The latest American Truck Simulator update (1.44) adds in the second phase of the California rework, a mode refund feature, and customization options. There's also unmarked road exploration, a force feedback upgrade, smart sequential shifting, and interior camera horizontal lock. As you can tell, this American Truck Simulator update is pretty big, so let's get into it, shall we?
What's new in the latest American Truck Simulator update?
The biggest addition is by subtraction: San Rafael has been removed from the game due to map scale, with a new one being added into the game in stage 3 of the rework. Given that this is phase 2 of the California Rework, the cities of Eureka, Ukiah, Sacramento, Redding, and Truckee have been rebuilt from the ground up, with local landmarks, architecture, and road networks also being redone. There are also new rest areas and truck stops along with new assets, vegetation, and textures.
There's also a new mod refund feature that allows players to remove third-party modifications that affected their trucks. The new feature recognizes the data from the modification and refunds the difference with in-game currency. This solves the problem of players losing money after removing the modification, which is pretty cool.
There are new icons that will appear when you're customizing the truck or looking at new parts in the garage. They will show what type of accessory they represent. When you hover over them, they'll show that they are classes as:
Factory part: A stock part sold by the manufacturer (including interiors).
Licensed part: Anything that is officially licensed that is not produced by truck factory.
Aftermarket part: Any additional accessory that is not related to the brand.
Unknown part: A part that is not recognised or in some cases, a third party modification.
If players drive onto an unmarked road, they'll now be notified about having done so by their route adviser. The explored road will appear on the map as an orange dashed line, with the unexplored part ahead of you shown in grey. If you fancy yourself an adventurer, now you know which roads you should be exploring.
For those who want more immersion from their games, there's a force feedback upgrade that will give players a more realistic driving experience. This includes:
- New gearbox grind effect simulating vibration of missed gear when using manual shifting.
- New understeer slip effect simulating tyre slip when vehicle is understeering.
- Revisited power steering curves and pressure gain of self centering effect to improve steering feel.
- Revisited internal friction force giving better feedback depending on the speed of steering.
Smart sequential shifting is also now available to truckers, and it can be enabled via options. If you're confused by this, it basically allows players to shift up and down sequentially, and it will automatically shift by more gears at once based on the current torque or speed. Truckers will need to trigger the shifting process for it to work, but once it's triggered it should require less overall work from the driver to operate.
The interior camera horizontal lock allows truckers driving in first person to lock the camera view on the horizon so that it "moves more independently from the position of the cabin." It might not be your cup of tea, but for some, this will undoubtedly be a welcome change, such as adjustable suspension height, which will help drivers hook up problematic trailers. There are also ownable drop deck trailers that combine "the advantages of flatbed and lowboy, which results in a flat surface and a high weight-bearing capacity." If you want to haul aircraft engines, backhoe loaders, and forklifts, you have a new trailer type to play with.
There are also new special transport rules, which are coming as a result of the Special Transport DLC. These 8 contracts go between these cities:
- Lewiston to Sandpoint.
- Burlington to Lamar.
- Salina to Cedar City.
- Omak to Yakima.
- Dalles to Salem.
- Santa Fe to Socorro.
- Cheyenne to Rock Springs.
- Winnemucca to Carson City.
Want to see the latest American Truck Simulator update in action? Check out the changelog video below!
For more information on American Truck Simulator, Euro Truck Simulator, and everything in between, stay tuned to TechRaptor.
