I’m in, ah, automatic mode.
averts eye contact
(Okay, I know, I’m not worthy of a big rig.)
Sure you are. Automatic (and semi-automatic) transmissions are a thing even for big rigs. I can’t say off-hand how prevalent, but they are a thing.
I would think they would be, but I know the manual transmissions are talked about a lot for these games. I think a lot of folks like to experience the complexity of that part.
As a grumpy old gamer, the less complexity for me, the quicker I get to fun mode.
I love driving manual transmission in real life, but it just never clicks for me in games. Which is a shame because I feel like I’m missing out on some deep experiences (particularly in more simmy games) by always playing automatic.
I recommend controller for Euro Truck Simulator. I was able to map everything necessary to an Xbox One controller, but as what feels like the sole Steam Controller apologist in the world, I’ll add that the versatility and extra bindings available on the Steam Controller are great for the Truck Simulator games, especially if you use more of the functions than the basic ones.
I have a steam controller, what would you describe those differences as? Should I try that controller as well?
EDIT: Oh wow. I had forgotten it has paddles on the bottom. You could add shifting pretty easily.
You can use the grips to add modifiers to, say, the face buttons to double the number of actions available to those buttons. You can use either trackpad as a “touch menu,” and you can assign nine actions to it (or double that with a grip modifier). It feels more natural (to me, anyway) to use the right trackpad as a mouse than it does to control a cursor with an analog stick. You can use the gyro for steering if that floats your boat.
The Truck Simulator games don’t have TONS of bindings to where you would want every option available to you on the Steam Controller, but they do include a lot of “administrative” stuff, like interacting with your GPS thing, and non-navigation-related functions, like the wipers and brights. If you like granular control, you run out of Xbox controller bindings pretty quickly, which is why most controller setups have toggles (like, Y turns on headlights, then again for brights, then again for off) instead of a binding for headlights, a binding for brights, and a binding for off.
The toggles are perfectly usable, but it doesn’t let you, for example, flash your brights at someone. (Not that that ever matters in normal gameplay, but sometimes you really want to immerse yourself in the fantasy). It all depends on your tolerance for doing the initial configuration.
(Personally, I LOVE fiddling with the Steam Controller configurations, but I can practically hear people’s eyes roll when I tell them it took me an hour to come up with the perfect setup for a particular game).
I’m not normally a manual transmission user in games, but I am in ETS/ATS. If nothing else, it gives you more to do outside of parking/city navigation.
Hey, I certainly appreciate the explanation. I’m nearly done with a long run with the Xbox controller and it is night and day different than just keyboard. FAR easier to control with the controller. Not to mention since they are analog controls, I don’t feel like I’m steering at max all the time, the same for throttle and brake. You can use just a little, or wide open.
I changed the top down view to camera cycle instead. Much better for screenshots than just a view for backing up the trailer.
Ginger I may actually switch to manual at some point. Squirrel covers it in one of his videos, along with a lot of the in-game truck controls that are overlooked.
Italy is out! It’s real. And it’s spectacular.
Ooo, was that a deep cut from Seinfeld?
Ha, I knew it! Mmm, early 90’s Teri Hatcher…
Finally bowed to the inevitable and picked up the Italy expansion (and the special delivery DLC). It’s very nice. Also, say what you like about the dysfunctionality of the Italian government, in this game at least they can really build a motorway. Nice gentle curves for the most part, toll booths on slip roads rather than on the main road, and, um, no speed cameras.
The ETS series has such small cities, and the game overall is not very dynamic.
This one looks interesting:
The weather changes with the seasons. Construction sites get relocated every whenever. I think the urban areas are bigger too.
Early access, mixed reviews, dated graphics, no manual trans. Kind of pricey. (ETS is on sale all the time for like 5 bucks.) Pass for now.
“1500 km of motorway”. Aw, how cute ;-)
I’ll keep an eye on it, but I suspect it won’t dislodge ETS2 in my library. More detailled cities, yadda yadda, would be nice, but its all about the driving.
ETS/ATS and associated DLC on sale today. Picked up Oregon. May buy Baltics, depending on how I feel after playing Oregon.
Thanks for the heads up. I’m grabbing Oregon (I live in Portland after all, and have driven a number of the roads-- Highway 101 along the coast, I-5, I-84, Highway 26 to Bend etc.).