American Truck Simulator 1.61 update out now with Proximity Exploration

The 1.61 update for American Truck Simulator is available on Steam. It adds Proximity Exploration, an Improved Material System for two International trucks, Road Trip map preparations, and new cargoes.

Proximity Exploration is a quality-of-life option that automatically reveals a small area around your vehicle as you travel. It removes the need to drive over every tiny section of road to mark it explored, which can help with 100% map discovery. It also reveals nearby accessible roads and areas around rest stops, toll gates, border crossings, gas stations, and other places where road segments sit closely together.

Secret roads remain secret. When you get close, Proximity Exploration reveals only the first segment as a hint. The remaining route is discovered only by driving it. The feature can be enabled or left off.

The Improved Material System improves lighting and visual quality in selected truck interiors by changing how materials react to light, creating a more readable, detailed, and visually pleasing cabin. Leather, fabric, plastic, and metal are more clearly differentiated, even in low light. Multiple variants of dynamic cubemaps let materials reflect their surroundings more naturally and respond to ambient light more realistically.

In 1.61, it applies to the International LT and International LoneStar. The system was designed with truck interiors in both games in mind, so other trucks and existing fleets will receive it gradually in future updates. More on the Improved Material System.

Map and asset work for the upcoming Road Trip project has been added, much of it behind the scenes. Inactive Tourist Boards are now in states including California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and the upcoming South Dakota DLC; they remain unavailable until Road Trip releases. New gas stations have been added across the map. They will serve truck drivers now and cars when Road Trip releases. Selected areas also received small visual improvements.

New cargoes include Seed Containers, Trailers, and Truss. The existing Rails cargo has a new model and improved textures.

The Multi-Function Display and In-Game Menu were tested in the 1.61 Experimental Beta but will arrive in a future update, allowing more time to refine and polish them. Open Beta participants reported issues and feedback that helped fine-tune the update; Experimental Beta participants shared thoughts on the Multi-Function Display and In-Game Menu.

Changelog

• Map: Proximity Exploration, map changes for Road Trip
• Vehicles: New cargoes
• Visual: Improved Material System for the International LT and International LoneStar