It seems like when I play the game, no matter how much I hit the 3x speed button, nothing changes. The time goes just as slow as the 1x speed, so I have to sit there for 10 minutes waiting on my sims to wake up. The "skip ahead" speed doesn't seem to have effect either unless the sim is in the car. Has anyone else noticed this or is my game the only one?

It seems everyone has the problem, just hope the patch will fix it.

My ultra speed is about the same as super-fast-forward... the two fastest speeds don't seem to be much different for me.

But yes, the fast forward (both the slower fast forward, the super fast forward, and ultra) are working.

When I had a terrible computer for Sims 2, the speed buttons didn't work because the stupid computer couldn't keep up.

Is there an ultra speed? There's 3 speed options and the last one is about the same speed as the 3rd, but it'll automatically revert to 1st speed after the current action ends, CMIIW.

Supposedly if you zoom way in (e.g., to ground level) the speed will increase a bit, presumably because your machine isn't having to render as much.

Oh, I thought the last speed was supposed to go way faster -- my mistake. You're right, it must be meant to be the same but ends upon completion of the activity.

I'd like to think that my computer has specs above the requirements (well, I could update my graphics card but it's not old enough for it to be worth the money to me) so here's to hoping that it's not my computer's fault. But since it works fine for some of you, it probably is. Joy.

Treeag speaks the truth. It's a useful speed button. I do wish Speed 3 was even faster though.

I deleted all of my Sims 2 stuff, hoping that it might free up my computer and fix this problem, but it didn't. So, I rechecked the system requirements for the game with my own computer's requirements and it seems that my computer exceeds them. Is it possible that some of the Sims 3 games have a glitch with the speeds?

My game is doing the exact same and I am hoping some lovely person makes some sort of hack to sort it if EA don't make a patch...its infuriating sitting there every time they go to bed and waiting 5 minutes or over in real time for them to get up again!

Speeds seem to be about the same as they were in Sims 2 for me.

Dunno if it's hardware related. The machine this is installed on is a relatively beefy gaming box but not exactly cutting edge (Vista64, C2D E8500, 4GB 1066MHz, 2x4850s).

As stated, there are 3 speeds not 4. The 4th speed is speed 3 till current activity is completed such as reading a book then reverts to speed 1. You want to rush it to completion but you dont want to keep speeding thru time afterward as speed 3 would do.

My speeds dont work either, it sucks. I have to wait forever when they sleep.

I think that there probably isn't a problem with the speeds (on my game atleast) it's probably just my computer not being *that* good enough for the game. Because it takes FOREVER when my sims are sleeping, and the fastest speed isn't really that fast. Kinda annoying!

Mine does the same thing I hope the patch fixes it.

My different speeds works fine.

And, Ultra speed isn't a faster speed than 3. Read the popup. It's a 'speed 3 until done current action' speed. So you can skip over the boring parts without missing anything.

I had this happen to me ONCE playing TS2. It was infuriating. :\

TS3 hasn't done it to me yet, though I add my voice to all the others wishing speed 3 was faster....

The second speed is pretty much the same as the third for me. I've gotten used to just playing on the second speed because of this. Is it my computer, or the game? I feel like speed in general is slower in this, or my sims are just taking longer to do stuff... or both.

I'm really not having this problem. All the speeds seem to be fine to me - about the same as in the Sims 2. I do have a fairly new computer, so maybe this is a hardware problem, not an actual problem with the game?

I really think it's a hardware issue rather than an actual bug. My game runs all of the settings at medium, and I'd have to say my fastest speed is probably about medium as well, roughly about half of what it runs at in TS2. Last night I was playing and my Sim was at work so I decided to see if I could leave it long enough to go to the bathroom. I went to the bathroom, came back and he only had one hour of work left, while some people are able to wash entire batches of dishes while a Sim sleeps.