History VideoGame / AmericanTruckSimulator

Sister game to ''VideoGame/EuroTruckSimulator'', [-[[RecycledInSpace IN AMERICA!]]-]

** Much like ''Euro'', you can use an H-Shifter setup even though the default trucks only have automated manuals (like the Eaton Ultrashift or MACK [=mDrive=]) or Allison torque automatics. In reality, 10/13/18 speed automated Eaton transmissions are derived from Fuller manual transmissions. Further bonus point for the Fuller Advantage transmissions, which exist in both manual and automated versionsin real life.

** Much like ''Euro'', you can use an H-Shifter setup even though the default trucks only have automated manuals (like the Eaton Ultrashift or MACK [=mDrive=]) or Allison torque automatics. In reality, 10/13/18 speed automated Eaton transmissions are derived from Fuller manual transmissions.

** Much like ''Euro'', you can use an H-Shifter setup even though the default trucks only have automated manuals (like the Eaton Ultrashift or MACK [=mDrive=]) or Allison torque automatics.

* WhatthehellPlayer?: The game will scold you if you try to cancel the introductory job.

*** Same with ''Discover Ontario'', but with [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin the province of Ontario]].

!Tropes present in the game include:

** Like ''Euro'', the map is scaled at 1:20 to avoid ''[[VideoGame/PennAndTellersSmokeAndMirrors Desert Bus]]''-esque gameplay. A 1,500 mile haul can generally be done in under three real life hours.

* AmericanKirbyIsHardcore: ''Euro[='=]''s menu music is mostly smooth guitar solos and keyboards. ''American[='=]''s menu music, to the contrary, is mostly blues and hard rock, and the atmosphere in general is more aligned with the BadassDriver with a BigBadassRig trope.

** AI vehicles may mystifyingly stop in the middle of an Interstate highway, or may fail to merge or diverge properly. This can be disastrous.
** AI seem to be having trouble with weave lanes that precede weigh stations, cars will stop in that lane.
** As of 1.39, AI are getting more accidents due to poor merges.

** Even after the rescale, there are a few places where there simply isn't the space for certain roads. One of the most obvious examples is the I-205 that travels through Portland and Vancouver. In real-life, the I-205 continues northbound before reconnecting with the I-5; in-game, that connection is crowded out by other junctions; truckers instead must drive through Vancouver on the WA-14 to reach the I-5.

** Thankfully, mods exist that replace these fake names with their real life counterparts. Though some of the fake names are so clever that they take on a bit of a clever charm to them.
** The farm equipment were originally in copyright-risking colors before being changed in later patches such as the "1199 Field Tractor"'s yellow-on-green or the "CASA 800 Fourtrack"' red color.
* BrandX: The Washington DLC introduces "Darwing" as a substitute of Boeing, complete with an accurate replica of their Everett factory.

* DrivingStick: Much like in ''Euro'', most trucks start with a 10-Speed Eaton Ultrashift automated manual. The choices for controlling your gears are similar and you can get really advanced with an H-Shifter emulating the positions on an Eaton-Fuller conventional manual (The 18 Speed is eight gears across two ranges with a Low-High split with two crawler gears). Also like ''Euro'', you can opt for a late-game Allison automatic transmission with a torque convertor, though the 6-speed variant featured in both games is now joined by a 7-speed and 10-speed variants.

** International and Western Star trucks were added later in 2020, and now the Freightliner Cascadia is on the way. This would mean most of the major truck manufacturers in North America are present, similarly to Euro Truck Simulator.

** ''Coast to Coast'' features most of the entire interstate highway system, most state capitals and many major cities, though the most detailed parts of the mod are in the southeastern states.
** ''Midwest Expansion'' adds [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin further roads and cities to the Midwestern states]] featured in ''Coast to Coast'', including a realistically recreated Lawrence, Kansas area and Illinois Highway 1 corridor and well-detailed renditions of several southern Michigan cities and highways and northwestern Ohio. A late 2022 update even added an (at the time, though it was depicted as complete in the mod) under construction diverging diamond interchange on Interstate 94 in Jackson, Michigan -- [[https://www.mlive.com/news/jackson/2022/11/the-new-diverging-diamond-interchange-is-open-at-i-94-us-127-heres-how-to-navigate-it.html whose real life counterpart opened just days after the aforementioned update was released]].

** ''Viva México'' and ''[=MexSSImap=]'' (both now merged into the larger ''Reforma'' mod) feature the states of Baja California Norte and Sur, Sonora, Sinaloa, Durango, Zacatecas, Aguascalientes, Nayarit and part of Jalisco, an absolutely beautiful Baja California peninsula, a carefully recreated Puerto Vallarta and Mazatlán, Mexican-styled overpasses and road signs, Federal Police and Mexican Army checkpoints instead of weight scales, clandestine fuel stations that sell cheap stolen diesel, some of the InvisibleWall [=Xs=] are accompanied with narco-blockades, and an early 2019 update even added [[https://www.milenio.com/negocios/ya-son-130-gasolineras-cerradas-en-el-valle-de-toluca angry crowds at fuel stations due to a widespread fuel shortage that gripped large parts of the country during the first few months of 2019]].

* MultiTrackDrifting: Surprisingly so. You won't be able to actually ''turn'' at high speeds, but these ten-ton semis can certainly change lanes like a hot rod without slowing down by more than a couple MPH, even when barreling down the interstate at just under twice the speed limit[[note]]the California highway speed limit for semis is 55 MPH, and stock trucks can get up to around 100 with the right engine/transmission setup[[/note]] while towing a pair of fully-loaded twin-axle box trailers (or one fully-loaded Lowboy 55L).
* NoOSHACompliance: Mostly averted; for example, the Gallon refineries have fire monitors (water cannons) around the property. Bridges and overpasses have railings. Some treacherous sections of highway do lack warning signs or safety features. Truck drivers have to follow DOT requirements such as required rest periods.

* RandomEvent: Like ''Euro'', the game features dynamic events that populate the roads, ranging from broken down vehicles and police stops to construction work that act as a bottleneck for the flow of traffic. Texas introduces 'dynamic depots' that are randomly placed every time you open the game, which currently take the form of road maintenance works that you can actually deliver cargo to.
* RealityIsUnrealistic: Several players complained that the GPS on trucks gave the speed limit as 55 MPH, when the posted speed limit was different. However, in some U.S. states (such as California, included in the game), there are laws that require truckers to drive at 55 MPH on the highways, even if the speed limit that is posted on roadside signs are higher. This is also a holdover from ''VideoGame/EuroTruckSimulator'', wherein some of the countries you drive through have truck speed limits that are slower than the car speed limit, and in both games, by default, both the in-truck navigation unit and the route adviser will display the truck speed limit, with an option to have your GPS show the car speed limit. It is not advisable to use this though while driving in states that have a seperate truck speed limit though, since you risk running into lots of speeding tickets.

** In response to the May 2017 Big Sur Landslide, which blocked part of California's Coastal Highway, the same stretch of road was closed in-game, requiring players to take a detour. A June 2018 community event required players to deliver cargo to and from the landslide in anticipation of the road's real life reopening, and it reopened proper in mid-July just like its real world counterpart.

** Like ''Euro'', the map is scaled at 1:20 to avoid ''[[VideoGame/PennAndTellersSmokeAndMirrors Desert Bus]]''-esque gameplay. A 1,500 mile haul can generally be done in under three real life hours.

* TimedMission: All of the deliveries in the game have a time limit. Freight Market/Quick Job time limits are based on the internal game clock, whilst External Contracts (World of Trucks) are based on real time. For a financial and experience bonus, you can take urgent Freight Market/Quick Job loads that will leave you with very little in-game time to spare. If you play with fatigue turned off then urgent, long distance deliveries are a lot more forgiving as they take into account the hours you would need to spend resting.

* WorkInfoTitle: The game has its genre in its title.

* ProductPlacement: Update 1.47 introduces the experimental feature of having real-world advertisements on some of the in-game billboards. These had been previously used to promote new DLC and major updates for the game, with the billboards now including a promotion for logistics company Schneider National's recruitment and CDL training programs.

** Viewing Texas in the map editor reveals [[https://forum.scssoft.com/viewtopic.php?p=1762946#p1762946 incomplete road networks for the cities of Sherman, Paris, and Texarkana.]] The former two cities have been confirmed for addition in a later update, though Texarkana's status is currently unknown. Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua is also visible in the distance from El Paso, TX.

* EasterEgg: A hidden road in Oklahoma takes you to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prague,_Oklahoma Prague]], a nod to SCS Software being based in the real one.