Pulling USA

First Impression

I grabbed Pulling USA after my old pulling game started crashing every time I tried to enter a race. Two weeks ago, on a Tuesday night, I finally gave up on it and saw this one with a 4.2 rating. Figured I’d give it a shot since the screenshots looked realistic. First thing I noticed was the graphics are solid for a mobile game—the dirt kicks up, the engines sound mean. But right away I saw there’s a price tag. I’m the type who reads every single review to see if the free stuff is actually playable or if you hit a paywall after ten minutes. So I spent my first hour just poking around the demo mode and the one free event. It’s fun, I’ll give it that. The controls took some getting used to—I kept overshooting the throttle—but after a few pulls I got the hang of it. My wife came over and asked if I was actually watching a real tractor pull on my phone. That’s how good the visuals look.

What It Does Well

The physics feel right. You really have to feather the gas and watch the rpms or you’ll bog down or blow the engine. I liked that you can’t just mash the pedal and win. The customization is also pretty deep for a mobile game—you can swap tires, add weight, change the hitch, even adjust the gearing. I spent a whole Saturday afternoon tinkering with a Super Stock tractor setup. The multiplayer mode is fun when you find a lobby with people who aren’t just ramming you. I played three matches against random folks and won one, which felt good. The career mode is where the meat is, though—you start as a nobody at county fairs and work up to the big shows. It gives you a reason to keep playing besides just pulling for fun. And the custom track builder is a nice bonus if you’re creative. I saw someone made a track that looks like a monster truck arena, which was cool.

Where It Falls Short

Here’s the thing—the free content is basically a tutorial. After the first event, you’re staring at a buy screen every few minutes. Want to enter the next class? Pay up. Want a different tractor? Pay up. Want to remove ads that pop up after every pull? You guessed it. The controls are also touchy. On my Pixel 7, the throttle slider sometimes doesn’t register if my thumb is slightly sweaty, which cost me a few good runs. And there’s no way to adjust the sensitivity in the settings. I also ran into a bug where the game froze during a career event and I had to force close it. Lost my progress for that run. The app store reviews are full of people complaining about crashes on older phones, so my Pixel 7 handled it okay except that one freeze. Still, it’s annoying when you’re two minutes into a pull. Another thing—the multiplayer lobbies are often empty during the day. I tried at 2 PM on a Thursday and waited five minutes with no opponent.

Is It Worth the Price?

I’m cheap, so I always ask this. The base app costs money, and then there are in-app purchases for vehicle packs, engine upgrades, and cosmetics. I didn’t buy any of that. After two weeks, I feel like I got my money’s worth for the base price, but only because I really like tractor pulling. If you’re just curious, you’ll probably hit the paywall and get frustrated. The free demo lets you try one tractor and one track, which is enough to know if the physics click for you. For me, it did. But I can see a casual player uninstalling after an hour. The devs do add new content occasionally, I noticed a “Farm Stock” update came out a few months ago. So if you’re willing to spend the base price and maybe one or two bucks on a vehicle pack, it’s a solid buy. Just don’t expect to play the whole game for free—that’s not how it works.

Developer & Support

I haven’t contacted support because the app worked fine for me aside from that one freeze. But I did skim the app store reviews to see how the devs handle things. Mixed bag. Some people say they got quick replies about missing purchases, others say they reported bugs months ago and nothing got fixed. The game version I have is 2.7, and I saw a few comments about a crash bug from version 2.5 that still isn’t patched. That worries me a bit. The dev team is called Bowen Games LLC, and they seem to update the game every few months. Not super fast, but not abandoned either. If you’re someone who needs instant help, you might be waiting a while. For me, the game just worked, so I can’t complain too much. But I’d like to see a bug-report button inside the app instead of having to go to the store page.

Privacy & Safety

I’m not super paranoid about privacy, but I do check what permissions an app asks for. Pulling USA wants access to your storage to save custom tracks and maybe screenshots. That’s normal for a game that lets you create stuff. It also asks for internet access for multiplayer and ads. No weird requests like contacts or location, which I appreciate. The privacy policy is the usual boilerplate—they collect device info and usage data for analytics and ads. I didn’t see anything about selling your data, but let’s be real, most games do that. If you play multiplayer, your username and stats are visible to other players. I used a dumb nickname so it doesn’t bother me. Overall, it’s about as safe as any other free-to-play game with in-app purchases. I didn’t sign up for an account or give them my email, so I’m comfortable.