As we prepare the ground for the arrival of new vehicle types through upcoming content for Euro Truck Simulator 2 and American Truck Simulator such as Road Trip[blog.scssoft.com] and Coaches, we’ve revisited and significantly refined the in-game physics simulation, including how vehicles behave, how they respond to your inputs, and how collisions and contact with the world are handled. 

To make that possible, we had to take a major look “under the hood” and revisit some of the fundamentals of how physics is simulated in our games. Some adjustments were made with these new vehicle categories in mind, often lighter, shorter, and in some cases more powerful than what our simulation was originally tuned for but many of the improvements also benefit every vehicle, including the trucks you’re already familiar with.  

The goal throughout all of this has been simple, to improve realism and responsiveness, while keeping the core truck driving experience you know and love fully recognizable, just better refined. Pavel Č, one of our programmers here at SCS Software, explained that despite the scale of the work, the goal was always to enhance what players already know and enjoy. “A lot of things under the hood changed, but we tried very hard to make sure that the core truck driving experience is still recognizable, but better,” he shared. 

One of the first areas addressed was throttle response, which is now properly calculated from a throttle torque engine map. Combined with a more realistic level of engine resistance when you’re off the throttle, this makes coasting feel more natural and gives cruising a smoother, more believable flow.

Beyond engine response, the update also includes mechanical improvements that add extra nuance to how trucks behave on different surfaces. Wheels now camber when going off-road in a way that better reflects how a solid axle suspension behaves, and turning wheels also incorporate caster. These are subtle details, but they contribute to a more authentic feel when the terrain gets uneven or when you move away from perfectly flat roads. The audio you hear whilst driving has also been refined, with turbocharger sounds now reflecting more accurately what the engine is doing, making the overall driving feedback feel more connected.

Another change that you may notice is that the engine now revs slightly to build up torque before pulling away. Pavel goes onto explain “This helps the truck feel a little more alive when moving off from a stop. However, that improvement also brought challenges in specific scenarios, particularly when starting on inclines, so a hill start assistant was introduced to support those situations and make them feel more reliable.”

We've also spent time improving how the game feels for keyboard users, where the throttle control can often be an all-or-nothing experience. "We really wanted to improve the way the throttle behaves with keyboard controls", Pavel said, which led to the development of the double throttle control system. Holding the throttle key now applies partial throttle, allowing for smooth, controlled acceleration and making it easier to settle into a relaxed cruising pace. When you do need more power for situations like overtaking, or climbing a hill, you can "double tap" the throttle key for full acceleration potential. Once you've finished your overtake, or topped the summit of the hill, simply release the throttle key, and press it again to return to a partial throttle state.

This feature will be turned off by default, meaning vehicles will continue to deliver their full performance as usual. However, you’ll be able to enable it through the settings if you’d like to try a smoother, more relaxed throttle response on a keyboard. Once the 1.58 update arrives, we recommend giving it a go. It may be an option you find especially useful not only for trucking, but also for driving in the future.

Preparing the physics simulation for the arrival of smaller vehicles wasn’t simply a matter of tweaking a few values. It required careful attention to a system that has been developed and tuned around trucks for many years, and expanding that simulation beyond its original design. “We had a working physics simulation for trucks that was very in-depth, but extending a simulation outside of its original bounds meant a lot of changes,” Pavel explained.

We also took the opportunity to revisit another important part of the driving experience in this upcoming update. For American Truck Simulator, we’ve adjusted the collision geometry of almost all roads, and this work has also helped improve the stability of trucks in some specific cases. One example of where you may feel the difference is when entering turning lanes at highway intersections at higher speeds, where handling can now feel more consistent and controlled.

More technically, this comes down to how road curvature was represented in the original triangle-based collision model. As the road roll angle changes, the triangles used to form curves could create a subtle “sawtooth” profile along the center of the road, as the collision faces turned toward each other. This could reduce the friction force applied to the wheels in certain situations, impacting stability and smoothness. With the updated collision model, we now have the opportunity to create smoother road curvature directly within the collision geometry, improving wheel contact and delivering more predictable behaviour on the road.

The 1.58 update is just the beginning of a wider set of improvements we’re working towards. It marks the starting point for bigger changes we’ll be making in preparation for upcoming content, while also pushing forward the overall quality, realism, and responsiveness of the driving experience for both Euro Truck Simulator 2 and American Truck Simulator. 

As we continue working on the new vehicle types coming to our games, especially for Road Trip, we’re stepping into territory we’ve never had to simulate before. Some of these vehicles can come with levels of power and torque that push our in-game world, assets, code, and physics systems in entirely new ways. 

From the very beginning, the plan with Road Trip has never been to compete with racing or hardcore simulation games, but to offer something different, a chance to explore and experience the virtual world we've created from a fresh perspective behind the wheel of iconic vehicles, striking a balance that would keep it enjoyable even for casual players. Because of that, we may prefer to set up a vehicle's performance settings so that the player is not punished too hard for driving errors. We will make choices that fit the limited narrative of the early Road Trip packs, choices which we may revisit later, as the ambition with our Road Trip concept is to evolve it over time. We want to ensure that the driving experience remains believable, stable, and enjoyable.

Our team involved in this project wanted to share a few words with you, our #BestCommunityEver “I would like to encourage all players to try the Open Beta once it is available, and share their feedback to help with further development. Input from our community is an integral part of our daily work, and it’s thanks to you that we can keep improving.”

We hope you enjoyed reading this blog on and perhaps learned a thing or two about the development of our driving physics. If you did, be sure to leave a comment on our blog. Until next time, keep on truckin’!

在今天的文章中，我们很高兴与所有喜欢在驾驶学院游戏模块中考验自己技能的玩家分享一些新消息。欧洲卡车模拟2与美洲卡车模拟即将到来的 1.58 版本更新将引入第三个模块——双挂车操控，包含全新的场景。让我们来进一步了解即将到来的内容吧！

驾驶学院推出已有一段时间，我们的大多数玩家可能已经熟悉它了。不过，如果你们还不了解，可以通过这篇关于卡车驾驶基础模块的文章[weibo.com]，以及这篇重点介绍第二个模块——卡车驾驶进阶的文章[weibo.com]以了解更多内容。

这次，我们团队深入研究了如何传授更多关于操控双挂车的知识。我们设计了一系列具有挑战性的场景，引导玩家们逐步学习双挂车的前进、操控与倒车。

双挂车操控模块对于任何已完成卡车驾驶基础模块的玩家来说都应可以容易上手，它基于你们已学到的单挂车知识进行构建。如果你们之前尚未学习过卡车驾驶进阶模块，也没有关系，但它可以帮助你们搭建一个有益的前期准备。

该模块的体验分为三个章节，从前进驾驶操作开始，随后引导玩家逐步掌握双挂车倒车所需的技术。之后将转至更生动、基于现实启发的场景，让你们可以真正考验自己新获得的技能。

我们也希望融入一些变化，所以 ETS2 与 ATS 的玩家将不会得到完全相同的场景组合。而且，每款游戏都设有其专门的挑战与不同类型的双挂车。在 ETS2，大家将获得欧式组合双挂车的实操经验，而 ATS 的驾驶员将迎接B 型双挂车的挑战。虽然这种组合在美国道路上可能不是最常见的，但它提供了一个绝佳的机会，让你们真正测试自己操控一列由牵引车和两节挂车组成的超长、具有挑战性的车辆的技能，并将你们的知识应用于其他挂车组合。

为了让这个模块更能激起大家的兴趣，我们决定加入几组场景，专注于相同的倒车操作，但起始状态不同。首先，你们将学习当挂车已经摆直时如何处理。然后，你们可以尝试下一个场景，其中卡车和挂车并非从完全对直的状态开始，从一开始就需要进行修正，增加了额外的挑战。卡车与挂车未对齐是驾驶员最常遇到的情况。

就像驾驶学院之前的模块一样，我们也为大家准备了奖励！完成本章节的所有场景后，你们将获得一个可爱的腊肠狗玩具，它名为 Frankie，可以用于装饰你们的卡车驾驶室，它将准备好与你们一同驰骋。请留意，此奖励与你们用于完成本章节的游戏档案绑定。成功完成本模块的 12 个场景后，你们还可以获得一个名为“双倍麻烦”的成就。

这就是今天的内容啦！我们希望大家期待在双挂车操控模块发布时尝试这些新场景。请留意，大家在此看到的所有内容仍处于开发阶段。

想要持续获取关于我们游戏的所有最新消息，以及即将到来的 1.58 版本更新（其中将包含驾驶学院的这个新章节）信息，请记得关注我们的微博[weibo.com]。货运愉快，下次见！