Ah yes, another OG title of a franchise that it didn't mean to start, especially not the way it was meant to. I feel bad for this title, and its never-realized potential.
The treatment for a "franchise starter" should be very appropriate, yet this game has none of that. Mired in legal controversy that should've never happened, it's literally lost media now, and unless someone owned the game on Steam (or a physical copy) prior to its removal, there's no other way to even get this game anymore, except "piracy". Or buying its keys from various websites which still have the item in stock, which might not be the most secure way to obtain a game.
This game has some truly different priorities compared to its "successors" (even MudRunner), and it basically has no direct rival. Physics is the best and most brutal in the franchise, yet they aren't implemented in a "nonsense" way compared to SnowRunner. Not perfect, but the best in the franchise so far. Even a heavily-modded MudRunner doesn't even come close to it. And it's also the only game in the franchise to have working amphibious vehicles. Unlike later titles, the state of mud is retained after reloading a save, and the player can't "revert" the surface to a better state by doing so. Every damage is permanent unless the map itself is reloaded.
Gameplay is also very simple: Cargo delivery. And there's only 1 type of crago: logs, of different sizes. With the China Adventure DLC installed, 2 more cargo types are added: metal pipes, and rice bags. MudRunner carried over this aspect of gameplay, just without the 2 extra cargo types added later, and with some minor twists and different elements to spice up gameplay.
This is one of those games where things will stay the way it is a lot more likely than not, since it's mired in legal problems as mentioned above, so chances are very slim. We can only hope GOG.com can work their magic to bring back a very, very unique game in this franchise, and in this genre in general.