Real truck drivers, question

[SneerfulOwl]

Can this be considered job training simulator?

[Computerman]

probably not

[King Of Essex]

Abig defo NO NO

[snbitzer]

As far as physics go, yes. Maneuvering a truck is simulated very well, and can definitely help with parking etc. However, everything else in the game is simplified greatly, so I wouldn't use it as a benchmark for say, fueling, weigh stations, truck maintenance & company management. Those things can really only be learned irl.

[Crotalus]

Not to mention filling out logs , pre and post trip inspections, customs papers and the list goes on.

[Uzi [OTG]]

I'd have to chime in. It might help train one for backing up. Save on repair bills there. Basic
concepts get burnt into brain .
It gives a total novice some idea also of how to keep track of what
back end of trailer is doing around curves, etc.

OThewise hell no.
I'd caution extrapolating that to real world experience with real hardware.

Simulation is very weak here in so many respects.
This is entertainment sim. Not a sim sim sim.
IT does a decent job at the entertainment, and dirt cheap.
I wish they would charge more in order to do more things, better. Maybe one day
be a more sim like experience. Eh. Who will live that long.....

[Wayneh]

Also the 4 wheelers are much more curtius in letting you get through than irl

[BELBOMBER]

Not at all . The concepts of backing may give you a idea off how it might go . Shifting and downshifting can only be taught by experience behind the wheel . Double clutching and floating gears Hoo Raa!

[LittleBlueDuneBuggy]

It teaches you as much about trucking, as Farming Simulator teaches you about farming.

Both are great games, but they only give you a very cursory overview.

Put 1000hrs into each game. Could you go and drive a truck? Could you start farming? Unlikely.

Great games for sure, but really aren't "simulators".

[VoltageTHD]

You have to be commited to be a truck driver because you will never be able to spend time with friends or family, just the road.

[RavenFB]

This game doesn't really line up with the realities of trucking. No weigh stations, no DOT, no logs, no pre/post-trip inspections, no real trip planning, no having to worry about realistic HOS (Hours of Service) regulations, no dealing with weight/height restrictions or "bridge laws", gross and axle weights aren't even addressed, nor are things like 5th wheel and tandem placement. Moreover, this game can't replicate the monotony of actually driving these trips. In game, it takes significantly less time to drive from one place to another. Driving for 8 uninterrupted across the desert just to have to find a place to park for half an hour before you can finish out the last three hours of your allotted 11, because some halfwit in Washington makes an arbitrary decision to pass some new FMCSA regs, isn't quite as interesting as you may think after you've done it a hundred times. This is a game that embraces the romantacized ideal of trucking, while pointedly ignoring the prickly realities. That's ok, though, because it wouldn't be anywhere near as interesting or entertaining to the average person to play it if it were realistic, and truckers would steer clear simply because, well, I've already been doing that job all day. Incidentally, I can tell you from experience that the KWT680 is pretty dang well represented in this game. I'm typing this with my laptop propped on the steering wheel of my '16 T680. I kinda wish mine had the nifty GPS in the center console, but other than that, the interior is so well done that my sitting here playing the game, and looking at a digital representation of my dashboard being played in front of the identical, real-world dashboard is in danger of causing a serious meta-reality crisis.

[blackforce999]

are you kidding or crazy? i have been a driver and have done dispatch and now a supvisor for almost 30 years, best you go to a truck driving school is your best bet.

[Chefen]

I'd have to chime in too.
ATS is great fun, no doubt about that.

But as a training tool, I think it's no good.

When I look back at my own training, there are no substitute for sitting in the truck. You need to feel the gears when double- clutching and floating the gears...what a frustrating experience the first week!

Maintenance, inspection, situational awareness in the traffic....you gotta be there in real life.

The funny thing is, I learned all this in 1988....I can still do the double-clutching today, despite having only driven trucks with normal gearboxes/ automatics the last 8 years.

But again, I dont think ATS is a usefull training tool.

Edit: Hope the spelling is okay, I'm not english or american ;-)

[Jimmy Blade]

My Dad bought his first Peterbuilt when I was eightteen. He made me drive it to the shop, of course I had never had any training. After being behind the wheel for about seventy-five miles I was hooked. Take blackforces' advice, go to driving school. The best way to learn is to just drive, and you can do that at school.

[Dumbfounded Polymath]

Driving school is very expensive though. If you do it, make sure you aren't just for the experience and to properly gain your license.

[kananesgi]

Originally posted by blackforce999:

are you kidding or crazy? i have been a driver and have done dispatch and now a supvisor for almost 30 years, best you go to a truck driving school is your best bet.

Just make sure it's a reputable school. I've met a number of drivers that basically bought their license with little or no training at all. Ran into one guy at a receiver that didn't even know he was supposed to have a CDL to drive. He gave some guy a hundred bucks for a "certificate" that supposedly would allow him to drive.

Met another one in a TA that had never backed a truck before. I asked him how he got his license (since you have to back during your exam) and he told me the school he went to had state certified instructors on staff and they just signed off on new licenses without actually giving any exams.