Tuesday, July 8, 2025

Cruising Iowa World of Trucks Event

Join us on Thursday, the 10th of July, to celebrate the release of our new Iowa DLC, by taking part in our World of Trucks event - Cruising Iowa! Get ready for an unforgettable ride through the heart of the Midwest and explore the rural beauty of the Hawkeye State, while on the job.

We're calling on our #BestCommunityEver to achieve the goal of driving 125,000,000 miles (201,168,000 km) while delivering cargo to or from any city in Iowa.

While #CruisingIowa, you'll enjoy losing yourself in beautiful scenic farms and crop fields. But don't forget to also visit Iowa's biggest cities Des Moines, Cedar Rapids or Davenport - especially at night, when the city lights create a magical atmosphere as you drive across its iconic bridges.

The Hawkeye State is well known for its agricultural wealth and stands at the top in production, especially of corn, hogs, eggs, and ethanol. As you contribute to the state's economy by hauling not only farming goods but also machinery, you'll have the chance to explore new agricultural factories, dealerships, and ethanol plants along the way.

While travelling through Iowa, you'll encounter breathtaking views and memorable highlights, including:

  • Burlington, offering riverfront charm and historic streets in beautiful scenery
  • Dubuque Lock & Dam 11, vital to navigation and water control on the Upper Mississippi
  • Cedar Rapids, where innovation meets Midwest charm in the City of Five Seasons
  • Baseball Field, a legendary Iowa ballfield where dreams and nostalgia still echo

As with past cruising events, you can use your own trailer and experience all the fun using the external market!

Explore 12 incredible cities in the Iowa DLC, and unlock a uniquely crafted reward by achieving your personal goal of delivering to or from every one of them. All event jobs need to be 100 miles (161 km) or longer.

Are you ready to hit the road? Join us in #CruisingIowa and let's explore the Hawkeye State's endless prairies, crop fields, unspoiled nature and historic cities.


Rules
 
Using External Contracts or External Market, with a World of Trucks-connected profile in American Truck Simulator, the community goal is to drive 125,000,000 miles (201,168,000 km) while delivering cargoes to or from any city in Iowa.
 
When a player completes a delivery to or from 12 different Iowa cities, they will achieve their personal goal.
 
All jobs for the event need to be at least 100 miles each (161 km), or more.
 
You can check if your recent deliveries met these conditions using your Log Book in your World of Trucks profile.
 
Rewards
  • Personal: Players that deliver cargo to or from 12 Iowa cities will gain a personal World of Trucks Achievement and a Golden Flight ATS truck paint job Steam inventory item.

  • Community: When the community goal of driving 125,000,000 miles (201,168,000 km) during deliveries to or from any city in Iowa is met, and if the player has also achieved their personal goal, then they will receive a Porcelain Wild Rose hanging ornament Steam inventory item.

Note: In order to qualify for any community reward, you must complete at least your personal goal in American Truck Simulator. Each reward will be a Steam inventory item for American Truck Simulator. Once completed, claim your reward in the Events page on your World of Trucks profile.

The event will be concluded on Sunday, the 14th of September at 23:59 UTC

We can't wait to hear about your discoveries as you cruise through the beautiful Hawkeye state! So, please share your screenshots and videos with us using the hashtag #CruisingIowa on our Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and Instagram profiles and we will share our favourite ones (we may even feature some of them in a future blog post!).

Saturday, July 5, 2025

Nordic Horizons: Kristiansund

On the western coast of Norway, you will find the city of Kristiansund. Let's take a look at how our map designers are recreating this beautiful town for the upcoming Nordic Horizons map expansion for Euro Truck Simulator 2!

The landscape of this city is really unique as it is situated on four different islands, which makes it stand out. While it is not one of the largest metropolitan hubs in Scandinavia, with over 24,000 citizens, it has a lot to offer and should not be missed.

Let's start with a bit of trivia. Kristiansund isn't just a feast for the eyes - it's also a hotspot for food lovers. The city's history is deeply tied to the sea, particularly through the production of klippfisk - split, salted cod traditionally dried on coastal rocks. This iconic dish is so important to the region that it has its own museum and even an annual festival in Kristiansund. But the culinary delights don't stop there - the city also boasts some award-winning cheeses, including a blue cheese that's been crowned the best in the world!

Now, back to what you can expect while hauling cargo through the area.  As the city is located on an island, you can get there either from the west through the Atlanterhavstunnelen (Atlantic Ocean Tunnel), which is part of the Norwegian County Road 64, or from the south via the Omsundbrua (Omsund Bridge).

When in Kristiansund, keep an eye out for the Kirkelandet Church, widely regarded as Norway's first truly modern church. Consecrated in 1964, it's often hailed as the country's most daring piece of church architecture. Naturally, our map and asset teams made sure to include this striking structure. The city is also full of colorful houses, typical of Scandinavian architecture.

Regarding industries, there will be a number of depots that truckers can deliver cargo to or from, such as a car dealer, a warehouse, a waste transfer station, and the local airport, also faithfully recreated to represent its real-world counterpart.

If you liked this preview, make sure to add this map expansion to your Steam Wishlist! Stay tuned for more updates from this map expansion by following us on TwitterFacebookInstagramBluesky, and YouTube, or by signing up for our newsletter. Safe travels!

Friday, July 4, 2025

Illinois: Quincy

Nestled along the majestic Mississippi River, the city of Quincy is full of rich history, stunning architecture, vibrant arts, and beautiful nature. Let's see what it looks like in our upcoming Illinois map expansion for American Truck Simulator!

The seat of Adams County is located on the western side of the Prairie State, right on the border with Missouri. Quincy is also called the Gem City, and it's no wonder, as it features beautiful parks, a scenic riverfront, historic neighborhoods with some of the most stunning houses in the country, and a vibrant downtown.

We just couldn't leave out some of those wonderful buildings found in Quincy and decided to make them as landmarks, recreating them to faithfully represent how you can find them in the real world. These include the historic boat club building, the architecturally stunning church in the city center, the local community center, the museum, the marina, and the water treatment facility. As previously mentioned, the town is home to some lovely parks, so our map team has made sure to include Washington Park right in the heart of the city.

And of course, both the Bayview Bridge and the Memorial Bridge which span the Mississippi River and connect the city to Missouri have also been recreated. Near those bridges, you can also come across a sculpture, a small detail breathing in a little more realism into our recreation of Quincy.

Regarding the industries that truckers can find in this city, there will be plenty to choose from when you are looking for a job! You will be able to deliver in and out of a home improvement store, a parking lot construction site, a garden center, a factory producing superstructures for pickup trucks and similar vehicles, and a grain elevator. You'll also come across two other depots, one of them brand new and currently in development, specifically for this map expansion. We won't spoil the surprise just yet, so stay tuned for future blog posts!

If you enjoyed this preview of the Illinois DLC, make sure to add this map expansion to your Steam wishlistRemember to stay tuned for more American Truck Simulator news by following us on TwitterFacebookInstagramBluesky, and YouTubeWe would also really appreciate it if you could sign up for our newsletter. We will see you on the road!

Thursday, July 3, 2025

Euro Truck Simulator 2: 1.55 Update Release

We are excited to share with you that the 1.55 Update for Euro Truck Simulator 2 is now released and available on Steam! Let's take a look at all the features you will encounter in this update.

First of all, we would like to thank everyone in our #BestCommunityEver who took part in the Open Beta phase and helped us by reporting bugs on our forums. It really made it much easier for us to fine-tune the update and make it ready for the full release.

Driving Academy - Truck Driving Proficiency

This new Driving Academy module, called Truck Driving Proficiency, will introduce a set of much more challenging scenarios, which will test even the most skilled drivers to the limit. For this new module and set of scenarios, we will also introduce a new reward system. The most important thing is still to precisely complete a scenario by driving along the designated path and avoiding any collisions.

Players will also be able to achieve up to 3 collectable stars in this module, which can be earned by meeting additional conditions such as only using the interior camera, limiting gear shifts between drive and reverse, or completing the scenario in the set time. To really test your skills, you won't find any pre-recorded video tutorials, and you will have to use all the knowledge we taught you in our first module of Driving Academy.

We've also prepared new, exciting rewards that players can use on the same profile in the base game! As you may know, finishing the first module grants a blue traffic cone cabin accessory and a customizable Driving Academy truck paint job. Completing all Truck Driving Proficiency scenarios unlocks an orange traffic cone accessory, while earning 3 stars in every scenario adds a matching trailer paint job and a golden traffic cone, giving your truck and trailer the full Driving Academy look.

Asynchronous Loading

We have been hard at work implementing a major overhaul in the way our game loads and processes data, a new system we call Asynchronous Loading. This system is designed to improve the loading process by ensuring that the game and loading screens remain uninterrupted while assets are loaded in the background. The primary benefit here is the mitigation of stuttering, resulting in a smoother experience overall.

We'd like to extend a sincere thank you to everyone who shared their feedback during both the Experimental and Open Beta phases. Your input played a key role in helping us refine this system, and we're excited to share that Asynchronous Loading is now fully implemented with the release of the 1.55 update!

FH Tuning Pack DLC Update

The FH Tuning Pack DLC will now be fully compatible with the Volvo FH Series 6 as well, so you'll be able to customize every Volvo FH truck with a wide range of tuning parts. But that's not all, as we are also improving several current components, introducing new customization options, along with paintable parts.

You will be able to pick the front badge plate, rear fender top, front mask, and front grille bottom in chrome, while the decal, windshield frame, front badge plate, rear fender, rear fender top, and more are now paintable!

Custom City Intros for the Vive la France ! DLC

We have reworked all of the in-game intros for every city in France with an ownable garage, both in the base game and the Vive la France ! DLC. A total of 21 cities have received new or updated Custom City Intros.

Mail UX Redesign

The mail screen has been reworked to provide a cleaner layout and a smoother navigation experience. Messages are now displayed in a two-column format, with a scrollable list on the left and an enlarged message view on the right for better readability. Messages load from the top, and when the list gets longer, intuitive paging helps keep things tidy. Navigation has been improved across all input methods, and embedded links or actions can now be accessed directly from the message content.

Options QoL Improvements

In this update, we've added a small but useful quality-of-life improvement to the graphics settings menu. You'll now see example screenshots next to various settings, giving you a better idea of how each option affects the game's visuals.

Whether you're tweaking things for smoother performance or aiming for the best possible look, these previews should make it easier to find the right balance for your setup.

Map Improvements - "My Location" Hotkey

We are adding a "My Location" hotkey as part of our map improvements. When pressed, it instantly centers the game map on the player's current location. We hope you find this small addition useful on the road!

Change of Steam Achievements

Our team is working around the clock on engine updates, many of which are not visible during regular gameplay. Some of these are visible instantly, such as new light systems, but we also need to work on changes that are not normally visible when you play.

Updating the achievement system gives us foundations that will allow us to make different and new types of achievements, as well as manage existing ones that often rely on different DLCs and regions. As a part of that, we have a new system coming out in 1.55.

Along with this new system, some small changes were made to existing achievements and their goals to prepare us for any changes future developments may bring. If you would like to share any feedback about this, you can do so on our forums.

Changelog

Gameplay

  • Driving Academy - Truck Driving Proficiency
  • Map improvements - "My Location" hotkey

Vehicles

  • FH Tuning Pack DLC Update for Volvo FH Series 6

Visual

  • Custom city intros for Vive la France ! DLC
  • Mail UX redesign
  • Options QoL Improvements - Graphics settings visualisation

Other

  • Steam achievements update with text and icon improvements
  • Save manager improvements
  • Asynchronous loading

Remember to stay tuned for more Euro Truck Simulator 2 updates by following us on TwitterFacebookInstagramBluesky, and YouTubeWe would also really appreciate it if you could sign up for our newsletter. Until next time, keep on truckin'.

Wednesday, July 2, 2025

Louisiana: Settlements

On your journey through American Truck Simulator’s upcoming Louisiana DLC, you won’t just be visiting major cities, you’ll also pass through quaint, rural towns full of Southern charm. Today, we’re shining a spotlight on some of these smaller communities you’ll be able to drive through or stop at along the way.


Winnfield

Located in northern Louisiana, Winnfield offers drivers a glimpse of classic Southern town life. Drivers passing through can spot local landmarks such as the Winn Parish Courthouse, a prominent building with traditional brickwork. Nearby, you can also find the town's Post Office and the First Baptist Church, which stands out with its tall and modern freestanding steeple. This town has long been shaped by its forestry industry and regional rail links, which once played a key role in its development.


Mansfield


Mansfield, Louisiana is a quiet town with deep regional roots, developed as a local hub for agriculture and trade and shaped by its position along historic travel routes. Drivers can spot several key landmarks along the way, including the De Soto School, the local bank, and the First United Methodist Church, established in 1847. The town is also known for its historical significance, with a major Civil War battle having taken place nearby.


Oberlin

Oberlin, Louisiana is a small town with big historical character. As you roll through, keep an eye out for the Allen Parish Courthouse, built in 1912 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, along with the Oberlin City Hall just down the road. Surrounded by pine forests and bayous, Oberlin offers a quick but memorable glimpse of classic Louisiana charm on your journey.


Cameron

Along Louisiana’s Gulf Coast, Cameron offers a striking shift in scenery. Located in an area frequently affected by hurricanes, this area has a rugged and weathered look. You’ll notice buildings raised on stilts, which is a practical solution for storm surges and flooding, along with visible storm damage in parts of town. Key landmarks include the Cameron Parish Library, a local school, and a bank set among shipyards and industrial lots. With boats docked nearby and storage yards along the road, Cameron has a coastal, working-town character that stands apart from inland settlements.



Tallulah

Cruising through northeastern Louisiana, drivers will find themselves surrounded by the golden patchwork of cotton, corn, soybeans, rice, and wheat fields, which surround Tallulah. Known for its deep farming roots, this scenic town showcases the agricultural heartbeat of the region. Along the way, you’ll catch sight of local landmarks like the First Baptist Church and the Madison Parish Courthouse, adding a touch of small-town charm to the open road.


Looking forward to exploring and delivering in Louisiana for American Truck Simulator? Then be sure to add it to your Steam Wishlist! We can’t wait to share more development news about this upcoming map expansion. To stay up to date, make sure to subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on our official social media channels. Until next time, keep on truckin’!