Driver's Manual

Section 1

Welcome to Tulsa

Tulsa 2.0 is a trucking and logistics game. You haul freight between businesses across the map, get paid for it, and put that money back into better equipment.

There is no story to finish and no way to lose the game outright. A shift looks the same whether it is your first or your five hundredth: pick up a truck, take a job, drive the load to where it is going, deliver it, get paid. Everything else in this manual is detail hanging off that loop.

What you start with

The two ways to drive

Section 2

Your First Ten Minutes

Follow these in order and you will have completed a paid delivery and collected a $1,000 bonus before you have to make a single decision on your own.

1. Talk to the tutorial NPC. When you spawn in, find the NPC waiting for you and hold the prompt to start talking. The dialogue is yours alone; other players nearby are not in it. Stay close: walk too far and the conversation ends.
2. Hear him out. Finishing the dialogue is what arms your starter job.
3. Spawn a company vehicle from a marked parking spot, and pick one with a van trailer. The starter job will not attach to anything else.
4. Get in. You are placed at the driver's door automatically after the truck spawns. Use the prompt there to climb in.
5. Start the engine with F, shift up with E, and drive out.
6. Deliver the drinks to Starbrews. The job is assigned automatically, so you do not need to open the job menu. Pull into the marked bay and hold still until it registers.
7. Go back to the NPC and claim your $1,000. This is the step people miss. The tutorial bonus is not paid automatically. You have to return to him and take it, and you must be standing near him for it to work.

Section 3

Controls

The game detects whether you are on keyboard, controller or touch and shows the right prompts automatically. Keybinds can be viewed and changed in Settings.

Driving

Lights and signals

Interface

Section 4

Getting a Truck

Every truck in the game comes out of a parking spot. Which spots you can use depends on whether you are running company equipment or your own.

Company vehicles

Walk up to a free spot in the company yard and use its prompt. You pick a vehicle from the list and it appears in the spot, complete with whatever trailer it is configured to carry, fully fuelled. There are around twenty-six company fleets in the game, each with its own livery and its own vehicles.

Each spot only accepts certain kinds of vehicle: a spot sized for a single trailer will not take a multi-unit set. If what you want is not in the list at that spot, walk to a bigger one. Occupied spots show no prompt, and free up the moment the truck in them is deleted.

Owner-operator vehicles

Once you own a truck you spawn it the same way, but from your own vehicle menu. Your trucks remember their state between sessions, most importantly their fuel level. A truck you parked with a quarter tank comes back with a quarter tank.

Owner-operator trailers are bought at the dealership and then spawned from your own menu at a parking spot. Back the fifth wheel under the pin and the coupling happens on its own; the jacks and lines are handled for you.

Hooking up

• Line the truck up square before you start reversing.
• Reverse slowly until the pin seats. There is no separate button to press.
• Check the trailer is actually coupled before you pull away. Once coupled, its lights come on with the truck, and that is your confirmation.
• Multi-unit sets spawn complete: lead trailer, dolly and second trailer together.

Section 5

Driving the Rig

Tulsa's trucks run a modelled 18-speed transmission. If you have only ever driven arcade vehicles, this section is worth reading twice.

Starting out

• Press F for the ignition. Nothing works until the engine is running.
• Take off in a low gear and work up with E. A loaded trailer will not pull away in a high one.
• Set the parking brake with P before you climb out. Trucks roll.
• If manual shifting is not for you, switch the transmission to automatic. You lose a little control on hills and nothing else.

The jake brake

The jake (engine brake) is the loud one. Arm it with ] and it takes over whenever you lift off the throttle above idle while moving. It saves your service brakes on long descents, which is exactly what it is for.

Braking force and sound both follow engine RPM rather than road speed, so it bites hardest high in the rev range. It stays engaged through automatic downshifts and follows the revs back up, so you do not re-arm it mid-hill. Rear axle only, so on a wet road with an empty trailer, be gentle.

Cruise control and lights

Set cruise with G once you are at speed; the brake cancels it. Drop to low beams (L) when traffic is coming the other way, and put hazards (X) on any time you are stopped on the shoulder. Trailer lights follow the truck automatically, including on multi-unit sets.

Section 6

Taking a Job

A job is a load that needs to get from a pickup to a delivery point. The game matches offers to what you are actually towing.

How it works

1. Hook up first. The job list is filtered by your trailer. A flatbed is offered flatbed work, a van is offered van work, and an empty tractor is offered nothing.
2. Open the job selector at a pickup and choose. Each offer shows the cargo, the destination, the distance and what it pays.
3. Accept and load. Pull into the bay and wait for the cargo. Flatbed loads need securing before you leave. See Section 7.
4. Drive it there. The GPS marks your destination. Distance is measured point-to-point, so wandering does not increase the pay.
5. Deliver. Pull into the receiving bay and hold still. Cash and XP land as soon as it registers.

The clock

Every job has an allowed time and, inside that, a shorter bonus window. Deliver inside the bonus window and you keep the bonus; miss it and you still get paid the base rate.

Stores fill up

Each business holds about a dozen loads of any given product. Deliver enough and it stops accepting that product. Full stores drop out of the job offers entirely, and work back down at roughly one load a minute. Your slot is reserved when you accept, so a store filling up while you are en route does not cost you the delivery.

In practice this rewards spreading your work around rather than running the same short lane over and over.

Abandoning a job

You can abandon a load you cannot finish. It takes two clicks to confirm, deliberately, because abandoning gives up the pay and frees your reserved slot at the destination.

Section 7

Trailers and Loads

What you tow decides what you can haul and how much the run is worth. Dealership prices are shown where the trailer is bought outright.

Strapping a flatbed

Flatbed loads are secured strap by strap, not all at once. Each anchor point along the deck has its own prompt: walk down the side of the trailer and pull each one down in turn. Anchor points with nothing between them stay empty, so you only secure what is actually on the deck.

Steel coils are the exception to the shape of it. Their securement runs through the eye of the coil rather than over the top, because a strap over the top of a coil does nothing. The game routes it correctly; you still pull each one down yourself.

Section 8

What Pays Best

Your payout is the base rate multiplied by the trailer you are pulling and the cargo inside it. These are the actual numbers.

Trailer multiplier

Cargo multiplier: the ones worth knowing

Getting to the good work

Intermodal and oversize trailers are gamepass items rather than cash purchases. Of the work you can buy outright, a tanker (1.45) running diesel or gasoline (1.45) is the strongest at just over 2×, and grain, flatbed and reefer all beat van freight comfortably.

Section 9

Fuel

Every tank in the game holds 100 gallons, and diesel is one floating price shared by every station on the map.

The price moves

Fuel drifts between $1.85 and $4.15 a gallon, changing gradually over the course of every few minutes. Every station charges the same thing at the same moment, so there is no cheaper part of the map, only a cheaper time. A full tank from empty is between $185 and $415 depending on when you pull in, which is a real difference on a thin week.

Filling up

• Pull alongside a pump and use its prompt.
• The pump fills at 5 gallons a second, so empty to full takes about 20 seconds.
• You are billed when you hit Purchase, not while the handle is running. Fill, then confirm.
• You can also buy a set amount in one go rather than filling continuously.
• Company vehicles draw from the company's supply rather than your wallet.
• The Instant Refueling gamepass fills the tank in one click. You still pay for the fuel.

Fuel persists

This is what catches new owner-operators out. Each truck you own remembers its own fuel level across sessions. Park one half empty, log off, come back tomorrow, and it is still half empty. Fuel is not topped up for you and it is not shared between your vehicles.

Section 10

Money, XP and Rank

Every completed delivery pays cash and awards XP. Cash buys equipment; XP raises your rank, and rank permanently raises your pay.

The pay formula

The mileage bonus is worth noticing: it is based on your career total, not this trip. Once you have 10,000 miles behind you it is adding the full $500 to every single delivery, regardless of how short.

Ranking up

XP accumulates with every delivery and pushes you up through twenty-nine ranks. Rank gates which trucks the dealership will sell you, raises your loan cap, and adds a permanent boost to every payout. There is no way to lose rank, and the early ranks come quickly. Rookie to Driver is only 2,500 XP, which is a handful of decent runs.

All 29 ranks

XP figures are the total needed to reach that rank. The pay boost is permanent once earned and applies to every delivery you make afterwards.

Section 11

Fines and the Law

Tulsa enforces speed, red lights and tolls. Fines come out of your job bonus first if you are on a delivery, then your cash, then your debt.

Speed cameras

At 5 mph over you pay nothing. At 20 over you are paying $1,200. Lift off before the camera, not after.

Red lights

The system watches what you do after you cross: enter the intersection at a reasonable speed and complete a right turn shortly afterwards and it is treated as a legal right on red. Go straight on, or turn left, and the fine lands.

Tolls

Toll points charge a small amount, $5 by default, as you pass through, and you are notified when it happens. The same toll will not charge you more than once every 30 seconds, so there is no penalty for a slow crossing, but do not sit parked on the sensor.

Section 12

Banking and Debt

TNC Bank will lend you money, and the game will let you dig yourself a hole if you insist. Here is exactly where the edges are.

Loans

Loan repayments come out of your deliveries automatically until the balance is cleared, so every run you do while in debt pays you less than it otherwise would. Borrow for something that earns, like a better trailer or a truck, not for fuel.

Debt

Fines and tolls you cannot pay in cash become debt rather than simply failing. Small amounts are routine. The number to watch is $100,000.

Section 13

The Dealership

Nine truck brands and thirteen trailer brands. Trucks unlock by level; trailers are available from the start and gated only by price.

The truck ladder

Buying

• Browse by brand; the filter narrows the list to one brand at a time.
• Trucks you already own are marked, so you cannot buy the same one twice.
• Some trucks are gamepass vehicles rather than cash purchases. They show at $0 with a Gamepass tag, and they cannot be gifted.
• A few are event-exclusive and only appear during the event.
• Once bought, the vehicle is permanently yours and appears in your own vehicle list at any parking spot.

Full truck list with prices and speeds: Vehicles page.

Section 14

Joe's WorkShop

The customisation shop, marked on the map with a spanner. Bring a truck you own and you can repaint it, re-engine it and fit accessories.

Parts are organised into categories and sections. Select a slot, choose a part, and it is fitted immediately. Anything you buy is remembered on your profile and stays fitted between sessions, and every slot has a free stock option so you can always go back.

Beacons

Beacons live under the Body Kit category, in the Beacon section, and come in two kinds:

Once one is fitted, U turns it on and off from the driver's seat. If you are running oversize, put one on.

Engines

The workshop will also re-engine an owner-operator truck. This is the one part of the shop that is not purely cosmetic. A bigger engine pulls a heavy load up a grade better than a small one, which matters most on tanker, grain and oversize work.

Section 15

Trains and Intermodal

There is a working railroad on the map. You will meet it at crossings, and if you run containers you will work alongside it.

At crossings

Crossings are automatic: the lights start, the gates come down, and the train comes through. A loaded rig does not stop quickly, so when the lights start, brake early rather than trying to beat the gates. Trains do not stop for you, and the gates stay down until the train has been clear for several seconds.

Intermodal work

Containers move between the Port of Tulsa and the Intermodal Export Train Yard by rail, and between the yard and businesses by truck. On a container chassis you collect from or deliver to the marked pivots in those yards. The container is lifted on or off and locked down for you, so there is no securing to do.

The train runs a continuous circuit around the map carrying double-stack well cars, so there is no timetable to learn. There is an interface showing where it currently is and its estimated arrival, worth a look before you commit to waiting for a container.

Container sizes

Chassis come in 20ft, 40ft and 53ft, plus doubles sets, and the pivots in the yards are sized to match. The game routes your container to a spot that fits, so you only need to get the chassis into the marked position. A 53ft container counts as a heavy load.

Section 16

Weather and Night

The weather changes on its own as you play, and it escalates in stages rather than jumping straight from sunshine to a storm.

Because it escalates in order, an overcast sky is a real signal. If you are about to accept a long oversize run and the weather is building, you know what the second half of that trip looks like. Weather is server-wide, so if it is storming for you, it is storming for everyone.

Night

There is a full day and night cycle. Get your lights on before you need them, and drop to low beams for oncoming traffic. If you would rather not deal with it, Settings has an option to lock your local time to a fixed hour.

Driving in bad weather

• Back off the speed before you need to, not when you need to.
• Use the jake earlier and more gently on descents.
• Lights on in heavy rain even during the day.
• Remember the bonus window assumes about 65–70 mph. In a storm, taking the bonus hit is better than taking a fine.

Section 17

The Map

Open the world map with =. Markers are colour-coded by what they are.

Legend

Where the work is

Deliveries go to the retail and industrial side: Romart, Fresco, Roblix, Frontier Market, Country Markets, House Works, Joe's Hardware, Alflanski, Starbrews, Archers, Doves, Tech Repairs, Construction Edmond, Grain Mill, Sally's Heavy Towing, the Stop n Drop and FuelRush truck stops, and the Intermodal Export Train Yard.

Every location pinned on a map: Interactive Map.

Section 18

Settings

Four things worth setting up before your first long run.

Audio

Every sound has its own slider: engine, transmission, turbo, supercharger, reverse, blow-off, ignition, horn, engine brake, trains, weather and world ambience. They all default to halfway, so you can turn the jake down without turning the engine down.

Graphics and performance

If the game runs badly, the settings that matter most are render distance, prop quality and tree quality. Turning shadows, sun rays, depth of field and weather effects off will buy you more frames again. Render distance is the big one.

Map and controls

• The minimap expands on hover; Disable map hover keeps it small permanently.
• Hide minimap removes it entirely, and minimap zoom is adjustable.
• Hide delivery points cleans up the map if the markers get busy.
• Mobile steering can be set to a wheel or buttons.
• Save last location puts you back where you logged off rather than at spawn.

Resetting your data

There is a reset button that wipes your progress and starts you over from nothing. It is behind a warning with a timed lockout so it cannot be hit by accident, and it cannot be undone.

Section 19

Tips From the Yard

None of these are secrets. They are the habits that separate drivers who make money from drivers who make laps.

• Buy a flatbed before anything else. It is the cheapest upgrade in the game and it raises the value of every load you take.
• Take the best-paying cargo your trailer can carry. Load type swings your pay by more than five times. Nothing else comes close.
• Fuel when the sign is low. The price is the same everywhere but it moves, so a full tank is anywhere between $185 and $415.
• Average about 65 mph to keep the bonus, but never at the cost of a $1,200 speeding fine. The bonus is usually smaller than the ticket.
• Spread your deliveries out. Stores hold about a dozen loads and then close to that product for a while.
• Line up your next load before you drop this one. Deadhead miles burn fuel and pay nothing.
• Check the trailer is coupled before you pull away. The trailer lights coming on are your confirmation.
• Strap every point before you move rather than finding a loose one on the first corner.
• Do not borrow for fuel. Borrow for equipment that earns.
• Your mileage bonus grows forever. Past about 10,000 career miles it is adding $500 to every delivery, which makes short runs far better than they look early on.
• Delete your truck when you are done. It frees the parking spot.

Section 20

Troubleshooting

Common situations and what to do about them.