American Truck Simulator: Complete Guide

Everything a new or returning driver needs for American Truck Simulator: first hours, career and money, skills, company building, map DLC, and what's new in update 1.61, the South Dakota DLC and Road Trip.

Researched September 2026 — current as of update 1.61 (released September 15, 2026), the South Dakota DLC (September 24, 2026) and Road Trip: Ford (due September 29, 2026). Live games change; check the linked sources if something differs.

Quick Start

• Start with Quick Jobs. They give you a truck and trailer and pay for fuel, tolls and repairs, so you earn XP and money with no risk.
• Take the bank loan early. Most players borrow as soon as they can afford a garage and a starter truck. Your own truck (Freight Market) pays much more than Quick Jobs.
• Your first skill points pick your career. Long Distance and ADR (hazardous cargo) open the best-paying loads fastest.
• Obey the rules. Speeding cameras, red lights, missing headlights at night and collisions all cost money. Police in ATS will fine you.
• Stop at open weigh stations. Overweight checks are part of the sim.
• Sleep when the fatigue icon appears. Rest stops, truck stops and your own garage all work. Driving tired blurs your vision and can get you fined.
• Explore as you drive. Discovering roads, cities and viewpoints counts toward achievements. Update 1.61 added Proximity Exploration so you don't have to drive every tiny road segment to reveal it.
• Set up your controls first. Pick keyboard, gamepad or wheel in the first-run setup. Simple automatic transmission is fine to start.

How the Career Works

Job type | Who owns the truck | Who owns the trailer | Pay | Costs you pay

Quick Job | Company provides it | Company | Low | None (fuel, tolls, damage covered)

Freight Market | You | Company | Medium to high | Fuel, repairs, tolls, fines

Cargo Market | You | You (owned trailer) | High (you keep the trailer share) | Fuel, repairs, trailer upkeep

External Contracts (World of Trucks) | You | Varies | Good | Requires a World of Trucks account

The usual path:

• A few Quick Jobs to reach the first skill points.
• Take the loan, buy a small garage in a central city and a mid-range truck.
• Run Freight Market jobs that match your skills.
• Hire drivers, buy more trucks, and upgrade garages to hold more.
• Buy trailers for the Cargo Market once you have spare cash.

Skills (Spend Points Wisely)

You get a skill point each time you level up. The skill tree:

Skill | What it unlocks | Priority

ADR (Hazardous cargo) | Explosives, flammables, gases, toxic and corrosive loads, class by class | High, since hazmat pays well

Long Distance | Longer routes with higher total pay | High

High Value Cargo | Expensive loads | Medium

Fragile Cargo | Glass, electronics and similar | Medium

Just-In-Time Delivery | Urgent jobs with tight deadlines and a big bonus | Medium to late

Eco Driving | Better fuel economy | Low to medium

Common opener: one or two points into Long Distance and ADR, then fill the rest to taste. Delivery XP rises with distance and difficulty, so long hazmat hauls level you fastest.

Money and Company Building

• Garages: buy in cities with lots of depots. A central garage means less empty "deadhead" driving for your hired drivers. Upgrade small garages so they hold more trucks and drivers.
• Hired drivers: hire through the recruitment agency. Drivers improve over time. Put your best trucks with your best drivers.
• Loans: pay them off once your profits are steady. Big loans have big daily payments.
• Relocating: you can move trucks and drivers between garages. Base them where the jobs cluster.
• Resale: you lose money selling trucks, so buy the truck you actually want rather than climbing one step at a time.

Truck Buying Basics

ATS licenses real American brands: Peterbilt, Kenworth, Freightliner, Volvo, Mack, International, Western Star and more, sold at their dealers across the map.

What to look at | Why

Engine horsepower | Mountain grades (Rockies, Sierra Nevada) punish weak engines with heavy loads

Transmission | More gears keep you in the power band. Automatic is fine to start

Retarder / engine brake | Lets you hold speed on descents without cooking your brakes

Chassis (6x4 etc.) | Heavier chassis for heavy haul work

Fuel tank | Bigger tanks mean fewer stops in empty desert states

Update 1.61 improved interior materials and lighting for the International LT and LoneStar, so they look much better at night.

Controls Cheat Sheet (Defaults, Rebindable)

Action | Default key

Throttle / brake / steer | W / S / A, D (or wheel/pedals)

Start/stop engine | E

Parking brake | Space

Attach/detach trailer | T

Headlights | L

Cruise control | C

Engine brake | B

Hazard lights | F

Wipers | P

Horn | H

World map | M

Truck adjustment (seat/mirrors) | F4

Cameras | 1–8

These are the long-standing keyboard defaults; layouts can differ by region and control preset, so check Options > Keys & Buttons if something doesn't match. Wheel users should also set the wheel's rotation and force feedback in the controller settings.

Driving Well (and Cheaply)

• Plan descents. Use the engine brake or retarder on long downhill grades and keep speed down before the curve, not in it.
• Swing wide on turns. Long 53 ft trailers cut corners. Go deeper into the intersection before you turn.
• Reverse parking pays XP. Hard parking spots give bonus XP, while easy parking or skipping parking gives less. Use the top-down or trailer camera.
• Mind the clock. Late deliveries lose pay, and Just-In-Time jobs are especially strict. The route advisor's ETA includes a rough sleep estimate.
• Refuel at truck stops. Diesel prices vary by state and station. In the empty desert and plains states, don't gamble on your range.
• Weather and night: slow down in rain, turn lights on at dusk, and watch for animals on rural roads.

Map and DLC

The base game covers California, Nevada and Arizona. Every other state is a separate map DLC, and SCS has been adding them steadily across the western and central US.

New this month:

Release | Date | Highlights

South Dakota DLC | September 24, 2026 | 13 cities (incl. Sioux Falls, Rapid City, Pierre), 21 towns and settlements (Hot Springs, Wall, Sturgis), about 680 miles of roads, 10 custom depots, landmarks incl. Mount Rushmore, the Corn Palace and Dignity of Earth and Sky, the Black Hills and the Badlands. Connects to Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska and Iowa

Road Trip: Ford | September 29, 2026 | Drive cars instead of trucks: 1967 Mustang Fastback, 2023 F-150, 2023 Bronco, Crown Victoria. Courier Quick Jobs, car customization and the new Atlas landmark system

Indiana DLC | In development | SCS published its research trip in September 2026. No release date yet

World of Trucks event: "Cruising South Dakota" started September 24, 2026. Haul cargo to or from any South Dakota city to add to a community goal of 150,000,000 miles. Event rewards need a linked World of Trucks account.

Buying tip: map DLC connected to where you already drive makes the best freight network. Iconic scenic states like Colorado, Montana and Wyoming are popular picks for mountain driving.

Update 1.61 (September 15, 2026)

• Proximity Exploration: optional. It reveals a small area around your vehicle as you drive, plus nearby roads around rest stops, toll gates, border crossings and gas stations, which helps with 100% map discovery. Secret roads still need to be found by hand, and only their first segment gets revealed.
• Improved material system for the International LT and LoneStar interiors.
• New cargoes: Seed Containers, Trailers and Truss. Rails cargo got new models.
• Road Trip prep: inactive Tourist Boards in California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and South Dakota, plus new gas stations around the map.
• The Multi-Function Display (MFD) and new in-game menu tested in the 1.61 experimental beta were held back for a future update.

Road Trip and Mode Switch (What Changes)

SCS is splitting the game into modes: Truck Mode, Car Mode (Road Trip) and Coach Mode (the Coaches DLC is for ETS2):

• Separate progression: Car Mode uses reputation instead of XP.
• Shared money and map exploration across modes. Roads you discover in a car stay discovered in your truck.
• Car Quick Jobs: you get a company car, and expenses are covered. You deliver packages and documents or move vehicles between dealerships. Customers rate you on Time Management, Vehicle Appearance and Cargo Handling.
• Truckers who never want to leave the rig don't have to. Road Trip is optional.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Buying the cheapest truck and upgrading repeatedly. Resale loses money. Save a bit longer and buy the rig you want.
• Placing your first garage in the middle of nowhere. Central hubs with lots of depots mean more and better jobs.
• Ignoring fatigue. Pushing past the sleep warning risks fines and dangerous micro-sleeps.
• Running red lights and speeding in towns. Fines add up fast, especially early.
• Skipping the engine brake on grades. Overheated brakes plus a heavy trailer is how rigs end up in canyons.
• Picking every hazmat class at once. Spread points so you also unlock Long Distance and High Value work.
• Mixing mods after big updates. Mods can break after each major version (like 1.61). Update or disable them before loading your main profile.

Advanced Tips

• Cargo Market with owned trailers pays best once you have trailers that suit the high-value loads near your garages.
• Fleet placement: check each garage's profit report. Move drivers from weak hubs to strong ones.
• Realistic settings: try hard parking, realistic fuel consumption, and the air brake simulation options if you want more challenge. They're all under gameplay settings.
• Photo Mode and the Atlas: Road Trip's Atlas makes landmark hunting a goal in its own right. Combine it with Proximity Exploration for completionist runs.
• Convoy: the official Convoy multiplayer mode lets you drive with friends. Everyone needs the map DLC for the areas you visit.
• Open betas: SCS runs open betas on Steam (Properties > Betas) before each major update. Great for early features, bad for heavily modded profiles.

FAQ

What's the current version of ATS? 1.61, released September 15, 2026.

Which DLC should I buy first? A map DLC next to the base states that fits the driving you like: mountains, desert or plains. The newest is South Dakota (September 24, 2026).

When does Road Trip release? Road Trip: Ford releases September 29, 2026.

Does Road Trip replace trucking? No. It adds a separate Car Mode. Money and map exploration are shared, while progression (reputation vs XP) is separate.

How do I make money fast? Take the loan, buy a truck, pick Long Distance and ADR skills, run long hazmat Freight Market jobs, then build a fleet of hired drivers.

Can I play multiplayer? Yes, with the built-in Convoy mode.

Why did I get fined? Usually speeding, a red light, a collision, driving without lights at night, or skipping an open weigh station. The fine notification tells you which.

Sources

• American Truck Simulator on Steam (store and announcements)
• SCS Blog — ATS 1.61 Update Release
• SCS Blog — South Dakota DLC Release
• SCS Blog — Road Trip: Ford Release Date
• SCS Blog — Coaches & Road Trip: Mode Switch
• SCS Blog — Indiana Research Trip