Snow Sheltie

The bigger challenge I get is the generic Walbert distribution centers and backing into those loading docks to pick up a load or getting into any of the generic Eddy's grocery stores. The only other time I can recall having a real rough time getting into a spot was at the Plaster & Sons construction yard near Los Angeles right off of I-5. That was not a case of backing up issues but turning around problems. I didn't have space to turn around in the yard with a sleeper and 53' flatbed and I had to pull some stupid manuevers to manipulate the trailer to avoid hitting a concrete barrier and a few parked trailers in the yard. I'll give you an insight into backing up based on my own real world experience. The biggest mistake I see drivers make when backing up is not pulling forward enough so the trailer can turn into the targeted parking spot on its own. If you stop in an open lot, turn the truck slightly in either direction, then keep moving the truck backwards in a straight line, the trailer will slowly turn sharper and sharper granting you make no extra manuevers with the tractor. Ideally you want the trailer to do most of the turning on its own with the tractor either following the trailer in or making minor adjustments when needed. Other notes When watching the tandems (trailer wheels,) you should be backing up slow enough to see where those wheels are going to end up and making adjustments as needed (I see ETS players trying to reverse at mach 10 and constantly failing even the most basic backing manuevers, slow it down!) The longer the unit, the more space you need for any adjustments to work. If you have a 72' long unit (sleeper + 53 foot trailer) the trailer, in general, will move about 10 feet before any steering adjustments you make will start working. You may need to pull forward 10 feet or farther if you realize you need to make an adjustment in a tight space. Shorter trailers need less distance to fix backing errors. It's also worth noting you need to recognize when you're placing yourself in a bad spot and you need to pull all the way forward and try again from the start. Honestly, that initial setup before backing up is far more important than people realize. If you're trying to back a double or triple, then you drove somewhere you're not supposed to be. If a sleeper and a 53' trailer is too much, get a daycab and/or a smaller trailer, they're far more forgiving for mistakes, then switch back to that sleeper when you want the greater challenge.

So you're trying to tell me that a 50% sale of $250 is cheaper and therefore complete justified spending? Are you even listening to how ascinine this sounds? The implication I am presenting here is that as this game is developed, the expansion sales per state will help pay the bills for SCS but at the same time it will reach a point where a new player may look at this, notice the price tag and just think "nah" If the standard (not sale) price of state expansions drops as time progress then there would be some sense in the madness but at the same time I still see 10+ year old games on steam being sold at near or full sale price compared to their original launch price tag so I also have little hope for that.

Man, I wished you all could've picked one of the reworked california areas as a start or finish since there's proper truck stops in those places players can group up in.

State expansion packs for American Truck Simulator currently cost roughly $12 per state. Out of the forty-eight lower states, three states are included in the base game. Given that the price of states averages to that $12 range (and given that no older expansions are gradually added to the base game), the game will end up costing roughly $540 to drive around the continental United States. It's nowhere near the $8,000 price tag in DLC another infamous game has, but it's gonna be ranked up there as an expensive project.

I honestly wonder what would happen to server population if that C-D road was ever removed entirely. Thus far, what I've seen I like. It seems that anywhere from a quarter to a third of the server at any given time does nothing but run laps on that section until they get kicked or banned for wreckless behavior. I also avoid that section of road because it's such a minefield and I play the game to just have a nice trip, not be watching every other driver with paranoia and fully expecting each one of them to suddenly turn into my truck because, well, reasons. This doesn't explain ETS's popularity, given much of the base game is in a similarly bland state. Where ETS does beat ATS is in the official customization options, especially with the truck and trailer packs. Yes you could install player-made addons or edit files but file editing is fidgity at best and workshop addons aren't supported in this multiplayer mod. I know some drivers just like to show off their trucks and/or trailers. Lots of latinos as well. There's a spanish-speaking convoy that frequents ATS and I've driven alongside them a couple times.

Wait, there was a rebuild of that road? I haven't been on it in ages, can't stand all the boneheaded steering wheel holders that treat that section of road like Need for Speed Most Wanted (Truckers edition, of course).

Never been a fan of trucks with the frankenstein forehead look. And since one cannot drive American trucks in this multiplayer mod, I gotta settle for other trucks. Been particular to the Mercedes Actros (new) mostly because it's pretty much the closest thing I'll get to a Freightliner in this game.

The traffic jams at those gas stations are usually caused by the following; Too many players attempting to enter the gas station at the same time, or one or more impatient players pulling a bambi and driving out right in front of other drivers (because why should deer have all the fun?) causing either a massive slowdown or a crash, a driver on the main road slowing to a dead stop to try to let somebody in the gas station on the main road, causing a massive slowdown and/or crash in the process (STOP DOING THIS!) or a combination of all of the above. It's also worth noting the speed limit in both of those gas station areas is 50 km/h, so slowing down would be appropriate if you're intent on obeying the speed limit at all times. In all my years of playing this mod, I cannot recall one time where someone said they're reporting me for following the speed limit, or even driving too slow.

Wait, was the car driving in the opposite direction or traveling in the same direction?

I can tell which people fully read my OP and who read the first ten words and stopped thinking after that. The ones who only respond only about speeding fit into that category. The ones looking further and noticing how I took the first paragraph and tied it into the "gamer racer" mentality, are far fewer in number. I will tell you the same thing I tell everyone else. There is a 4-lane freeway you can use to get between Calais and Duisburg. You can use that if you want to speed to your heart's content without going to singleplayer or the arcade server. If you're not going to use that road and are willingly wanting to travel down a narrow, busy, two-lane highway, you WILL have to deal with drivers going slow for whatever number of reasons they have (law-abiders, heavy loads, some other idiot causing a wreck up ahead, or somebody else just being a bonehead trucker and causing a traffic jam). You made your bed, now you get to sleep in it. This is sadly true.

It's not the speeding in and of itself that turns into the issue, it's the speeding combined with the "gotta go fast" attitude resulting in so many players not only traveling at high speeds but then perform other dangerous manuevers in tandem. Things like completely disregarding traffic control signals or signs, cutting turns at intersections resulting in collisions with poles, walls, or other players, dangerous and outright idiotic overtakes in order to try to keep their speed at max, and other poor driving decisions that, when combined with high speeds, spells certain disaster. I personally can't recall running into players with the same poor attitude in ATS as I see in ETS with the only exception being the Las Vegas truck stop, at least since ATS' popularity tanked into ghost town levels. The vast majority of players I run across are friendly and know how to drive their trucks and although they will go fast as well, they don't do it with the race driver mentality. ATS is definitely a different beast that punishes you a lot harder for stupid driving manuevers when you get off the Interstates if you go with the "I must have fastest, biggest truck and longest trailer" syndrome, which probably helps keep some of the race car players away.

This has been an ineresting conversation I've had with several random players when it comes to speed. I tend to stick at or within 5 km/h of the posted speed limit. Almost every player I come across seem hell-bent on driving as fast as they possibly can (and I'd guarentee you they'd be attempting 200 if the game would let them). The few times I've actually conversed with players over the topic, they are always perplexed that I would be driving the speed limit in the first place and a couple of them stated their goal in game was to get to their destination as fast as possible, almost like they're playing a racing game. Playing a racing game; this would explain much of the wreckless behavior seen out of so many players in ETS. Instead of trying to enjoy the ride or up the ante by decreasing truck/trailer stability for the challenge, they simply want to race around the map as fast as possible. This is my personal observasion and opinions, if you think otherwise or have other reasons as to why people drive like they live in Chicago, let me know.

Somewhere along the line it inexplicity became popular like how the port out of Rotterdam used to be abnormally busy. I'm almost willing to bet money that anywhere from a quarter to a third of the server at any one time is on that two-lane highway for one reason; They want to see how many laps they can race before being banned for wreckless driving. Whenever I get someone saying they don't play ATS because there's no C-D equivalent, I quietly tell myself "Good, stay away." Then you got the folks who have this psychotic desire to be in a traffic jam. Having to drive an 18-wheeler often through the I-80/90 section through Gary/Chicagoland on a regular basis (and anyone who's driven there will know exactly what I'm talking about), I can only fathom these are people who are too bored with life and are going out of their way to create unnecessary drama and stress for themselves. I did have an admin tailing me through that road before. I guess I was a model driver since I never got kicked but boy did I see a lot of other people around me getting kicked and/or banned very quickly for bonehead moves. Now THAT was entertaining.

I am compelled to answer to this one because it is such a bloody outdated and outright lie. ETS currently has 18 trucks in the base game ATS currently has 12 trucks in the base game You are basing this information of yours on outdated information because you never touched ATS after the game's initial launch. 18 and 12 do not make 3.

It has been in my observation, particularly over the last five years or so, that driving habits of the general motoring public in the United States have declined to such a degree that it throws me off balance whenever I do come across somebody who is properly obeying traffic laws. Various traffic violations I see commonly occuring includes the following; Speeding - Even truck drivers are often speeding excessively down the road and often for little meaninful gains in travel time. Tailgating - This plus speeding being a huge factor for rear-end collisions. So many drivers do not give each other space to react to things going on in front of them. I don't know if this is because drivers act ridiculously competitive or if what I heard about the majority of drivers having really poor deph perception when it comes to tracking cars in front of them is true (if the latter is true, then I may as well start calling drivers deer) but this one i'm convinced is the core reason why there's so many traffic jams at every major interchange on the freeway. Running Stop Signs - I can only recall one day over the last two years where I was in a town where people actually came to a full stop at a stop sign before proceeding. I've also had multiple people nearly rear-end me because I come to a complete stop at a stop sign. Running Stop Lights - This one's been becoming really bad over the last year which is drivers electing to run an amber light turning red to the point where the traffic light is solid red by the time they enter the intersection. Unless traffic conditions are poor (snow, rain, etc) where braking safely isn't feasable, there are very few instances where these drivers should be running a red light. Short-cutting Left Hand Turns - Not sure what else to call this behavior I've been watching more and more which are drivers who will cut across an intersection at forty-five degree angles to the point where drivers will frequently end up briefly crossing the center line into opposing traffic or (in the evet traffic is stopped at the intersection) take a sharp angled turn to finish passing through the intersection. I've had a couple incidents of drivers having to turn to the right to avoid a head-on collision because they were taking a left-hand turn so poorly. Meanwhile I had one idiot behind me somehow take the turn so badly while I was taking the turn properly he nearly t-boned me. I would've loved to see an officer's narrative on that accident report. Distracted Driving - So many of you are hooked to your phones now that if a law enforcement officer was to ride in my truck, he'd be able to see and ticket dozens of drivers a day I see mucking about with their phone as they're driving a potential death machine down the highway. I do get to witness other bad driving behaviors including one idiot who almost struck the left side of my truck because she wanted to drive on the shoulder due to a traffic jam (typical Chicgaoland idiocy) and only stopped her course of action when I blew the air horn to warn her to stop but these are the ones I've personally observed occuring more frequently over the years compared to others. I throw the question to you: Have you noticed any driving habits that have gotten worse in your area? Maybe something that's gotten considerably better? Honestly, the bad driving behavior I see in ETSMP seems quite fitting to what I see on a weekly basis though taken up from a 10 to an 11 and it's probably why I don't end up getting bothered by it as much as other players.