A Personal Cruise; Roadie's Mod List for the ATS Road Trip DLC
I've been spending more time with the awesome Road Trip DLC in American Truck Simulator, and messing with Steam Workshop mods in the process. There is a very large collection of mods from the years and years of development this game has had before the Car Mode was introduced, so it's actually a good idea to look for RT mods by sorting the Workshop by newest.
That being said, I wanted to review a few mods that I've been a big fan of so far, which I feel changes the feel of the game in a way that I personally enjoy. These mods aren't in any particular order.
One: Navigation
- Miku NAV
This mod adds a Hatsune Miku voicepack to the large number of Voice Navigation options in the Audio menu. Obviously, Voice Navigation must be enabled in the settings to use it, but it's genuinely a lot of fun! While the English voices I've tested in the vanilla game are fun (Raspy Doug is literally, actually Geralt from Witcher which is a really fun thing that didn't need to exist but is awesome that it does), having some fun novelty voices giving you directions is cute to have! It's making me think of creating my own Kasane Teto voicepack with two versions; a hostile DOLLSHAPE edition where Teto sounds exasperated and speaks in a lower pitch, and a standard edition that speaks in her typically-depicted speaking range with straight-forward instructions. Either way, the Miku NAV mod is fun to have. It makes me smile when I arrive at my destination and Miku excitedly exclaims, "You did it!"
- Better Navigation FOV Road Trip
This mod changes the angle of the top-down Nav screens on cellphone attachments and nav/infotainment consoles. It's a very small change, but it makes finding the exact exit you need to take far easier in my experience. I think it slightly changes the angle and basically zooms in closer on the player pip on the map. I don't think loading order matters too much with Voice Navigation packs, but just in case, I have the Miku NAV mod above this one and it works perfectly.
Two: Car Mods
- Powertrain & Drivetrain Mods
There are a variety of powertrain and drivetrain mods that let you install more powerful engines and different transmissions into your cars. Stevica Sin's Crown Victoria Engine pack and Transmission pack gives you a few options to make the Crown Vic feel less sluggish, at least from a standstill. I tend to use the 300hp engine with the tallest 6-gear transmission because it gives me decent acceleration while allowing for a low idle at high cruising speeds. Stevica Sin also has a collection of new engines and transmissions for the Mustang, but I don't like driving that car at all because the rear drum brakes keep locking up and spinning my ass into roadside forests. Skill issue, whatever, sue me for wanting comfort and predictability on a highway.
- Teal Gauges & Unlimited Seat Adjustment
This mod changes the dashboard backlight in every Ford vehicle to Teal, and increases the adjustability of the view position in the car. This is especially helpful for the '67 Mustang since the stock gauge lighting makes the tachometer and speedometer EXTREMELY difficult to read. This teal lighting gives the Mustang dash a more 'ghostly' white-on-teal look that is far more readable, and I love it. Too bad the Mustang sucks! (Not SCS' fault, I just don't like that car lol)
Three: Gameplay
- More Miles and More Pay
This is a pretty big shift to the raw gameplay of the game which some may not appreciate, particularly those who are already min-maxing their Truck Mode gameplay. Owning a full fleet of CPU-operated trucks makes the pay structure ridiculously generous here. Even so, the long-distance deliveries are well worth using the mod. Longer treks are unlocked as your courier rating increases as usual, but the distances go from within 60 miles to over 900! This creates a big incentive for long trips through multiple states, and I find that kind of thing pretty enjoyable. Plus, as a dedicated Car Mode player (who also tends to crash a lot, woops), the pay structure feels generous enough to make the time investment more than worthwhile.
- Umbrella Courier Jobs
Ever wanted to deliver T-Virus vaccines and Red Herbs on behalf of Umbrella Corporation? Now you can! It's a very strange mod to expect in a game like ATS, but it feels like a perfect fit for the Halloween season. The pay structure is pretty close to vanilla, but distances can reach up to 900 kilometers if you have a courier rating above 4.6. SUPER fun to look over at the passenger seat and see a big jar labeled "BLUE HERB."
Four: Immersion
- GTA V Traffic Pack & GTA V Classic Traffic Pack
These two Workshop mod packs change the traffic vehicles on the road to cars from Grand Theft Auto V. It's actually a pretty fun little addition, doesn't take a huge performance hit since GTAV car models are fairly 'light' on geometry and texture detail (compared to Forza rips of real cars) and it still has a similar "We Have The Camaro At Home" vibes that ATS' original traffic has. The engine notes of each replaced traffic car are also noticeably different, which makes whipping by them at 130mph feel pretty neat!
- Real Companies, Gas Stations & Billboards
This replaces various signage for businesses and billboards with real-life brands. It's a nice little touch for added immersion if you want it. It kinda reminds me of playing Crazy Taxi and taking passengers to Pizza Hut or KFC rather than just generic Temu-style knock-offs. It's not a necessary change, but it does add a nice bit of immersion if you're looking for it!
And that's what I've enjoyed!
There are lots of other mods out there to play with that change up the experience in interesting ways. While I haven't tried them out myself, there are Rideshare/Taxi gig mods (including a Halloween themed version!!) that I haven't played yet, but it looks fun to have some passengers to tote around. Also, unfortunately, there's a metric FUCKLOAD of Generative AI being used in the thumbnails of various mods. It pisses me off beyond belief, but the mods I've been using haven't had any issues - so at least the fucking scripts/edits/etc isn't fucking vibecoded... hopefully.
There are a couple vehicle add-on mods out there for a newer Challenger and an old Renault, but I they look fairly rushed and low-quality from the thumbnails. I'm probably gonna wait until the Dodge DLC comes out before trying any Workshop car add-ons - the Challenger and Viper will be fairly difficult to emulate considering their stature as high-performance cars, so I'd like to see how SCS handles their physics before diving into community-built mods. I think it'd adequately set my expectations so I could judge add-on mods a bit better.