American Truck Simulator

As a 20+ year veteran OOP Flatbed driver of Long-Haul Trucking, I can honestly say this game is just simply amazing; the level of detail, and correct geography is astounding, and a beautiful product of no doubt many, many, long hours of dedication from it's creators...
Due to a serious injury i sustained during an off-load of steel, I am no longer able to do the job I loved, as the damage done ended my career and business..
Although this may be just a game to some, it is much, much, more to me, and others like me who are no longer able to do the career we have dedicated so much of our lives to; as it allows us to continue down those roads and highways we called home for so many years..
With a wanderers spirit always in search of adventure, I truly miss the thrill of not knowing what may lay around the next bend, or curve in the road; all those long nights chasing the sunrise, with the radio and C.B. as your only company.
Or the long days of mile after mile of beautiful scenery flying by, roaring towards the setting sun; only to wake-up in a different city or town every morning..
My hat is off to all those of you, from the designers to the modding community, and everyone involved who have dedicated so much of your time to make this game what it is today, and what it will be tomorrow, and in the future; thank you so much for allowing me to continue my adventure!

I purchased this game in 2021 because i always wanted to be a truck driver since i was 6 years old. After over 1000 hours of game play. i decided to get my CDL and do it for real. I just got my CDL a few days ago and now i can do this in real life!
After driving real trucks, playing this game is still a blast and it makes you appreciate all the work SCS has done to make this game as realistic as possible. they have done a great job! i have played with an Xbox controller and i have played with a full sim rig with manual transmission clutch and splitter and its honestly fun either way.
10/10 in my book!

I used this to pass my CDL road test, (I'm using the G923 steering wheel with clutch and the elgato stream deck for dashboard controls + Meta Quest for more realism) this is one of the best games for truck driving that I've ever played hands down, there are some differences with IRL trucks and the trucks here, but it almost feels like 2nd nature when I got out of here and used a real truck for the exam

As an actual truck driver, this sim is very well made. It has actually helped me understand backing a little more, though the trailer behavior isn't exactly like real life, real life is easier. Happy to see all the work going into this with the updates yall put out, like how yall go out and talk to real companies to get in person experience for truck models. Highly recommend this Simulator, good as a chill game you can play alone or go Online and crash into stuff with friends.
If you cant handle long driving times, there's even a setting to make the drive feel shorter. Customize your truck with new available parts you earn by leveling up. Leveling up just makes them available to buy at a truck shop.
Last note for those trying to get same DLC as friends, go to the store page, scroll down to "Content for this Game", click the drop down "view all" and you will see the whole list. content with blue bar on left side are the ones you purchased in a bundle, so that should help anyone wanting to play the same as friends. there's even the "Add all DLC to Cart" if you just want everything available, that's what i do. just make sure it doesn't add DLC that you already have, just throwing money away at that point. Have fun Drivin.

Alright. I've been playing a lot of American Truck Simulator lately, and it really just confirms what I thought when I initially played it a few years back. It's a very relaxing game where you become a big rig driver/mogul.
The gameplay loop is pretty simple. Take jobs either using your employer's vehicle or your own (once you've had the opportunity to buy one). Earn cashola. Build up your trucking company. Upgrade your vehicle(s). Hire drivers to supplement your income (you do also need to buy each of them a truck). Along the way, you will find cool real life places attached to achievements, enjoy awesome vistas, take pictures of landmarks using photo mode, and so on. While driving around, you will have to pay attention to gas, your driver's fatigue level, and any damage you might inflict upon your unfortunate vehicle as a result of your carelessness lol.
Damage can be repaired at any number of facilities around the U.S. Those facilities also handle the upgrades for your vehicle and trailer. Which will allow you to handle bigger and more valuable loads as well as just trick out your truck(s). Much like needing to buy your own truck(s), you will also eventually invest in trailers for your vehicles. All this serves to increase the amount of money you can make from a run, so it is wise to invest in your company.
Your company itself begins as a one garage building. Just big enough for one truck and one driver. You can upgrade the building twice, maxing out at five truck ports and drivers. Per facility. And you can buy as many facilities tmk as you desire, providing you have the cash for them. My first facility was in Steamboat Springs. Yours might literally be just about anywhere though. You do get to choose for yourself.
While on delivery, you can choose to simply listen to the sounds of the road or fire up one of a wide selection of radio stations. Or download your own music/podcasts to listen to while on the road. Which is pretty sweet. The time it takes to travel is abbreviated, but 1500 miles takes about two to three hours real time depending on how many towns you need to drive through. Your driver will need to rest about every 500 miles. This requires you pulling into a marked rest area. Some of these are very difficult to navigate, much less trigger the ability to actually rest. I find the weigh stations and actual rest stops are the easiest to trigger and also the easiest to get back out of.
You will earn experience for your driver, which goes directly into his/her competence in handling different types of loads and how well they are able to conserve gas. Regarding gas though, generally try to gas up at or near where you rest. It's just easier that way.
Some interesting gameplay mechanics I note. You can and will be fined for a lot of infractions, from not having your headlights on at a certain time of day despite it still being light outside. Skipping active weigh stations. Speeding, hitting or being hit by other vehicles. Other than the collisions, running red lights and weigh stations, it seems like an officer needs to see the infraction for it to count. Additionally, things like red lights have a bypass (in that instance, by right turning, then looping to where you continue on the way you were intending to go. Roads blocked due to car wrecks and such can also be ignored with no consequence. Just go right on through if there is still enough space for your truck. You won't be fined or anything. Also, it is possible to get yourself trapped in a spot you can't back out of. The auto save function is generous and there are manual saves as well. Don't hesitate to use them, and definitely make use of the load auto save function if you find yourself in such a bind.
This is a game with a lot of DLC. I don't remember exactly which States come with the base game. Definitely California. But, if you are going to play this for a while, it will be advantageous to invest in the different States, preferably during a sale and in their Steam bundles, which also include different types of hauls you can unlock. And all of that is tied to achievements, so if you are a completionist, you are going to need to buy the DLC. So, fair warning there. I think the ideal scenario is to try out the base game and see if you enjoy it, go from there. It was like 2 bucks during the most recent Steam Summer Sale, (as of the time of this writing), so definitely grab it on sale. I'd expect this game to be actively supported for at least another six to ten years. They still have all of the East Coast to add to the game, and it's already been out for like eight years. Which is a net positive for gamers despite the quantity of DLC, since this is a game that will live on for a long long time. And it also makes it a convenient game to play, forget about, then come back to again later. Rinse and repeat.
This is one of the very first games I played on my Steam Deck and it handled immaculately. I'm currently playing on my desktop with an Xbox X controller, and it is also handling immaculately there. I can't think of any instances where I encountered any actual bugs.
All told, this is definitely a game worthy of a look. It's pretty relaxing, has that one more run type of vibe, is easy to pick up and play, and will possibly be dev supported longer than your lifespan. But...buy it on sale at this point, and the same should be said for the DLC. Buy on sale.
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---{ Graphics }---
☐ You forget what reality is
☐ Beautiful
☑ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Don‘t look too long at it
☐ MS-DOS
---{ Gameplay }---
☐ Very good
☑ Good
☐ It's just gameplay
☐ Mehh
☐ Watch paint dry instead
☐ Just don't
---{ Audio }---
☐ Eargasm
☐ Very good
☑ Good
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ I'm now deaf
---{ Audience }---
☐ Kids
☑ Teens
☑ Adults
☑ Grandma
---{ PC Requirements }---
☐ Check if you can run paint
☑ Potato
☐ Decent
☐ Fast
☐ Rich boi
☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer
---{ Game Size }---
☐ Floppy Disk
☐ Old Fashioned
☑ Workable
☐ Big
☐ Will eat 15% of your 1TB hard drive
☐ You will want an entire hard drive to hold it
☐ You will need to invest in a black hole to hold all the data
---{ Difficulty }---
☐ Just press 'W'
☐ Easy
☑ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☐ Significant brain usage
☐ Difficult
☐ Dark Souls
---{ Grind }---
☐ Nothing to grind
☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
☐ Isn't necessary to progress
☐ Average grind level
☑ Too much grind
☐ You'll need a second life for grinding
---{ Story }---
☑ No Story
☐ Some lore
☐ Average
☐ Good
☐ Lovely
☐ It'll replace your life
---{ Game Time }---
☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☐ Short
☐ Average
☐ Long
☑ To infinity and beyond
---{ Price }---
☐ It's free!
☑ Worth the price
☐ If it's on sale
☐ If u have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money
---{ Bugs }---
☐ Never heard of
☑ Minor bugs
☐ Can get annoying
☐ ARK: Survival Evolved
☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs
---{ ? / 10 }---
---{ = w/ mods}---
☐ 1
☐ 2
☐ 3
☐ 4
☐ 5
☐ 6
☑ 7
☑ 8
☐ 9
☐ 10

I've been on and off with this game. Can be very fun at times but also extremely boring. What's neat is this game features fatigue simulation, which is entirely unnecessary since you will personally be experiencing fatigue in real time. My advice, turn it off. 10/10 would recommend if you suffer from insomnia.