, I haven't got a clue whether this is true or not, but I get the impression that there is a link between the two anyway, when my skills in engineering go up I seem to be able to make better parts for less money, is this true? Again a feedback issue.
Micro-management of branches and distribution: this seems a very important part of the game but it is also ridiculously time-consuming if you want to do it right, I'd like more of a guiding hand in linking branches to certain factories, designating my own retail-zones for pricing/marketing (Rather than the arbitrary 'continent' system that exists now. So for example, if I start in Birmingham and I add a branch in London and Leeds I'd like to be able to designate that the UK group, than when I move into Spain and open branches there I would like to dub that the Spain group, at that point it would be ideal if I could tell the Spain group to only obtain vehicles from the factory in Valencia. (hope that is clear).
Assistants: The game would become more manageable if you could turn certain aspects over to AI assistants, for example the pricing in branches, the marketing and so on.
Competition: Unless you (player) get the micro-management part spot on and expand like cabbage as a result of doing so, it is almost impossible to keep up with the market capitalisation of competitors. I have a game where I outstrip anybody in the American market (1900s start) in terms of sales, I produce more than any of them (as far as I can work out) and yet Forward (with fewer branches and fewer factories) has a market cap of 800 million in 1920 and I am stuck around 400 million - I outsell him in New York with a factor 2!. It is therefore impossible for me to even consider buying him out. I suspect I could change that by introducing more Marques, but that seems odd to me and also adds a lot of extra micro-management that goes beyond reasonable (in my book).
Pricing of vehicles: I would like the game to recommend a price for a product, this doesn't have to be optimal, but it would help - in the early game I just set a price relative to production cost (2:1) and it took me a lot of fiddling to work out that with some models (Above Average/High demand vehicles for example) you can easily go to 4:1, I suspect this is also linked to the focus (target group) but the function of this is completely opaque (as many other things are), making it difficult to work out exactly what is going on.
Long first post, take that as a sign of approval! I really like the potential of the game, this could be one of the best economics/management games ever and could potentially serve as an ideal educational tool as well as being an addictive game.
PS: I am an information manager by trade, if you want feedback on specific issues than do feel free to contact me, I appreciate you guys are probably on a shoe-string budget and can do with all the help you can get.
