Keep on Truckin'

April 11, 2020 8:27 AM

American Truck Simulator is the perfect way to hit the great, virtual outdoors [Vox] “The 2016 release on PC and Mac — which is continuously expanded by developer SCS Software — is exactly what it sounds like: a game where you are a truck driver, completing long hauls and taking cargo from city to city. But what it really excels at is capturing the feeling of driving through the great, open expanses of the country, radio blasting some of your favorite tunes (you can load your favorite songs right into the game). You have places to be, but for now, you’re just killing time. It’s an extraordinarily relaxing experience, and by the time you’ve completed a run from Los Angeles to Albuquerque, you might have entered a kind of meditative state. That’s not going to sound like a great time to some folks, but for those who play video games primarily to chill out after a long day (as I do), it’s one of the games that will best accomplish that goal.” [YouTube][Game Trailer]

• How American Truck Simulator recreates the grand American west [Rock Paper Shotgun]

“Oh, to visit Spokane on a bright summer morning. Bakersfield, Albuquerque, Reno and Salem. The evening sun shining across the surface of the I-10. In these locked-down times, American Truck Simulator is a chance to tour America, or at least its western edge, running from Washington in the north down to California in the south, and over to Utah and New Mexico in the east. These states are articulated by highways and truck stops, industrial centres and sweeping multilevel interchanges. But that doesn’t mean their sweep isn’t glorious. America is, after all, built on trucking. The industry’s motto is, “If you bought it, a truck brought it,” and in ATS you get to experience mass haulage in a world which aims to mirror, as close as it can, the great American west. But it was built in Prague, on an engine that sometimes requires clever tricks to represent the scale of it all, by a team of map designers who are strangers to American culture.”

• A Very Important Guide On How To Recreate Optimus Prime In American Truck Simulator [Rock Paper Shotgun]

“It’s been a week of unspeakable magnitude. Never mind the impending fall of society: the Peterbilt 389 has just been added to American Truck Simulator [official site]. The 389 is the updated model of the 379, a true legend of the road. I write that as though I know anything at all about trucks. I don’t, apart this: Optimus Prime is a Peterbilt 379. Well, he is now, in those frightful Michael Bay movies. Before that he was a Freightliner. It is extremely important to me that I have a choice of Optimii for my pretend lorry driving, and so it is that I bring you this unspeakably vital guide on how to introduce either classic, or ‘G1’, Prime or movieverse Prime into the wonderful ATS. The long-nosed, flame-flecked movie Optimus is the easiest, given this week’s release of the Peterbilt 389 as official, free DLC. Just make sure your copy of ATS is all up to date on Steam and it’ll be in there – though you’ll need a big chunk of cash, a level 20 driver and a free garage slot before you can have it.”

• Even If You Hate Simulators, You Must Admit These Shots Look Gorgeous [Kotaku]

“Imagine driving down that road with nice, mellow country tunes drifting quietly from your speakers. Man. Now, you may or may not be a fan of truck simulators. Hell, you might even despise them. Right now, that doesn't matter. What matters is that Euro Truck Simulator 2's developer, SCS Software, has released new screenshots for their upcoming game, American Truck Simulator—and you don't have to be a fan of the genre to appreciate their beauty. Just look.”

• How Euro Truck Simulator 2 became an unlikely cult hit on PC [PC Gamer][Game Trailer]

“Czech developer SCS Software released Euro Truck Simulator back in 2012, and the game has since developed a cult following—including several members of the PC Gamer team. But why? Well, fundamentally, because it’s good. It has satisfying driving physics, a vast, atmospheric map and a peaceful, stress-free way about it that you can easily lose an entire evening to. Fans of the game often describe it as hypnotic, and it really is. [...] Part of what makes ETS2 so compelling is the fine balance it strikes between being a simulation and being fun and accessible. Not to mention the variety of ways to play, from simply enjoying a road trip to building an empire. “At the time of release, this combination was quite rare in simulator games. Some of our players enjoy exploring the world; some like customising and tuning their trucks; many enjoy the rags-to-riches aspect of building their trucking company up from one small garage to a huge logistics operation.””

• I played Euro Truck Simulator 2, now I'm a trucker in real life [alt/char]

“Yeah, I started with the games I loved and played my whole life. When I started streaming on YouTube, I always thought that I'll need to play as many games as possible, but I quickly realised I was wrong and that this plan only split my subscribers into groups. Euro Truck Simulator 2 came randomly, I just started playing it without any expectations and I haven't stopped driving ever since. So it's not only relaxing - my channel has got something that other games didn't have. Soon after I started playing, my love for the big machines started to grow bigger and bigger. I started learning about trucks and virtually devoured all the material I came across. I wanted to know about every truck and in the process, it just came to me that driving trucks is something that I want to do in my life. Funnily, I didn't even have an AM category driving licence (a basic sub 50cc licence) at the time, let alone the one for semi-trailer truck but I said to myself "you're gonna do it". And here I am, with driving licences for every category, including the big rig.”

posted by Fizz (24 comments total)

someday this century this UX will be connected to real trucks!

(alas the first go at it failed this year)

also non-apropos, it increasingly saddens me how AFAICT the whole Highspeed Rail project started in 2008 was wrong-century thinking. What we here in California need now is the most economic way to shoot goods between regional distribution centers, and for that we really need to replace I-5, 10, 15, 80 and US-99 & 101 (& 395?) with the best 21st century freight-moving alternative we can come up with.
posted by Heywood Mogroot III at 9:16 AM on April 11, 2020 [2 favorites]

As someone who has done lengthy delivery routes (never a long haul trucker, but maybe 500 miles in a big white van), I can say there is something indeed about just being out on the road, 60 miles until your next stop, watching the scenery go by. Scenery you've seen regularly for a couple of years, so you've been able to observe its changes over seasons and across time. It's a sense of place and space which people who don't do long drives on a regular basis don't have. There's something you gain about understanding distance and the passage of time, and sort of an ownership in seeing the same things over and over across vast distances and time.

I hope people enjoy this game. I'm unlikely to play it, it's too much like real life for me. But I can see the appeal, as it's my real life.
posted by hippybear at 9:46 AM on April 11, 2020 [13 favorites]

Note that there is a free demo of Euro Truck Simulator 2 on Steam. It made my old MacBook sweat until I lowered the resolution and detail setting, then it ran pretty well.

I enjoy driving around Austria much more than backing up my trailer into narrow spaces, though.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 10:02 AM on April 11, 2020

I've driven every kind of rig that's ever been rendered
posted by thelonius at 10:09 AM on April 11, 2020 [5 favorites]

Justin and Griffin McElroy playing this is one of my favorite videos of all time, but i just noticed today the bad native american face logo at about 4 minutes and can't find out if that's a real-world company or something ATS created?
posted by gaybobbie at 10:14 AM on April 11, 2020

All of those logos look made-up to me.
posted by seanmpuckett at 10:21 AM on April 11, 2020

Be careful! I remember, after a long weekend playing Crazy Taxi, I was driving along, in real life, looking at ramps and sidewalks and thinking, "Yeah, I could jump that."
posted by SPrintF at 11:52 AM on April 11, 2020 [4 favorites]

I love the Giant Bomb Quick Look for Euro Truck Simulator 2. When I was playing the game I was really into following the rules as much as possible and keeping things realistic, but this video shows you definitely don't HAVE to do that in order to have fun.
posted by chrominance at 1:53 PM on April 11, 2020

This is genuinely intriguing. To my surprise, I haven't been able to get engaged with any of my longer-standing game habits during this time, but this hits the brain in a different way. Thanks.
posted by praemunire at 3:34 PM on April 11, 2020 [2 favorites]

10-4 good buddy.
posted by doctornemo at 3:50 PM on April 11, 2020 [2 favorites]

ATS and ETS2 (as well as Cities: Skylines!) are both playable on GeForce Now, which is free for sessions up to an hour at a time if your PC doesn't run it as well as you'd like, or you don't have a PC but do have an Android phone or tablet that can output to a TV and a Bluetooth keyboard/mouse. (Or a OTG adapter and a USB keyboard, the app doesn't care as long as Android can deal with it)

The first 90 days are free if an hour at a time doesn't cut it for you. You do have to own/buy the game on Steam to play it, though.
posted by wierdo at 4:43 PM on April 11, 2020

My youngest took up driving a truck for a few years in her early twenties. She did both over the road and standard point to point delivery. She only did three years because the routine 14 hour days were getting to her. Not for everyone. She did used to like Train Simulator, though.
posted by hwestiii at 7:43 PM on April 11, 2020

I used to just watch the demo missions on Train Simulator. I'd do it right now if I still had my Win 98 box.
posted by thelonius at 7:52 PM on April 11, 2020

I knew I wouldn't have time to spend countless hours playing this game, so I made the most of the experience. I made a Vegas to Salt Lake City delivery in the dead of night while listening to KLF's 'Chill Out' on repeat. Bliss achieved. Mission complete. Uninstall and move on.
posted by prinado at 11:45 PM on April 11, 2020 [1 favorite]

For those of you who are too afraid to play this game because you do not trust your own addictive nature, you can watch others stream this game on twitch.

Enjoy.
posted by Fizz at 5:03 AM on April 12, 2020

I used to play a lot of Euro Truck Simulator until its emptiness started to get to me. Yeah, it can be a meditative experience, and American landscape is probably better suited to this end. But as a game... there's too much empty space-time in it. Nothing ever happens.
posted by hat_eater at 7:49 AM on April 12, 2020 [1 favorite]

there's too much empty space-time in it. Nothing ever happens.

And thus is the life of a driver.

Although I won't say nothing ever has happened on any of my delivery routes. I once drove by a building just as it was bursting into flames, a building I'd driven by a zillion times before. I've seen raptors dive into fields and rivers and catch animals while I was driving by. I have full on horror stories about deer strikes and other events that were less pleasant. But mostly, driving for a job is just sitting there and moving along.
posted by hippybear at 8:05 AM on April 12, 2020 [2 favorites]

...attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion.

Time to park.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 8:12 AM on April 12, 2020 [4 favorites]

Although I won't say nothing ever has happened on any of my delivery routes.

That's exactly what I'm talking about. Nothing like that ever happens in these games. Nothing ever changes. This is a simulation of a dead world.
posted by hat_eater at 8:16 AM on April 12, 2020 [1 favorite]

Well, obviously they need to have a weirdness factor engine as part of the programming so that there is X% chance that some range of unusual events could happen once every very few routes that you drive. It'd be the 300th hour that you're driving in the game and suddenly you'd find a hay truck had come through before you and its load had come loose so you have to slow down and drive on the shoulder to get around all the bales. Etc.
posted by hippybear at 8:23 AM on April 12, 2020 [1 favorite]

They added random events in one of the recent DLCs. Occasionally you'll see the aftermath of a collision or a roadblock... I've lived in California, Washington, and Oregon, and I find it very entertaining to visit places in the game that I know in real life, and seeing how it matches real life.

It tends to be pretty good at interchanges and exits, but it misses things like the rolling hills on I-5 north of Portland. I think they also missed the Chehalis right wing billboard? The 205 bridge over the Columbia has space for the real life bike lane, but the bike lane is missing. The area south of Seattle is pretty credible, but north of the convention center it skips right ahead to Mukilteo (which makes sense, because south of Seattle is a more industrial truck-ey place). Deception Pass Bridge seems wider than reality.

It might be worth noting that it goes on sale pretty regularly, and you can get the whole shebang for around $30, or under $20 if you don't mind skipping the most recent DLC.
posted by surlyben at 4:34 PM on April 12, 2020 [2 favorites]

I picked this game up after seeing this post here. Speaking of random events, I saw a Cessna crash-landed onto the highway in the oncoming lane. I admit I did take my eyes (camera) off the road as I drove by it, and said, "hah, what??" to myself.
posted by WaylandSmith at 5:36 PM on April 12, 2020 [1 favorite]

This is great news! Now, where did I put my wheel and pedals?
posted by hat_eater at 2:31 PM on April 13, 2020

Ok, so I bought the bundle with Oregon + Washington. All you do is drive around and look at trees and the Pacific Coast. It's barely a game. I hate it. They have the German restaurant I ate at in Coos Bay. I am currently shopping eBay for a three-monitor setup with pedals and a gear shift
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 5:19 PM on April 14, 2020 [2 favorites]