Euro Truck Simulator/American Truck Simulator
Topic 15066 | Page 1
I'm not a trucker yet, but in my off time I'll be playing America Truck Stimulator.
I've been interested in getting started with it, but I don't fully understand... Is it a computer game, or PS/x box ? ANY information would be appreciated !
It's a computer game, dont think they have it for PS, not sure though.
It's cool in that you start out as a driver for hire, you choose loads and deliver and eventually when you either make enough money or want to take a loan to start your own business, you can buy your own truck and start working for yourself. As you make more money, you can eventually buy more trucks and hire employees to work for you. You run various types of loads, from dry van to chemical tankers and various flatbed items. You pick your dispatch and go find the trailer, back up to it, and hook it up, then drive it to the receiver, then if you want you can back it into the spot they have marked, or you can use the auto drop feature.
There is fatigue, speed limits, fuel usage and the graphics are pretty good. You get to travel the countryside, and obviously, it's not full scale, but depending on the length of the run, it could take you anywhere from 5 minutes to 20 minutes or so to make a run.
Cool thing about it is, it gives you some pretty challenging backing situations, but, it is a game, so it's not going to accurately simulate driving a truck, it's just something to do for fun.
It is, in it's natural form, a single player game, and does have AI traffic, which is a pain in the butt, because it's like it never ends when you are at a stop sign waiting to turn. In the euro truck simulator, someone made a mod that you can run that turns it into multiplayer, and you can see other actual drivers, but, when you run in this mode, it turns off the AI traffic, so, while it's cool to see other actual drivers on the road, you really don't see too many other trucks on the road. Also, there's the chance for griefing.
Funny story. I went to pick up a load at a shipper , and while I was on their lot, two trucks pulled up to the exit gate and blocked it. When I would pull up to the gate, they'd pull their trucks together to block the gate. When I'd back up, they'd back up to open the exit. We did this about 2 or 3 times, when I finally just got a good run and just ran through them to get out lol. Kind of annoying back when it happened, but looking back at it now, it's kind of funny.
Anyway, it's a fun game.
Shipper:
The customer who is shipping the freight. This is where the driver will pick up a load and then deliver it to the receiver or consignee.
Dry Van:
A trailer or truck that that requires no special attention, such as refrigeration, that hauls regular palletted, boxed, or floor-loaded freight. The most common type of trailer in trucking.OOS:
When a violation by either a driver or company is confirmed, an out-of-service order removes either the driver or the vehicle from the roadway until the violation is corrected.
I bought this game a few days ago (American T.S.), it isn't on consoles unfortunately. Thought i'd try practicing the backing principles and mechanics before I drop the money to go to school at the start of next year.
It is definitely fun, and so far incredibly frustrating. I'm forcing myself to stay in cab view, and be fully stopped if I pop into external view for a G.O.A.L., but it's so difficult to see all the way back to the end of the trailer that I can never really tell where the tandems are, and thus when I should start turning. Even when I get the initial back into generally the right area, straightening the tractor back to the trailer always throws the trailer completely off and I have to start all over again, heh. I don't think i've achieved even the easiest parking situation in under half an hour yet!
I've read thousands of posts about tips for backing, and I haven't yet found any one "way of thinking" about it that's clicked for me. It's almost got me thinking whether i'll even be able to get my class A in a real truck. Oh well, gotta keep practicing!
P.S. Shout out to Brett and this incredible website. I don't think i've ever come across a more informative place or such a friendly internet community before, and as a lurker up 'til now I can't even describe how helpful it's been so far. I've almost memorized the CDL manual thanks to T.T. Pre-trip is another story but i'll get to that... =)
CDL:
Commercial Driver's License (CDL)
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:
- Any combination of vehicles with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 or more pounds, providing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing another not in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any vehicle, regardless of size, designed to transport 16 or more persons, including the driver.
- Any vehicle required by federal regulations to be placarded while transporting hazardous materials.
Tandems:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
Tandem:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
I haven't trained it yet but I have heard good things.
And you can drive Lazarus, Allie Knight's Peterbuilt. Worth the $$ fo that right there...
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Lol, just wondering, has anyone tried either of these? I have both of them and find them to be pretty fun, granted, i'm not yet an actual OTR driver. Just thought it would be kind of ironic..and funny if we had drivers who, on their off time, drove for fun
OTR:
Over The Road
OTR driving normally means you'll be hauling freight to various customers throughout your company's hauling region. It often entails being gone from home for two to three weeks at a time.