Ships which are water jet propelled cannot in reality steer when the engines are idling. e.g. Pilot boat, "Arie Visser", Red Jet 4, Water ski. However ALL ships with normal propellor drive will steer perfectly well when the engine is stopped as long as they have headway through the water. This is perfectly reproduced by the ships in the game. Smaller ships, as in reality, respond more quickly, and larger ships, such as "Latitude" and "Vermaas" have a very sluggish response to the helm which will make it seem, at first, that they are not responding. It takes time for a huge weight to answer the helm. Again this is a reflection of reality. "Bugsier 2" is another ship which needs power on her engines to steer for the simple reason that she has no rudder, nor does "Red Eagle". The special drive systems on these two ships does away with the need for rudders. It is worth studying the differing systems so that you can understand why some ships behave in differing ways.