Project Road Trip Discussion Thread

[Brendan0620]

The station wagon era in the US basically helped start the minivan era with the drive of people wanting to get a family vehicle

I'll always remember our Minivans, since that's what I grew up with.

2006 Honda Odyssey LX and 2005 Nissan Quest SE 3.5. The former was a great minivan with a load of power compared to what we owned previously (a 2005 Chrysler 300 2.7), The Quest was loaded inside with goodies (multi DVD player, multi sunroof, Navigation, big infotainment display) but it was kinda junk due to it's past few owners being rough on it, also I think we owned it when the economy wasn't in good shape and my family were on paycheck-to-paycheck. My family traded the Quest in a year after they bought it for a 2012 Ford Taurus SEL, which was an amazing car that I got to learn to drive on.

[parasaurolophus67]

https://blog.scssoft.com/2026/08/ats-ro ... ailer.html

just the trailer of it v:

[Brendan0620]

Different set of Crown Victoria wheels showcased at 0:18.

Which is interesting, considering I thought it would just be the police and taxi-adjacent ones.

EDIT: also Ford Crown Victoria LX trim revealed, which wasn't shown on the November 2025 Blog. Also saw modifications to the F-150 and Bronco. Seems like they are loading up the Ford Car Pack with a lot of interesting goodies.

[Xefjord]

Super hyped. I think it looks great. It also makes me wonder if we should be tossing in ideas for the states not yet done for things you would like to see on the Atlas tourism boards. Is there anything you all think a state needs to cover for its Atlas board that isn't yet confirmed yet?

[Marcello Julio]

3 consecutive Fridays of road trip blog posts!

And video narrated by Raul! Good work @RaulMtz

[jackalnxt]

Did anyone else catch that one bit at the end: "...The UPCOMING Ford pack, and the LATER to be released Dodge pack...". Sounds like Ford is coming first. Perhaps in either September or October?

[Marcello Julio]

Yes, it seems they're going to release the Road Trip with the Ford Car Pack and then, after some time, with the Dodge Car Pack.

Watching the video, I saw some interesting things:
- In the video, we see for the first time what the Switch mode will look like.
- In jobs mode, the packages will be visible inside the vehicle.

[Tristman]

Yeah, at this point sounds like the Ford pack will release first.

I enjoyed the gameplay preview, it's the typical scenery stuff but with a bit more depth. It might actually give me an opportunity to re-explore the states I've already driven plenty, and see new things.
Also, they teased some kind of upcoming blog/video regarding (parcel?) jobs you can take with the cars.

[Xefjord]

In my case, I could easily see 2-3 tourism boards for Missouri:

There absolutely MUST be a Tourism board for the Ozarks in the south. I would expect it at the bare minimum to include Lake of the Ozarks and what little we can see of Branson. This is the only clear lock in my opinion. Tbh it would make most sense to include both northern Arkansas and Southern Missouri but I understand that probably is difficult. Can definitely have a Cryptid and Cave focus though, because Bigfoot is really big around the Ozarks and we are seeing increasing billboards, murals, etc all along US 60 that is Bigfoot / Momo related. If they ever did include more roads, something going into Branson, or a road leading to a cave like Meramec Caverns off I-44 would be a great addition to add even more distinct Ozark flavor.

The other tourism board could be done two ways, it could be a broadly Northern Missouri tourism board that incorporates stuff such as Mark Twain country and the Pony Express. Or it could be two boards that either encompass the Missouri River and the Northern Plains, or St Louis and Kansas City.

I love the Missouri Rhineland, and feel like it is a super unique and distinct region but it was absolutely gutted at 1:20 scale. There isn't really enough to get a full tourism board imo.

My conservative guess right now, would be a Tourism board in Springfield encompassing the Ozarks, and a Tourism Board somewhere between Hannibal or Jeff City encompassing the areas between the Missouri and Mississippi River.

[San_Sany4]

I'm calling it: the package is actually a trailer under the hood, but without wheels and a hitch or fifth wheel. Or, rather, its "fifth wheel" is on the seat, but there are some system that limits the motion.