ATS Road Trip: First Gameplay Video Puts the Ford F-150 on Dirt

Fourteen months after the announcement, Road Trip has its first gameplay video. SCS Software chose the 2023 Ford F-150 Lariat to go first, the same truck it profiled in January.

The route

The drive starts on roads near Redding, California, moves through busier traffic, then leaves the tarmac for a dirt road. SCS calls it a relaxed drive, and the structure is simple: open road, traffic, then dirt. The dirt section is clearly the point, as SCS uses it to show how the truck copes with uneven, rough ground.

Still work in progress

SCS is explicit that everything in the video is unfinished, and it names vehicle sounds and behaviour as areas that will be adjusted before release. That matters, because sound and handling are exactly what people will judge a car on. Take the engine note here as a placeholder.

Our take

Until now, Road Trip has been screenshots, scans and interviews. Seeing an ATS car in motion on familiar California roads, with traffic around it, makes the idea much easier to picture. We would have liked a glimpse of the gameplay systems around the drive, but as a first step, a single car driven on and off the road is a sensible place to start. SCS says more previews will follow.

Source: SCS Software blog. Images and video: SCS Software.