This could scratch that travel bug just a little bit, until the quarantine lifts, and we can all complete long-haul routes in the real world. That’s not going to sound like a great time to some folks, but for those who play video games primarily to chill out after a long day (as I do), it’s one of the games that will best accomplish that goal.Īnd, hey, if the quarantine is getting you down, if the thing you’d most like to do is drive to some other city entirely, well, few things are more socially distanced than the cab of a semi, except for the cab of a semi that only exists in a video game. It’s an extraordinarily relaxing experience, and by the time you’ve completed a run from Los Angeles to Albuquerque, you might have entered a kind of meditative state.

You have places to be, but for now, you’re just killing time. But what it really excels at is capturing the feeling of driving through the great, open expanses of the country, radio blasting some of your favorite tunes (you can load your favorite songs right into the game). The 2016 release on PC and Mac - which is continuously expanded by developer SCS Software - is exactly what it sounds like: a game where you are a truck driver, completing long hauls and taking cargo from city to city. Thank goodness for the game American Truck Simulator, then. Taking to the highways in a slick vehicle, driving well into the night, waiting for the next sleepy little town to stretch out before you - they’re all things I love but get to do far less often than I’d like, now that I have a “job” and have to be “responsible” and “pay my bills.” There are few American dreams as alluring to me as that of exploring the open road.

Truck and trailers game