- Primary Subject: American Truck Simulator (Version 1.61)
- Key Update: SCS Software released update 1.61 for American Truck Simulator, introducing Proximity Exploration, reworked International truck interiors, and groundwork for the upcoming Road Trip project.
- Status: Confirmed
- Last Verified: September 18, 2026
- Quick Answer: The American Truck Simulator 1.61 update adds Proximity Exploration, reworked International LT/LoneStar interiors, three new cargo types, and groundwork for future Road Trip content.
American Truck Simulator's 1.61 update went live on September 15, 2026, two days ahead of its European counterpart, and most of what it contains is groundwork.
Tourist Boards are now standing in seven states without doing anything yet. New gas stations have gone in for vehicles that are not in the game.
Both are there for Road Trip, the project that will eventually put cars on American highways, and 1.61 is the update that quietly puts the furniture in place for it.
Proximity Exploration Reveals the Map Without the Detours
The headline addition is Proximity Exploration, an optional setting that automatically uncovers a small area around the truck as it drives.
Full map discovery in American Truck Simulator has always required driving every last road segment, which, across a map now spanning more than a dozen states, means a lot of frontage roads and dead-end depot approaches covered purely for completion.
With the setting enabled, driving a normal route reveals what sits around it. SCS capped the feature so it does not hand over everything.
Secret roads still have to be found the hard way, with Proximity Exploration exposing only the first segment as a hint and leaving the remainder to be driven.
The setting is off by default for players who would rather keep the original rules.
Three New Cargo Types Join the Freight Market
Seed Containers, Trailers, and Truss are all new haulable freight in 1.61.
SCS described the addition as "adding more variety to their hauling jobs across America," which is the main practical effect for anyone running long freight market contracts rather than owning trailers outright.
The existing Rails cargo was reworked alongside them with a new model and improved textures.
Internal cargo identifiers and minor economy and mass figures for the three new types have surfaced through third-party data mining rather than from SCS, so treat any specific payload numbers circulating online as unofficial.
The International LT and LoneStar Get New Interiors
The Improved Material System that arrived in 1.60 now covers the International LT and the International LoneStar, joining the Mack Anthem and Western Star 49X.
The technology runs multiple variants of dynamic cubemaps so cabin surfaces reflect their surroundings and respond to ambient light, making the difference between leather, fabric, plastic, and metal readable in poor light.
SCS went further than a materials pass on these two. Both trucks had their seats completely redesigned to sit closer to the real-world versions, and both gained a new Diamond interior option with leather seats.
The seat work and the Diamond option apply to both trucks independently of the materials upgrade, so the cabins look different even before the lighting is accounted for.
Tourist Boards and Gas Stations Lay Groundwork for Road Trip
The map work in 1.61 is preparation. Inactive Tourist Boards have been placed across California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and the South Dakota map, which had not yet been released at the time of the update.
SCS confirmed they stay dormant for now, saying the boards "will remain unavailable until the Road Trip project is released, but they are already in place and ready for the future."
New gas stations went in at the same time and are intended for use by cars once Road Trip ships. Assorted visual polish rounds out the map changes.
None of the Road Trip groundwork is usable in the current build, and SCS has not attached a date to the project itself.
A Hotfix Followed Within Days
The initial stable build shipped as 1.61.1.1, followed by a 1.61.1.4 hotfix carrying a single logged fix: a crash in Idaho caused by a missing sign board definition.
Version strings between wikis differ slightly on the first stable build, so players verifying their install should expect to see something in the 1.61.1.x range rather than an exact match.
As with every major version bump from SCS, mods built against 1.60 need updating before loading. Rolling back through Steam's Betas tab remains the workaround for anyone whose mod list is not ready.
Community reports of micro-stuttering carried over from earlier versions have continued into 1.61 threads on the SCS forums, though the studio has not acknowledged a performance regression in this build.
The Features That Did Not Make It, and What Is Next
The Multi-Function Display and the reworked In-Game Menu were both prominent in the June Experimental Beta, and both were cut from the release.
SCS said feedback drove the call, explaining that postponing them "will allow us to spend more time refining these features and ensure they deliver the best possible experience when they're ready." Neither has a release window.
South Dakota arrives on Steam on September 24, 2026, as the map expansion those dormant Tourist Boards were partly built for.
SCS hasn't confirmed a price, though the most recent state expansion, Illinois, launched at $11.99 United States dollars in May. World of Trucks events also resume after a pause that started in March, opening with Cruising South Dakota.
The 1.61 update is available now through Steam.
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