Freight Fate Player Manual

Welcome to Freight Fate. Start your trucking career with a first load, then choose the work you want to haul. Listen to the engine, nearby traffic, and road cues as spoken guidance helps you find your way.

Plan time for rest and truck care so you can deliver on time with the cargo undamaged. Use driving assistance while you learn the sounds and controls, and adjust it as you get comfortable.

Start at the main menu, then follow your first delivery. Check the traffic, Driver apps, and radio chapters as you explore. You can return to the driving controls for a reminder, or open How to play in the game for a shorter guide with your current shortcuts.

Contents

• Main menu
• Quick start
• Menu controls
• Terminal and garage
• Business status
• Dispatch and jobs
• Pickup, loading, and route planning
• Driving controls
• Truck behavior
• Truck damage and being out of service
• Mountain driving
• Taking curves
• Winter driving
• Traffic and sharing the road
• Road events, weather, and rest stops
• Enforcement, your record, and your CDL
• When you owe money
• Hours of service and fatigue
• Team driving
• Status screens
• Driver apps
• Pause, save, and resume
• Destination and delivery
• Settings walkthrough
• Audio, speech, and accessibility
• Radio and playlists
• Achievements and career progress
• Online sharing and cloud backups
• Common questions
• When you need help

Main menu

After choosing your driving assistance, you'll reach the main menu. Choose New career to create your first driver, or explore the help, sounds, settings, and online screens before starting.

New career

Choose New career to start a new driver. You'll enter a name, choose your career start, and select a home terminal. The first-delivery walkthrough explains these choices and takes you through finding your first load at the terminal.

Achievements

Before you've created a career, Achievements tells you there are no saved careers. Once you've started playing, choose a saved career here to review its earned and locked achievements.

Online

Online brings together the public driver lists, account-wide achievements, your orinks.net account, and cloud backup and restore. It's also where you turn Discord presence on or off. You can decide which parts you want to use.

How to play

Open How to play for the built-in guide. You can read a whole page or read a little at a time, using the controls explained under How to play controls.

Learn game sounds

Use Learn game sounds when you want to get familiar with a road cue before hearing it during a drive. Select a sound to hear it and read its explanation. You can also open this screen from the pause menu.

Practice keys and buttons

Practice keys and buttons tells you what each key or controller button does while driving, without sending it to the game. Press a key, a button, a trigger or a stick and you'll hear its name and its command, such as "E: Engine on or off" or "Right bumper plus X: Posted speed limit." The answers follow your own assignments from Settings, Gameplay, Controls.

Shift F1 opens practice from any screen, including during a drive; on a controller, hold Back and press Start. The drive waits while you practice. It is also on the main menu and the pause menu. Press Escape twice, or Start twice, to leave.

Settings

Settings lets you adjust gameplay, audio, and speech, as well as access update and problem-report settings. If you want to change how much assistance the game provides or make a sound easier to hear, start here.

Report a problem

Report a problem opens the bug-report page in your web browser. Use it to report something that went wrong while playing.

Quit

Quit closes the game.

Once you've created a career

Once you have a saved career, three more options appear on the main menu.

Continue latest career

Continue latest career resumes your newest readable career save.

Choose career

Choose career lets you return to any saved driver. You can keep separate careers for different kinds of play.

Manage careers

Manage careers lets you reset or delete a career. Check the selected driver when the game asks you to confirm.

Quick start

Choosing how much help you want

When you first launch the game, it asks how much driving assistance you'd like. Choose All assists for your first trip. The truck will steer while you get used to the road sounds and spoken information. You can change that choice later under Settings, Gameplay, Driving assistance.

Starting your career

Choose New career on the main menu and enter your name. You'll choose whether to drive for a company or own your truck, followed by your region and home terminal. A company supplies your equipment and covers routine equipment costs. If you start as an owner-operator, those bills are yours. Keep that difference in mind when planning how much money you need between loads.

Choosing your carrier and home terminal

Your carrier affects the work dispatch offers and how you're paid. Read the company descriptions before choosing, so you know what kind of loads and pay arrangement to expect.

Northstar Freight Lines

Northstar has balanced company-driver wages and a broad mix of freight, with no focus on one type of run.

Great Lakes Training Transport

Great Lakes has more short-haul training work, better stop pay on short loads, and slightly more forgiving deadlines while you learn to plan a trip. Once you reach level 4 with full dispatch trust, Business status lets you move to any of the other three carriers.

Prairie Link Regional

Prairie Link keeps more of its work within the same region and emphasizes grain and bulk freight. Its per-mile floor is higher, while stop pay is lower, so consider how much of a job's pay comes from its miles and how much comes from its stops.

Summit Value Logistics

Summit offers more long-haul and high-value lanes. It pays a better percentage and on-time bonus, with a smaller guarantee. Your earnings depend more on the load's revenue and an on-time arrival.

Your starting money and home terminal

Whichever start you choose, you're at level one. A company driver begins with 5,000 dollars, a full tank, and carrier equipment. A leased-on owner starts with 18,000 dollars and a new truck, but also has its operating costs to cover. You can accept the suggested home terminal or choose another.

The first-day briefing gives you an initial objective and explains the costs you'll face. Once you've accepted dispatch, Career plan shows the next step in your career. You'll come back to the same work cycle: collect freight, deliver it, read the settlement, and find another load at the next terminal. Fuel and legal rest need room in that plan.

Finding your first load

You'll begin at a terminal, where the first-day briefing explains your work and costs. Open dispatch when you're ready and accept a load. You haven't collected the freight yet. The first drive takes you to the shipper, and you'll travel there without cargo.

Getting the truck moving

Start the engine with E, then give the air pressure time to reach 100 psi. The brakes need that air supply. Once it's ready, P releases the parking brake. Hold Up to accelerate and Down to brake.

On a controller, hold the right bumper and press A to start the engine, then hold the right bumper and press Y to release the parking brake. The right trigger accelerates and the left trigger brakes, as far as you press them. Y starts automatic speed control and B reads your speed.

You don't have to hold the accelerator for the whole trip. When automatic speed control is available, K starts it. That leaves you more time to listen to the road and learn the readouts. Press Space to check your speed and speed-control mode. On the open road, K uses adaptive cruise. In supported low-speed areas, it uses speed keeper to help you manage an approach to a pickup or delivery facility.

Collecting the freight

Follow the pickup guidance to the shipper and stop at the gate to check in. The yard will either load the truck or have a trailer waiting for you. If you're collecting a dropped trailer, walk around it before hooking it.

Once you're loaded, a company driver follows the route dispatch assigned. As an owner, you'll choose your route after loading. You're now hauling the freight to its receiver, so the deadline and cargo condition matter for the rest of the trip.

Keeping track of the road

Use the readout hotkeys to check the trip while driving. Space reads your speed and truck state. R tells you where you are and how far you've come. C gives the clock and your next hours limit, while U describes the road ahead.

On a controller, D-pad up reads where you are, D-pad left the weather, and D-pad right the clock with all your hours limits. D-pad down signals for an exit, and the right bumper with D-pad down plans a rest stop. The road ahead and the other readouts with no button are in Driving commands: hold the right bumper, press Start, and choose Driving commands.

Check those readouts before you need a stop. T helps you choose a rest stop while you're rolling; X signals for its exit. Keep an eye on your legal driving time as well as the delivery clock. Alt+A tells you how much time you've used at the wheel and on duty. Alt+S tells you when your break is due, and Alt+D tells you what will end the shift and which rest stops you can reach.

When a break is due, pull into a stop and take it before driving farther. Don't wait for the eleven-hour driving limit: your break can come due earlier, and the duty window can end your shift before you've driven eleven hours. A short break won't reset the shift. Check the hours and fatigue guide when you're deciding whether you need a break or sleep.

Reaching the receiver

Listen for the destination exit as you get closer. With full lane keeping, the truck takes it for you. Otherwise, signal with X, move right, and steer into the exit lane when it opens. Slow down before the ramp curve and stop for the light or sign at the end.

There's still some driving after the highway. Follow the local approach to the receiver, stop, and confirm arrival with Enter. Choose Dock and deliver to hand over the freight.

On a controller, D-pad down signals for the exit, and the left stick steers into the exit lane. With full lane keeping, push the stick left or right to change one lane; the truck takes the exit itself. Press A to confirm arrival, then choose Dock and deliver with the D-pad and A.

Reading your settlement

Read the settlement before looking for the next job. It shows your earnings, cargo condition, and career changes, including anything that cost you money.

If you need a moment to check something, Escape pauses the drive; on a controller, Start does. Learn game sounds is available on the main and pause menus, so you can hear a cue and learn what it means before meeting it on the road. Practice keys and buttons, on the same menus, names what each key or button does. Lower music, radio, or ambience if it makes the driving sounds hard to hear.

Menu controls

Each menu speaks as you move. You'll hear its title and the selected option, along with your position in the list so you know how far you've reached. F1 explains the option. Turn position announcements off in Speech settings if you don't need them.

Menu navigation

Use Up and Down to find the option you want, then Enter or Space to select it. Escape usually takes you back. On a long list, Home and End reach its ends, and a letter or number jumps to a matching choice.

Key	Action
Up arrow or Down arrow	Move through choices.
Enter or Space	Activate the selected choice.
Escape	Go back, cancel, or repeat a status message when leaving is not useful.
Home or End	Jump to the first or last choice.
Letter or number	Jump to the next choice starting with that character.
F1	Show help for the current item.
Comma	Review earlier speech, except while typing text.
Period	Move toward newer speech, except while typing text.

On a controller:

Button	Action
D-pad up or down	Move through choices.
D-pad left or right	Change the value of a setting.
A	Activate the selected choice.
B	Go back.
Back	Read help for the selected choice, as F1 does.

The controller has no buttons for jumping to the ends of a list or for message review; use the keyboard for those.

Reviewing what the game said

Use message review to replay an announcement you missed.

Key	Action
Comma	Repeat what was just said, then keep stepping back.
Period	Move toward newer messages.
Ctrl+Comma	Jump to the oldest message kept.
Ctrl+Period	Jump back to the newest message.
Left bracket or right bracket	Switch between all messages, general messages, and driving events.
Ctrl+C	Copy the message you are on to the clipboard.
Ctrl+Shift+C	Copy the newest line in the message history to the clipboard, on any screen: a heading, a search or status result, a call, a driving line. Menu positions such as "2 of 8" are left out. Rebind it under Settings, Controls.

The history keeps 200 messages, leaving out routine menu movement. New announcements won't move you away from the message you're reviewing. After ten seconds without a review key, your next press starts at the newest message again; your chosen category stays selected. When you're typing in a text field, punctuation enters text instead of reviewing speech.

How to play controls

Read a page in one go or read it a little at a time, at your own pace. Either Control key or F1 stops the current speech. Escape returns to the menu you came from.

Key	Action
Left arrow or Page Up	Previous help page.
Right arrow or Page Down	Next help page.
Up arrow or Down arrow	Read the previous or next part of the page.
Enter or Space	Read the whole current page.
Either Control key or F1	Stop speech.
Escape	Return to the previous menu.

Entering text

While entering a name, Backspace removes a character and F2 reads what you've entered. Enter confirms it, Escape cancels, and Control V pastes text.

A controller can't type. On the driver name, press A without typing and your driver is named Driver; B cancels.

Terminal and garage

The terminal is your stop between jobs. Before taking another load, you can review your money, trust, and driving record in Career stats, check the next unlock in Career plan, or read your duty entries in Logbook. Dispatch, rest, training, and service are available here too.

Choice	What It Does
Dispatch board	Browse freight offers from local facilities.
Truck dealer	Owner-operators only. Browse tractors at the local dealer, buy one, or switch between the trucks you own. The intro names a local dealer when one is listed for that area.
Bobtail to a nearby city	Owner-operators only. Drive empty to a nearby city for its dispatch board. It costs fuel and hours of service, with no load and no pay.
Career plan	Review your next realistic career objective after the first dispatch.
Business status	Review company-driver or owner-operator status.
Garage	Refuel, repair, service the tires, brakes, and engine, buy snow chains, and wash the truck; owner-operators can also switch to winter tires, buy upgrades, buy tractors, switch owned tractors, add trailer programs, or buy trailers after own authority.
Request pay advance	Draw cash against your next load when you are broke.
Career stats	Review level, reputation, deliveries, career totals, the endorsements you hold, your dispatch trust, your safety record and CDL status, and any balance you owe. Choose Citations and violations to review the newest first: what each was, why, what it cost, when, and where.
Licenses and training	Book any credential course, from manual transmission training to the LCV certificate. F1 on an option says what the credential unlocks and how you get it: the level the carrier sponsors it at, or the level you can pay for it early. The table under Licenses and training below lists them all.
Truck status	Review truck model, fuel, tank size, damage and its band, tire wear, and road grime.
Walk around the truck	A pre-trip walk-around that finds what a roadside inspector would find on the tractor. It takes 15 minutes on duty.
Time and weather	Check the clock, date, season, career day, and local weather, including the age of a live weather report when available.
Logbook	Review your Record of Duty Status: what you are doing now, your hours limits, today's totals, and the recent entries.
Sleep 10 hours	Rest at the terminal and reset hours of service.
Save game	Save the current career.
Settings	Open settings categories.
Quit to main menu	Save and return to the title menu.

Credential	Unlocks	How you get it
Manual transmission training	A manual-spec pay differential on drives made on a manual gearbox.	Course only, 220 dollars from level 1.
Refrigerated certificate	Fresh food and refrigerated goods.	Free from the carrier at level 2, or 900 dollars from level 1.
Flatbed securement certificate	Steel products, and lumber and paper products.	Free from the carrier at level 2, or 450 dollars from level 1.
Heavy-haul certificate	Heavy machinery.	Free from the carrier at level 3, or 1,600 dollars from level 2.
High-value certificate	Electronics and packaged industrial chemicals.	Free from the carrier at level 4, or 1,300 dollars from level 3.
Doubles endorsement	Twin-trailer parcel freight.	Course only, 60 dollars from level 8.
Hazmat endorsement	Placarded hazardous materials, and bulk fuel once the tank vehicle endorsement joins it.	Course only, 185 dollars from level 10, then a background check of about 30 days.
Tank vehicle endorsement	Liquid food products from level 21, and bulk fuel once the hazmat endorsement joins it.	Free from the carrier at level 16, or 2,400 dollars from level 15.
TWIC port card	Port containers.	Course only, 125 dollars from level 18, then a background check of about 20 days.
LCV certificate	Turnpike doubles freight, between the states whose networks allow them.	Course only, 2,000 dollars from level 20. Needs the doubles endorsement and a clean recent record.

Looking after the truck

Open Truck status before another load if you need to check fuel, damage, tire wear, or grime. Walk around the truck takes fifteen minutes on duty and checks the tractor for defects an inspector could find. If you find a problem, open Garage and choose the service you need before driving.

Garage offers fuel, repairs, tire service, brake service, engine work, snow chains, and a wash. A company supplies your equipment and handles its routine costs. As an owner, you'll pay those bills yourself, so keep enough cash for service and fuel between settlements.

Owners can also choose tire compounds and buy upgrades for torque, drag, tank capacity, and braking. Think about the work you want to haul: more fuel capacity can help on a long run, while stronger brakes matter on a descent. Review your truck and business status before spending the money you'll need for the next trip.

Choosing equipment and work

As an owner, Truck dealer lets you browse tractors, buy one, or switch to another truck you already own. Garage also gives you access to owned trucks and trailer programs. A specialty program opens equipment for suitable freight; after reaching own authority, you can buy your own trailers. The business guide explains the progression and costs.

Bobtail to a nearby city lets an owner travel empty to another dispatch board. You're still using fuel and legal hours, and there's no delivery pay for that move. Check whether the work you hope to find is worth the trip before leaving.

Licenses and training

If a load needs a qualification you don't have, visit Licenses and training. Carrier certificates become available as you gain levels, and paying for some courses lets you qualify earlier. Endorsements and cards open particular kinds of freight. Hazmat and TWIC also involve background checks that take game days, so they aren't immediate purchases. For bulk fuel, you'll need both tank and hazmat endorsements, which form the X combination. Training takes time too: check your hours and fatigue before heading out afterward.

Business status

As a company driver, you're paid wages and bonuses from the carrier's gross revenue. The carrier provides the equipment and routine service. Choosing a carrier changes more than the name on the job: each has its own wage floor, stop pay, pay share, bonuses, deadlines, and mix of freight.

Trust	What dispatch does
Full	You get the whole board.
Guarded	Some freight is held back, and you have fewer refusals.
Poor	Assigned loads whatever your level, a board down to two offers, and the good freight goes to other drivers.
Last chance	One assigned load at a time, no refusals, and the carrier is deciding whether to keep you.

Upgrade, Program, Or Trailer	Effect
Engine tune	Adds pulling power.
Aerodynamic kit	Improves highway fuel economy.
Long-range tank	Adds 50 gallons of capacity.
Reinforced brakes	Helps the brakes resist fade longer.
Reefer trailer program	Opens refrigerated and fresh food cargo for owner-operators.
Flatbed trailer program	Opens steel, machinery, construction, lumber, and paper cargo for owner-operators.
Bulk trailer program	Opens grain, farm inputs, and loose bulk cargo for owner-operators.
Owned trailer	Own-authority drivers can buy dry van, reefer, flatbed, or bulk trailers. Matching direct freight uses an owned-trailer reserve at settlement.

There are 30 career levels. If you're driving for a company and want to buy in as an owner, the option opens at level 18. You'll also need 35 deliveries, reputation of 80, no outstanding advance, and enough money to pay 35,000 dollars while keeping 10,000 dollars in working capital. Business status tells you which requirements you still need to meet.

You can stay with company driving if ownership doesn't suit you. Stay a company driver changes your goals and rank titles to that career path without closing the buy-in option. Reopen the owner-operator plan brings the ownership goals back.

An owner who chooses Go back to company driving gets two confirmations before anything is sold. The game buys your tractors and trailers at the stated values, then assigns carrier equipment. The buy-in tractor returns its purchase price; later purchases use their used values. Your driving record stays with you.

Owning the truck means paying for fuel, repairs, maintenance and insurance reserves, trailer costs, truck reserves, and fees. A larger gross payment isn't all take-home money.

Authority preparation can open at level 21. Own authority can open at level 25, once you have 75 deliveries, reputation of 92, a specialty program, no advance, and the startup money plus working capital. Direct freight pays higher gross, with deductions for insurance, compliance, trailers, trucks, and factoring. If you own a trailer that matches the freight, its reserve replaces the program charge.

Owners can open Truck dealer from the terminal. Upgrades apply across the fleet, but the condition of each truck belongs to that truck.

Company drivers never buy a truck: the carrier assigns one from a fleet that improves with your level. You start in the yard standard truck, then dispatch moves you up to the regional fleet at level 4, the long-haul fleet at level 9, the premium fleet at level 13, and first pick of the yard at level 17, at no cost to you. Before level 9, dispatch assigns a spare suited to each load, and each spare keeps its own fuel, wear, and damage. From level 9, you keep one truck for every load until the next fleet. Career stats names your current fleet and the next one.

Dispatch trust

Dispatch considers your reputation, record, CDL validity, and debt when deciding how much work and equipment to entrust to you. Low trust can reduce your load choices and experience earnings or hold back equipment. Career stats and Driver status explain the restriction and how to recover. Held equipment returns when the hold clears. If a company driver's reputation reaches the floor, Great Lakes Training Transport takes over. Once you're back to full trust at level 4 or above, Business status lets you move to another carrier.

When cash is short, you can request a capped advance against your next load. Road stops can also offer one against a load you're already carrying. It comes out of settlement, so treat it as money brought forward. Dispatch won't offer another advance while settlements are already paying down a balance owed.

Dispatch and jobs

Early in a company career, dispatch assigns your load. You can decline, but each refusal costs reputation and uses one of your limited refusals. Load choice opens at level 8 unless low trust restricts it. Even when you choose the freight, the company still assigns the route. Owners choose their own routes.

Before accepting a job, press F1, or Back on a controller, to hear what you're taking on. The details cover cargo, weight and gross-weight margin, facilities, distance, gross pay, estimated take-home, deadline, and required equipment. Remember that fuel adds weight too. The market note tells you whether pricing for that cargo is tight or loose. Deadlines allow for route speeds and legal rest; the details explain the break and sleep allowances.

The company supplies trailers for approved freight. An owner starts with dry van access and can add specialty programs. If a job is locked, its description tells you which equipment requirement isn't met. Direct freight also tells you when an owned trailer matches the job and lowers the charges.

A metro is a freight area rather than a single pickup point. You might be heading to a port, warehouse, farm, rail terminal, plant, or another shipper. Some approaches follow mapped streets; representative locations use the guidance available for them.

Deliveries earn experience for service and mileage, with bonuses for undamaged freight, specialty work, and on-time streaks. Refrigerated freight opens at level 2, heavy haul at 3, and high-value freight at 4. As you advance, you'll see longer routes, wider boards, more equipment, and new business choices.

Your record affects those opportunities. A citation costs four reputation points. A serious violation costs ten for a game year, while a major offense costs twenty permanently. Record reviews and insurance look at the recent year; serious-violation rules for your CDL look back three years.

Pickup, loading, and route planning

Before you can deliver the load, you have to collect it. That first drive is local deadhead: you're traveling to the pickup without cargo. Stop at the gate and check in before loading or collecting the trailer. Check-in uses 15 on-duty minutes. Live loading takes about 60 minutes, represented by a short spoken wait.

Drop and hook, and the walk-around

A staged trailer takes about 25 minutes to hook. Before taking it, use Walk around the trailer to check its lamps, brakes, and tires. If you refuse a defective trailer, the yard needs about half an hour to replace it. Taking it anyway means you'll be carrying that defect into any inspection.

Waiting at a facility can earn detention after two hours; the job details give the rate. At a receiver drop yard, exchanging trailers takes about 20 minutes, compared with roughly 45 at a dock. An owned trailer stays with you, so you'll use the dock.

Once loading is finished, a company driver takes dispatch's route. As an owner, you'll compare the alternatives yourself. Look at distance and highways, but also check legal rest, fuel and sleep stops, tolls, terrain, and parking confidence. W reads weather along a route. During the drive, live conditions follow the truck; simulated weather uses the forecast.

Driving controls

These are the default keyboard controls, with the default controller button beside each. You can change eligible assignments under Settings, Gameplay, Controls, and in-game help will use your new shortcuts. Menu navigation, message review, and certain fixed controls stay reserved.

To hear what a key does without pressing it on the road, press Shift F1 for key and button practice.

A control marked Driving commands has no controller button. Hold the right bumper and press Start to open Driving status, then choose Driving commands and pick it from the list. The list runs it and returns you to the road.

Key	Controller	Action
Up arrow, hold	Right trigger, as far as you press it	Throttle.
Down arrow, hold	Left trigger, as far as you press it	Brake. To select reverse: stop fully, release the key, then press and hold it again for a moment. A quick tap, or a brake held through the stop, just brakes. The same press-and-hold on the Up arrow brings forward gear back.
Down arrow, tap then press and hold	Not on the controller	Latch the brake so it stays applied hands-free. A click and a spoken confirmation mark the catch after about half a second of holding. Press Down arrow once to take it back; the accelerator releases it instantly. The throttle key never latches. Turn the gesture off under Settings, Driving assistance, Latching brake.
B, hold	Left trigger, all the way down	Emergency brake.
E	Right bumper plus A	Start the engine. Stop the engine only below 5 miles per hour.
P	Right bumper plus Y	Release or set the parking brake. Set it above a crawl and the spring brakes slam on: a screech, a hard stop, and permanent flat spots ground into the tires, worse the faster you were going. It is not a brake pedal.
K	Y	Start or cancel automatic speed control. It uses adaptive cruise on open roads and speed keeper in low-speed zones. It pauses through the planned pickup and resumes once the loaded truck is rolling. Braking elsewhere also cancels it. Parked with the parking brake set, K latches a high idle instead.
Shift+K	Driving commands	Resume automatic speed control at the last speed you had set, after braking cancelled it.
Plus / Minus	Right bumper plus D-pad right or left	Raise or lower the open-road cruise target while automatic speed control is active, snapping outward to the next multiple of 5 mph: from 32 it lands on 35, then 40. The keypad Plus and Minus keys work too.
Ctrl+Plus / Ctrl+Minus	Not on the controller	Raise or lower the open-road cruise target by exactly 1 mph, no snapping, for setting a precise number.
X	D-pad down	Signal for or cancel the next announced route exit. The truck takes the ramp when speed, lane setup, and route intent are valid.
T	Right bumper plus D-pad down	While rolling, plan the next nearby sleep-capable stop and hear its distance, exit, and stopping-assistance state. T never signals or takes the exit; press X for that. When fully stopped at a supported route stop, T opens its menu; away from route points, it opens the emergency shoulder-sleep confirmation.
J	Right stick click	Toggle the engine brake. It engages at the stage you last selected, like a real dash switch. In an automatic, J arms the truck's own retarder management unless you have turned that off.
Alt+J	Driving commands	In an automatic, choose whether J arms the automatic retarder or leaves the stage entirely to you.
Alt+T	Driving commands	Switch between automatic and manual transmission on the road. This changes your whole control scheme.
1 / 2 / 3	Right bumper plus right stick click steps to the next stage	Select the engine brake stage, two, four, or six cylinders of retard, while it is on. With the engine brake off these keys do nothing.
H	Left stick click, hold	Hold to sound the horn; release to stop it.
Z	Not on the controller	Lower or raise the driver window. With it down you hear the wind rush in and the road louder; it closes again at the start of every drive.
Alt+Z	Not on the controller	Step the fan: off, low, medium, high. The fan runs while the engine does.
Shift+Z	Not on the controller	Switch the fan between heat and air conditioning. A drive starts on whichever the weather calls for.
Space	B	Report speed, gear, and the active speed-control mode and open-road target when speed control is on. RPM is added with a manual transmission, and air pressure or the parking brake only when they need attention. With the signal set for an exit, it ends with that exit and how far away it is. Tab has the full air and brake readings.
S	Right bumper plus X	Report the posted speed limit here, the zone if any, and how far over you are. In bend country it adds the bend's advisory speed, since the posted limit and the yellow diamond are different numbers on a real road. On a delivery ramp that ends at a traffic light, S answers with the light and the distance to the stop bar instead, since the light is the law there.
D	Driving commands	Report one safe-speed number for right now. Weather grip, a steep downgrade, and the next bend are already baked into the number. On an exit ramp it is the exit speed.
G	Driving commands	Report the grade under the wheels: the slope, how far it runs, and whether the truck is holding, pulling, or losing it, including whether the engine brake has the descent or is about to lose it. G also names the next grade ahead worth planning for, how far off and how long it runs, including one that steepens without flattening out first, and the gentler pull automatic speed control is building speed for when nothing steep is coming.
I	Driving commands	Turn the lane locator on or off: a soft tock, once a beat, panned to where the truck sits inside its lane. It keeps ticking until you turn it off. Needs lane keeping on partial or off.
Enter	A	Arrive: accept a facility arrival once you are fully stopped.
Tab	Right bumper plus Start	Open the driving status menu.
F	Right bumper plus B	Report fuel level and estimated range, worked out from this drive's own miles per gallon once it has driven far enough to measure them.
C	D-pad right, which also reads all three hours limits	Report clock, deadline, estimated arrival, and the one hours-of-service limit that comes first. For the first few presses it also names the three keys below, then stops.
Alt+A	Driving commands	Report time at the wheel so far this shift, and time on duty.
Alt+S	Driving commands	Report when your 30 minute break is due, or that a break will not help.
Alt+D	Driving commands	Report what ends this shift, driving time left and duty window both, and where you can legally stop before it.
R	D-pad up, with or without the right bumper	Report trip progress (the same percent the online drivers list shows) and the distance left, then the road you are on with its direction, the state you are in, and the city you are heading toward. With a planned stop set, the distance counts down to that stop instead of the destination. On city streets, pulling out of the origin gate, driving a pickup approach, or running the last streets to a facility gate, it names the street under your wheels and counts down to the on-ramp or the gate instead. Distances close in quarter miles and then in feet, so the answer is never "0 miles" while the gate is still ahead.
Alt+1	Driving commands	Report the state you are in, and nothing else.
Alt+2	Driving commands	Report the road you are on, signed the way you would read it, "I-90 East". On city streets it names the street instead.
Alt+3	Driving commands	Report the town you are in. When you are not in one, it names the nearest town, how far off the road it sits, and whether it is ahead or behind. On an empty stretch it says there is no town near you rather than going quiet.
Alt+4	Driving commands	Report the direction you are travelling, as the shields sign it, "Eastbound". A city street has no signed direction and it says so.
V	D-pad left	Report weather and forecast.
L	Driving commands	Report which lane you are in, whether you are centered, drifting, or at an edge, and whether the lane beside you is open or blocked.
Left / Right arrow	Left stick; with lane keeping on full, push it left or right to change one lane	With lane keeping on partial or off, steer; steer across the line to change lanes. Hold to move across the lane: the truck angles over only as far as a lane change needs, so it crosses a lane in about two and a half seconds however long you hold, and a tap is a nudge. Let go and the truck squares itself with the road and stays where you put it in the lane, so there is no wheel to unwind. Once a bend, ramp curve or street corner has been called, hold the arrow toward the turn and the truck follows the road and keeps its lane, straight until the turn begins, round with it, straight after, until you let go; steering away still widens. On a controller the left stick steers as far as you push it, and pushed toward a called turn it follows the road the same way. With lane keeping on full, tap to change one lane in that direction, the signal clicks and the change is announced.
Slash, hold	Let go of the left stick	Straighten up. With lane keeping on partial or off, the truck squares itself with the road and stops drifting across the lane, wherever in the lane it is. Letting go of the arrows does the same; Slash does it while you keep another key held.
A	Driving commands	Repeat the last route announcement, the last thing with consequences, even if other speech came after it.
Alt+C	Driving commands	Repeat the last CB chatter, with the distance as it is now. Once you have passed what the CB called, it says so instead.
U	Driving commands	Report the road ahead that no other key answers: the exit your signal is on for, first, then the ramp control coming up, the next imposed speed limit, the next stop, and the next bend that will demand slowing, with its advisory speed. Four short clauses at the most. It does not report police activity; enforcement reaches you on the CB.
F1	Back, when nothing is being said; while speech plays, Back stops it	Show the driving control list and current objective.
F2	Right bumper plus Start, then Driving commands	List every driving command by name. Enter runs the one you are on and puts you back on the road; Escape returns without one. The held controls (pedals, steering, emergency brake and horn) are not on it.
Comma	Not on the controller	Review earlier speech. The full review keys are listed under "Reviewing what the game said".
Period	Not on the controller	Move toward newer speech.
Escape	Start	Open the pause menu.

Manual transmission controls

Key	Controller	Action
Left Shift or Right Shift, hold	Left bumper, hold	Clutch.
W	A	Shift up a gear. W from neutral or reverse selects first gear.
Q	X	Shift down a gear.
N	X from first gear	Neutral.
Backspace	X from neutral	Reverse.

On a controller, A and X step through the gears one at a time, so X from first selects neutral, X again selects reverse, and A steps back up the same way.

For a manual shift, hold either Shift key, or the left bumper, as the clutch before changing gear. Without the clutch, you'll hear the gears grind. Shifting up from neutral or reverse selects first gear. The keypad also offers the four separate location readouts.

Controller controls

You can use the keyboard alongside a controller. The button names here follow an Xbox layout. In menus, move with the D-pad, select with A, and go back with B. Back reads help; at the wheel, it stops driving speech if something is speaking and reads help otherwise. Start pauses.

Drive with the right trigger for acceleration and the left trigger for braking. Full left-trigger travel applies emergency braking. The left stick steers; with lane keeping on full, push it left or right to change one lane, and let it come back to the center before the next. To change automatic direction, stop fully and use a fresh hold. Left bumper is the clutch, and right bumper opens the second control layer. Controller help names your current button assignments.

Most driving commands have a button. For the rest, such as the grade, the lane check, and the road ahead, hold the right bumper and press Start, then choose Driving commands. The list names every command; choosing one runs it and returns you to the road.

To check what a button does, hold Back and press Start for key and button practice. Each button, trigger and stick you press says its command; Start twice returns to the drive.

Inside How to play, D-pad Left and Right change pages, while Up and Down let you read a little at a time. A reads the whole page, Back stops speech, and B returns.

Finding the buttons

On newer Xbox controllers, Back is the View button, the small button left of the Xbox button, marked with two overlapping squares. Start is the Menu button on the other side, marked with three lines. The bumpers are the long buttons on top of the controller, and the triggers sit behind them under your index fingers. A stick click means pressing a stick straight down until it clicks.

The game doesn't use the Xbox button. On Windows it opens the Xbox Game Bar, which takes focus away from the game; press the Xbox button again to come back. To stop that, turn off the controller option under Windows Settings, Gaming, Xbox Game Bar.

Default buttons

You can change most of these under Settings, Gameplay, Controls, Controller buttons.

Button	On its own	With right bumper held
A	Shift up	Start or stop the engine
B	Read speed	Read fuel
X	Shift down	Read the speed limit
Y	Start speed control	Set or release the parking brake
D-pad up	Read route and location	Read route and location
D-pad down	Signal for an exit	Route-stop actions, or shoulder sleep when stopped
D-pad left	Read weather	Lower the cruise target
D-pad right	Read clock and hours	Raise the cruise target
Left stick click	Horn	Read radio status
Right stick click	Engine brake	Step through engine brake stages
Right stick left or right	Tune the radio	Change the radio category
Right stick up or down	Radio volume	Up turns the radio on or off; down saves a favorite
Start	Pause	Driving status
Back	Help, or stop speech while it plays	Say what the radio is playing
Start while holding Back	Key and button practice	Key and button practice

Start and Back on their own, both bumpers, both triggers, and the left stick always keep their jobs.

If the controller doesn't respond

• Connect it with a USB cable, an Xbox Wireless Adapter, or Bluetooth. Over Bluetooth, a newer Xbox controller may need a firmware update first: install the Xbox Accessories app from the Microsoft Store, connect the controller by cable, and update it there.
• Check Controller in Settings, Gameplay, Controls. It should say enabled and name your controller; if it says none connected, the game hasn't found it. The game also says the controller's name when you plug one in or reconnect it.
• The game uses the first controller it finds. That can be a second controller, or a virtual one from Steam or a remapping tool, instead of yours. Turn off or unplug the others, and close Steam, or turn off Steam Input for Freight Fate, if it is running.
• If pressing the Xbox button opens Steam Big Picture, press B to close it and return to the game window. To stop it happening, turn off the Guide button's Big Picture shortcut in Steam's controller settings.
• The game responds to the controller only while its window has focus. If buttons stop working after you switched programs, switch back with Alt+Tab.
• If some buttons work but the triggers or bumpers don't, include the game log in your report; it names your controller and notes any controls that weren't mapped. From a command prompt in the game folder, FreightFate.exe --controller-diagnostics also records every button you press to controller-diagnostics.log.

Truck behavior

Give the truck time to build 100 psi of air after starting the engine. Repeated hard braking uses that supply, so if it runs low, stop somewhere safe and let it rebuild. Detailed status reads the primary, secondary, and trailer tanks.

A loaded truck takes longer to accelerate. The automatic gearbox shifts for the load and road; the manual has ten forward gears.

If the load is close to the weight limit, check before filling the tank. Fuel adds to gross weight, and the fuel menu shows the projected total. A CAT Scale checks the axle groups as well.

Set the parking brake once you're stopped. Pulling it at speed brings a hard stop and can flat-spot the tires. With it set, K, or Y on a controller, holds high idle until you release the brake.

On open road at twenty miles per hour or above, K starts adaptive cruise. In supported low-speed zones, it starts speed keeper instead. The control follows traffic and leaves a wider gap in bad weather.

Plus and Minus move the cruise target outward to the next multiple of five: from 32, Plus selects 35, then 40. On a controller, hold the right bumper and press D-pad right or left. Hold Control to adjust one mile per hour at a time. Space tells you which mode is active, its target, and whether conditions are holding you below it. Braking cancels the control; Shift+K resumes. A pickup pauses the session through loading and saving, then resumes it after departure.

J switches on the engine brake, and 1, 2, or 3 selects two, four, or six cylinders while it's enabled. On a controller, the right stick click switches it on, and the right bumper with the right stick click steps to the next stage. A lower gear and higher RPM give it more braking effect. Alt+J chooses automatic stage management or manual selection. Listen for town noise restrictions: the game warns before fining you for using it, with exceptions for downhill grades and emergencies.

Truck damage and being out of service

Service the truck before wear stops the trip. Worn tires lose grip, worn brakes fade more readily, and a worn engine loses performance. Each tractor keeps its own wear, damage, fuel, and winter equipment. Arrange service when a component reaches 80 percent wear. At 100 percent, that component puts the truck out of service. The garage can replace tires, reline brakes, and overhaul engines.

Damage	What the truck does
Under 50 percent	No damage-related power reduction.
Past 50 percent	Reduced power. The engine holds back and burns more fuel for the same work.
Past 75 percent	Limp mode. Reduced power, plus a road-speed cap of 45 miles per hour you cannot drive out of. The cap eases in over a few seconds rather than snapping on.
Past 85 percent	A spoken last call that names the out-of-service threshold before you reach it.
Past 90 percent	Out of service. The truck may not be driven. It can still crawl clear of a live lane, because leaving a stricken truck stopped in traffic is worse, but the run does not continue under its own power.

The damage readout names a band as well as a percentage, so you can hear how serious the condition is. An out-of-service truck can move enough to clear traffic, but it needs help before continuing the trip.

Owners pay for roadside repairs and lose several hours; they still need further garage repair afterward. Company drivers get carrier-paid service and a yard spare. Preventable equipment trouble can also affect their record and dispatch trust.

Preventable damage can cost a safety bonus and add a deductible. Repairing it on the road doesn't erase that consequence: settlement uses the deepest damage band reached during the trip. Correct reactions to hazards don't count as preventable damage. Unsafe equipment that's visible on the road can attract an inspection. A company driver's tractor at 40 percent damage or more goes through the carrier shop when the next load is accepted, at no charge and an hour on duty.

Mountain driving

Before a hill, G tells you the grade, its length, how the truck is performing, and the next relevant hill. On a controller, G and D are in Driving commands, under Driving status. Sustained grades of three percent over three quarters of a mile are normally announced ahead. With Quiet or Urgent only speech, check the grade with the G hotkey.

Set your speed and gear before starting down a mountain. The engine brake helps hold a steady speed; use the service brakes in short applications with time to cool between them. Holding the service brakes continuously builds heat and fade. Take hot-brake warnings seriously.

D gives a safe descent speed for your truck and load. If descent control and cruise are enabled, they manage speed, gear, engine braking, and intermittent service braking. Be careful on ice: strong engine braking can break traction.

Predictive cruise looks ahead for hills. It prepares for a climb, allows some speed loss at the crest, and avoids adding speed just before a descent. If the climb is too much for the set speed, it tells you.

Taking curves

Get down to the advisory speed before entering the bend. The call gives you its direction, distance, and speed with room to brake. U reads upcoming bends, and D gives the current safe speed. For a tight pair of bends, follow the lower advisory.

Steering and road sounds

With the default steering guide, steer toward the side the engine leans. If lane keeping and curve assistance are both off, hold toward the called turn to follow the road. Partial lane keeping or curve assistance follows the bend while you correct drift. Full lane keeping does the steering, and arrow taps request lane changes. On a controller, the left stick steers as far as you push it; with full lane keeping, a push left or right requests a lane change instead.

The steering guide tells you which way to correct; road noise tells you where the truck sits. Road noise on the right means you're right of center. You can reverse the steering-guide convention in settings or move it from the engine to a soft tone with Lane guide sound. I adds a continuous lane-position tock with partial lane keeping or lane keeping off.

Listen for warning-bar thuds before a hairpin. A side marker thump means a tire has crossed the line. Rumble-strip stutter, then buzz, then gravel tells you you're moving farther off the road on that side. Correct gently. Hard braking with the trailer wheels in dirt can make recovery worse.

On an undivided road, crossing the centerline puts you into opposing traffic. At the bend's end, the verdict tells you whether you held your line, caught the edge, or entered too fast.

Winter driving

Snow, ice, and freezing rain leave you less grip, particularly on worn tires. Steer and brake gradually. The engine brake needs care too; a strong setting can be more than the tires can hold.

Equipment	What It Does
Winter tires	A fresh set in a winter compound. Better grip on snow and ice all season, no speed penalty, normal wear. Company drivers ride on whatever the carrier specs.
Snow chains	A set kept in the truck's side box until you hang them. Chains rule ice and packed snow, but demand chain speed, around 30 miles per hour, and they grind apart fast on bare pavement. Snapped chains are replaced at the garage.

To fit or remove chains, stop and open the pause menu. The work counts on duty, and doing it in darkness takes longer and adds fatigue. Once they're fitted, keep near thirty miles per hour. Take them off when you reach bare pavement, before they break.

Level 1 chain law accepts winter tires or chains. Level 2 requires chains on the drive axles. Ignoring the requirement brings a base citation of 580 dollars before multipliers.

Traffic and sharing the road

Traffic moves around you throughout the trip. Vehicles can slow, brake, merge, pass, and form queues. Allow extra time for rush-hour traffic on busy metro roads. If you're gaining on a vehicle ahead, ease off before the gap becomes a problem.

Following and passing

L checks your lane and the space beside you; on a controller, choose Lane position in Driving commands. Check it before moving over, then listen for clearance before returning after a pass. Traffic sounds help you notice a vehicle, but they don't replace that lane check. A car may be beside you even while you're concentrating on an exit or a curve.

Adaptive cruise follows traffic and leaves a wider gap in poor weather. It doesn't steer. With full lane keeping, the truck can pass slow traffic and return when there's room; it won't start a pass within two miles of an exit. You still need to respond to hazards and debris. If you missed the clearance announcement, L gives you another check.

Listening to nearby vehicles

A passing vehicle grows louder as it draws alongside, then fades as it moves ahead. Its position in the stereo field helps you hear which side it's on. At a controlled ramp crossing, cross traffic moves across the sound field. Stop for the control and wait for a clear gap before pulling out.

On an on-ramp, mainline traffic stays to your left and grows more distant as the ramp moves away. The distant freeway sound also follows traffic activity, so a busy highway sounds different from a quiet stretch at night. Use Learn game sounds if you'd like to hear a cue on its own before meeting it on the road.

Traffic reports and hazards

Open the Traffic app for the current traffic situation, or listen to the GPS announcements as you drive. A report with no slowdown ahead doesn't promise that every lane is clear. Keep checking the road and nearby vehicles.

When the game says Brake now, respond promptly. Some hazards need your speed below twenty-five. A Change lanes or brake call names an available lane; use it if you can, or brake nearly to a stop for an object. If the call says No lane open, brake. The construction and exits guide explains lane closures and how to leave the highway.

Road events, weather, and rest stops

The GPS announces state lines, towns, route changes, work zones, tolls, and useful stops. Listen for lane closures and the approach to your planned exit.

Construction and exits

Slow as the work-zone limit steps down, and leave a closing lane when instructed. Continuing past the urgent barrel warning causes damage, a 1,000 dollar citation, and a serious violation. That citation is charged once per zone and isn't doubled again for construction. If the road itself reduces the lane count and repositions you, there's no penalty for that move.

While you're rolling, T plans the next stop where you can sleep. With planning hints enabled, it selects the recommended break or sleep stop instead. Press T again to cancel the plan.

Planning the stop doesn't signal for its exit. X sets or cancels that signal separately. On a controller, the right bumper with D-pad down plans the stop and D-pad down signals. The call names the exit and its ramp control, and the blinker starts near half a mile out.

With partial lane keeping or lane keeping off, move right and steer into the exit lane once it opens. Stay at road speed until you're in that lane, then slow to the exit speed before its curve. Full lane keeping handles the lane moves and the destination exit.

If you miss the destination exit, follow the next safe turnaround. A blocked lane may prevent you from entering, so listen for the recovery guidance rather than forcing the move.

Ramp ends and gates

At a ramp light, you'll hear each change in its steady cycle. Stop for red. At yellow, stop if you safely can; entering on yellow is permitted. A stop sign needs a complete stop and a clear gap before you pull out. Listen for the sensor tick becoming faster near the stop bar. The game clock runs in real time through these controlled ramp intersections.

When the way is clear, pull ahead as directed. Facility stopping assistance can manage the pedals on the way to the gate, while speed keeper handles any city streets between. Pressing your brake cancels that pedal assistance.

Local streets have their own limits and corner calls. Each corner is called with its distance and the speed to take it at, and the turn's chime plays with the call, on the side you turn. Take a corner faster than about three miles per hour over that speed and you miss it: the truck goes around the block and comes out on the street you missed, a few minutes later. Traffic controls aren't modeled throughout the street network. A driveway takes you into a yard at fifteen miles per hour; where there isn't a driveway, the gate may be on the street.

Stop services

Once you're fully stopped at a supported stop, T opens its services; on a controller, hold the right bumper and press D-pad down. Depending on the location, you can buy fuel or food, shower, take a break, sleep, arrange repairs, weigh at a CAT Scale, walk around the truck, check in for inspection, request roadside help, or save. Public rest areas often have neither fuel nor repair. Even when a lot is full, you may still be able to buy diesel.

A meal or coffee can reduce fatigue for a while. A half-hour meal also meets the break requirement. Fueling may earn a free shower at that visit. Food and showers come out of your own pocket; a company pays for equipment care. Some supported stops offer loyalty rewards you can spend there.

A CAT Scale weigh takes ten on-duty minutes and reads the steer, drive, trailer, and gross weights. The tandem limit is 34,000 pounds and the gross limit is 80,000. The first weigh costs 15 dollars and 25 cents. A reweigh at the same scale within 24 hours costs 5 dollars and 25 cents. Company drivers bill the carrier.

For an open scale, slow into its lane, signal with X, stop, and use T to check in. On a controller, signal with D-pad down and check in with the right bumper and D-pad down. A required scale takes priority over a sleep plan.

Don't wait for an empty tank before looking for fuel. Warnings tell you when it's near fifteen percent and when your range won't reach the next fuel stop or destination. The fifteen percent warning names the next fuel stop. Truck stops, fuel stations, service plazas and truck parking lots say Fuel or No fuel as they come up. An owner pays for rescue; a company driver takes a service-record hit.

Weather and calendar

V reads the weather and simulated forecasts. Conditions affect much of the drive, including grip, visibility, safe speed, cruise gap, drag, fuel use, and sound. A career begins on March 21 and moves through the seasons as you drive and rest. Check the date with the C hotkey, open status, or check at the terminal.

Live weather normally controls the calendar. If you want the career calendar to advance independently, turn that option off. An established career starts its independent calendar on today's date, and conditions are adjusted to its season. At a terminal, the temperature comes from a live station when available; the game tells you if the reading is still loading.

Time zones

In accelerated modes, you hear the truck's local time and announcements when you cross a time-zone boundary. Appointments use the receiver's time and include the day. Real time uses your computer clock as the local game clock. Aligning that clock doesn't change the time left on a delivery or the duration of your hours limits. Daylight saving isn't modeled.

Enforcement, your record, and your CDL

Police and inspectors can charge violations they observe. The dash alert when you're more than seven over the limit is a warning without a fine; braking quiets it. When a posted limit drops, stop accelerating and slow toward the new limit during the allowance.

If a trooper signals you, press X, or D-pad down on a controller, and brake to a stop for the license and logbook check. Ignoring the lights leads to escalating warnings. Slowing may end in a forced stop and a failure-to-stop citation.

After the final warning, twelve seconds of highway-speed driving or acceleration without braking triggers pursuit. Fleeing can damage the truck, cancel the load, take time for processing, and add a major offense to your record.

CB reports tell you what another driver saw and how certain they were. Treat them as information that may be out of date. Alt+C repeats a report with the distance updated; U gives the road-feature readout.

What a citation costs

Until level 10, officers give you a warning instead of most citations: no fine, no reputation lost, and nothing on your record. Speeding 15 or more over the limit, driving through the barrels, failing to pull over, running an open scale, and anything that puts you out of service are still cited.

Citation	Base fine
Unsafe equipment	2,300 dollars
Running an open scale	1,800 dollars
Failing to pull over promptly	1,500 dollars
Driving through the barrels	1,000 dollars
Following too closely	600 dollars
Chain law	580 dollars
Improper lane use	500 dollars

Speeding fines start at 250 dollars below ten over the limit, 400 from ten over, 1,000 from fifteen, 1,600 from twenty, and 2,500 from thirty. Fleeing has a 5,000 dollar base fine. Construction doubles applicable fines, with the barrel citation excluded.

Your record can increase the charge too. Each step adds half the base until it reaches double. For example, scale bypass costs 1,800 dollars, then 2,700, then 3,600. Record and construction multipliers combine, so repeat thirty-over speeding in construction can reach 10,000 dollars.

Inspections and CDL suspension

Recent citations and out-of-service orders make an inspection more likely. A Level 1 inspection checks paperwork and equipment and takes about 45 on-duty minutes. Critical defects hold you for repair. A clean inspection decal normally lasts three months, unless your record draws further scrutiny.

A Level 3 inspection checks the license and paperwork in about 15 minutes. Roadcheck week in May increases inspection chances. Before departing, a fifteen-minute walk-around can reveal the defects an inspector would find.

Serious violations include driving fifteen or more over, reckless driving, unsafe lane changes, tailgating, failure to stop, barrels, and repeated fatigued driving. Two within three years suspend your CDL for 60 days. Three or more mean 120 days, and suspensions run consecutively. Fleeing disqualifies you for a year the first time and for life the second.

During a suspension, you can't take driving work, and an active or saved drive ends. You keep your level, experience, endorsements, and equipment. Career stats and Driver status let you review the record and hear what another violation would mean.

When you owe money

If you can't cover a charge, it becomes a balance owed. A quarter of later settlements goes toward debt and advances together, leaving three quarters as take-home. You can't take a new advance while that debt is being collected. Check Career stats or Driver status to hear the balance, its ceiling, and what happens if you reach it.

You'll hear warnings when debt begins, passes halfway, and gets close to the ceiling. For a company driver, the ceiling is eight average settlements or 6,000 dollars, whichever is larger. For an owner, it's sixty percent of tractor resale value or 12,000 dollars, whichever is larger.

At the ceiling, a company driver loses that carrier job and moves to Great Lakes Training Transport. An owner's lender takes the tractors, and the driver returns to company work. The debt closes and cash becomes zero. You keep your level, experience, endorsements, record, and other belongings.

If you're already at Great Lakes, debt stops at the ceiling. Excess is written off while repayments continue. The game presents the outcome in a report you can review.

Hours of service and fatigue

Your legal hours are the same in both hours modes: eleven driving hours after ten off, a fourteen-hour duty window, and a thirty-minute break after eight cumulative driving hours. Relaxed reduces enforcement pressure; it doesn't extend those limits.

Any thirty consecutive minutes without driving can meet the driving-break requirement. Loading and inspections can count, but they won't reset the duty window. Moving the truck for work counts even when you're bobtail.

Check your hours before choosing how far to continue. Alt+A reads time used, Alt+S tells you when the break is due, and Alt+D reads both shift limits with reachable legal rest. C gives the clock, deadline, and nearest limit. On a controller, D-pad right reads the clock with all of these limits in one report. Before each limit you'll hear one warning: with one hour left in the Relaxed driving mode, two hours in Standard, and two hours, one hour and thirty minutes in Real time. A limit the trip ends inside gets no warning. When you leave with a load, the departure line says your driving time left, your fuel, and whether the run needs a break or a sleep.

A half-hour break won't solve a shift that's ending. Check reachability again if traffic or weather slows you down.

Ten hours of sleep resets your legal hours. At supported parking, you can also use two, three, seven, or eight hours in the berth to make an 8+2 or 7+3 split. The long half pauses the duty window. The short half counts until you complete the pair, then the game recalculates the duty between rests. If a nap leaves the window running, the description tells you when it closes.

Open Logbook to review your current duty, limits, daily totals, and earlier entries with their place and reason. While driving, the ELD app gives your hours and reachable stops. If an inspection finds you over hours, it orders a ten-hour hold and explains what that does to the deadline.

Night driving builds fatigue faster and leaves you less reaction time. When a nod-off warning sounds, respond by steering or braking. The left stick and left trigger answer it too. Miss it and the truck heads onto the shoulder; three successive misses force a stop. The first asleep departure is a preventable incident, and later ones become serious fatigued-driving violations.

Coffee only buys temporary relief. A break helps more, and full sleep clears fatigue.

If a lot is full, it may offer a motel at your own expense. Sleep 10 hours in the lot gives poor rest; proper sleeper parking gives full rest.

Away from route points, stop fully and use T or the pause menu for emergency shoulder sleep. On a controller, that's the right bumper with D-pad down, or Start for the pause menu. A nearby stop takes priority. Shoulder sleep secures the truck and resets legal hours after ten hours, but fatigue remains. You also risk a ticket or damage, and the delivery deadline keeps advancing.

Team driving

On a load too long for one shift, a co-driver can take the wheel while you rest in the sleeper. Dispatch pairs a company driver with a classmate from Great Lakes Training Transport for one load. An owner-operator keeps the co-driver they have teamed with most.

When the rest of the delivery would need a ten-hour break, the pause menu offers two rows, each naming your co-driver:

• Hand the wheel to Dan and ride along. The drive goes on at the normal pace. You hear the truck and the radio, and the road's announcements stay quiet.
• Hand the wheel to Dan and sleep. The co-driver's shift runs ahead without waiting, with the sound off. You wake when they need you, with a summary of how far they drove and where they fueled.

The pickup menu offers the same choice once the load is on: Depart with Dan driving, and ride along, or and sleep. Each row's help names the co-driver and the pay terms.

Team loads. Some long loads on the dispatch board are booked for a team. Their details say "Team load". They pay about a third more, and the deadline leaves no time for a ten-hour break, only for changing drivers. You can still drive a team load alone, but you will be late unless the co-driver takes their turns. Trip hours in the job details and the route plan at the shipper count on those turns, so they name no ten-hour sleep. With stop planning hints on, the hint near the end of your hours names your co-driver instead of a sleep stop.

While the co-driver drives, the keys that move the truck do nothing. The information keys still answer, and Tab, the apps and the pause menu still open. If the radio was on, the co-driver may change the station or switch it off for a while; once you change it yourself, they leave it alone. A radio you left off stays off.

The first time a load can be shared, the game says so once, at the shipper's dock or in the pause menu. After that, a long load's details on the dispatch board say "Co-driver: offered at the shipper's dock or from the pause menu, on your current hours."

The co-driver uses every assist, fuels when the tank runs low, crosses the open scales and pulls over for a trooper. They hand the wheel back:

• parked at the next stop with parking once you have had your ten-hour rest, which comes before a fresh co-driver's hours run out;
• parked at a stop, when their own hours run out first, and they tell you how much of your rest you had;
• at a rest area for their 30-minute break, or on the road if they could not reach one in time;
• at the receiver's gate, so you can dock and deliver;
• when the truck takes damage, or something else needs your decision.

To drive again sooner, pause and choose Take the wheel back.

Who they are. Once you have run a team load, Career stats has a Co-drivers list: everyone you have teamed with, how many loads you ran together, and a line or two about them. The Driver status screen reads the same story for the co-driver on your current load. Nothing reads it to you unless you open it.

What it costs. On a company job, miles the co-driver drives pay you half. An owner-operator pays their co-driver 30 percent of the settlement for those miles, and still pays fuel, tolls and upkeep. Those miles earn half the career experience. The settlement names the co-driver's miles and share. Badges for how a haul was driven, such as a long run with no tolls, are not earned on a team load, and the road journal notes who drove.

Your hours. Time while the co-driver drives counts as sleeper-berth time, whether you ride along or sleep. Ten hours of it resets your legal hours and clears your fatigue. The co-driver keeps a logbook of their own. The Driver status screen says who is driving. It, C and the Take the wheel back row all say how much of your ten hours you have rested and when the co-driver hands back, for example "Rest: 3.5 hours of 10 hours. Dan hands back in about 6.5 hours." The ELD app reads both logbooks. If you were already rested when you handed over, the co-driver drives until their own hours run out.

Status screens

Use a readout hotkey for a quick check of fuel or time left. Press Tab, or the right bumper and Start on a controller, to open the full status reports by topic.

Key	Controller	Information
Space	B	Speed, gear, and speed control, plus RPM with a manual transmission and air or brakes when they need attention. With the signal set, how far to the exit.
F	Right bumper plus B	Fuel level and estimated range.
C	D-pad right	Clock, deadline, estimated arrival, and the nearest hours-of-service limit.
Alt+A	Driving commands	Time at the wheel so far this shift, and time on duty.
Alt+S	Driving commands	When your 30 minute break is due.
Alt+D	Driving commands	What ends this shift, both clocks, plus the next legal stop.
R	D-pad up	Route progress and GPS context.
V	D-pad left	Weather and forecast.
Alt+C	Driving commands	The last CB chatter again, with the distance as it is now.
M	Right bumper plus right stick up	Toggle the in-cab radio.
Page Down / Page Up	Right stick right or left	Tune the radio to the next or previous station.
; / '	Right stick left or right	The same, on keyboards where the Page keys are awkward: semicolon tunes to the previous station and apostrophe to the next.
Ctrl with any tune key	Right bumper plus right stick left or right	Jump to the previous or next dial category: route playlist, Freight Fate stations, your playlists, favorites, terrestrial, AFN, satellite, international, fallback, web radio, and other stations.
Shift with any tune key	Right stick up or down; hold it to keep stepping	Change the in-cab radio volume in 10 percent steps: up on Page Up or Shift+semicolon, down on Page Down or Shift+apostrophe. Works whether the radio is on or off, and speaks the new level.
O	Right bumper plus right stick down	Save or unsave the current station as a favorite. Favorites become their own early dial category and play from anywhere on the map.
Y	Right bumper plus left stick click	Speak radio station, source, signal or fallback state, volume, and streamer-safe status.
Shift+Y	Right bumper plus Back	Speak what the radio is playing right now.
Tab	Right bumper plus Start	Grouped driving status screens.

Screen	Information
Route	Review your progress on the current route.
Driver	Driver name, money, load, objective, truck fuel and damage, transmission, fatigue, hours, and deadline.
Map	Route cities, highways, progress, next guidance, upcoming stops, map points, and toll exposure.
Radio	Current station, stream-safety state, approximate reception position, and currently receivable stations.
Driver apps	A tablet-style app menu for Radio, Navigation, Weather, Traffic, Truck stops, Road chatter, and ELD.
Driving commands	Every driving command by name. Choose one to run it and return to the road. This is how a controller reaches the commands with no button of their own.

Inside a report, Up and Down move through the information, Enter repeats what you selected, and Escape returns. On a controller, use the D-pad, A, and B. See Driver apps for the individual app walkthroughs.

Driver apps

Press Tab while driving, or the right bumper and Start on a controller, and choose Driver apps from Driving status. You'll find Radio, Navigation, Weather, Traffic, Truck stops, Road chatter, and ELD. Choose an app with Up and Down, then Enter. In a report, Up and Down move through the information and Enter repeats what you selected. Escape returns to Driver apps; from there, Escape takes you back to Driving status. On a controller, the D-pad moves, A opens or repeats, and B goes back.

Radio app

Radio opens a menu where you can switch the radio on or off, tune a station, save or remove a favorite, browse stations in range, and suggest a station. Search stations lets you type part of a name, call sign, or format and press Enter for results. Results show 25 at a time; use the Next page and Previous page rows, or PageDown and PageUp, to reach the rest. Browse by category lists all stations or one category, such as Terrestrial or Web radio, in the same 25-row pages. Stations in range come first, local terrestrial ahead of web radio, and a station that repeats is listed once; out-of-range stations follow. Choose a result and press Enter to tune it. A station marked out of range here cannot be tuned from your current location.

Favorites gives you a shorter list of stations you've saved. The Radio report under Driving status is useful for reading reception and playlist information; open the Radio app when you want to choose a station. The radio guide explains the dial, signal changes, personal music, and music settings.

Navigation app

Navigation reads your next guidance, route progress, and next listed exit. Open it when you want to review an instruction without waiting for the GPS to announce it again. For a broader view of cities, highways, and upcoming stops, choose Map under Driving status.

Weather app

Weather tells you where the report comes from, how old it is, what conditions are like, and the suggested safe speed. With live weather on, it also lists any active weather alerts, so you can hear a warning again after it was announced. Simulated weather also gives you a forecast of what's coming next. A live report may have no forecast. If a live check is still updating or has failed, the app tells you; check how old the last report is before relying on it.

Use the weather's safe-speed guidance alongside the curve, grade, traffic, and truck conditions. V gives a quicker weather readout when you don't need the full report.

Traffic app

Open Traffic to hear about traffic ahead, including how far away a reported vehicle is and how fast it's moving. If there's no current traffic report or reported vehicle ahead, you'll hear that there's no reported pinch in the next twenty miles. That doesn't guarantee an empty road. Keep listening and use L before changing lanes.

Truck stops app

Truck stops lists up to three upcoming route stops within the next hundred miles, with their distance and services. Check it before committing to a stop: a public rest area may offer parking without fuel or repairs. If the app finds no listed stop in that range, look farther ahead in Map and consider your fuel and legal hours before continuing.

After comparing stops, use T to plan a rest stop while rolling and X to signal for its exit. On a controller, those are the right bumper with D-pad down, and D-pad down. Once you're stopped at a supported location, T opens the services you can use there.

Road chatter app

Road chatter gives informal reports from other drivers, including possible enforcement ahead. Reports may be stale, and a patrol report doesn't give a guaranteed position. In hours modes without enforcement, those reports are quiet. Alt+C repeats the last CB chatter with the distance updated to where you are now.

ELD app

ELD brings together your hours summary and route guidance about legal rest. Use it when you're deciding whether you can reach the next stop before a limit. It also reminds you of Alt+A for time used, Alt+S for the break, and Alt+D for what ends the shift. Check again if traffic or weather makes the trip slower than expected.

Pause, save, and resume

Escape pauses the drive and opens its menu. On a controller, Start pauses, and Start again resumes. If you're stopped, Call dispatch lets you report a delay or ask about hours, road conditions, equipment, and freight. Dispatch can arrange roadside help if the truck needs it.

Choice	What It Does
Resume driving	Return to the active drive.
Trip status	Review your load, destination, progress, hours used, and air pressure.
Call dispatch	While stopped: report a delay, or ask about hours, the road ahead, truck trouble or the load. Dispatch can send the roadside mechanic.
Controls and help	Open the how-to-play reference at the driving keys, page by page, without leaving the drive.
Learn game sounds	Hear any sound the road uses and what it means.
Call a roadside mechanic	Patch severe truck damage enough to continue, at a high cost.
Install snow chains	While stopped with chains in the side box: hang the chains. Takes real minutes, more in the dark, logged as on-duty work.
Remove snow chains	While stopped with chains mounted: take them off before bare pavement grinds them apart.
Emergency shoulder sleep	Rest on the shoulder when stopped away from route points; warnings get stronger when hours or fatigue are urgent.
Settings	Open settings during the drive.
Drivers on duty	Hear who is hauling right now on orinks.net. Viewing the list shares nothing about you.
Abandon job	Pay a penalty and return to the origin city.
Quit to main menu	Return to the title. The drive resumes from your last stop, not from where you quit; quitting while moving asks first.

The game saves at terminals, supported road points, and important trip transitions. If you quit while moving, it asks first. When you return, you'll resume from the last saved stop, not the exact point where you quit. Pickup objectives, approaches, facility visits, and loaded trips can all continue from saves.

Destination and settlement

Follow the destination exit into the local streets and yard. Stop at the gate and confirm arrival. If you want to review the expected settlement before unloading, choose Check paperwork. Dock and deliver completes the handover.

Choice	What It Does
Dock and deliver	Unload the trailer, sign the paperwork, and open settlement.
Check paperwork	Review facility, cargo, payout, deadline, damage, tolls, approved charges, driver charges, and net pay before settlement.
Check arrival status	Review facility, cargo, speed, and next step.

Unloading uses on-duty time. When it's finished, settlement explains the load's condition, elapsed time, whether you were on time, and the money involved. You'll hear gross pay, reimbursements, driver costs, net pay, and your cash balance, along with truck condition and career changes.

On-time delivery pays ten percent extra. Arriving even earlier doesn't add another bonus, while late freight pays less. Company tolls and approved accessorials don't reduce driver wages. Tickets you've already paid aren't charged a second time.

Damaged freight can bring an exception deduction, a claim, or a refusal with no delivery pay. A fragile load tolerates less abuse than bulk freight. Hard braking, fast bends, and collisions can all affect the cargo. If you can't cover the resulting charges, they become debt.

Settings walkthrough

Settings save as you change them. Use Up or Down to choose a setting, then Right or Enter for its next available value, or Left to go back to the previous value. On a controller, the D-pad does the same, and A selects the next value. Gameplay contains driving assistance, difficulty and hours, world and traffic, and controls. Audio, Speech, Updates, Problem reports, and Online have separate choices where supported.

Driving assistance and speed keeper

Choose how much driving you'd like to handle yourself. Realistic keeps safety support but leaves you to steer, while Balanced adds help following the road and stopping at facilities. All assists keeps the truck centered in its lane, takes route exits, and limits assisted descents to 55 miles per hour.

Adjusting an assistance setting changes the preset name to Custom. Your driving pace, legal hours, transmission, weather and traffic sources, and separate options stay as they are. On the first-launch screen, Escape keeps your selection.

For downhill assistance, choose Off, Realistic, Balanced, or Interactive. Interactive applies to downhill control only; it isn't a preset for all your driving assistance. Following gap lets you choose close, normal, or far spacing behind traffic. Emergency braking, lane-departure warnings, stop-and-go, exit speed, facility stopping, curves, and route transitions each have their own settings too.

Exit speed assistance slows you down once you're in the deceleration lane for your selected exit. Depending on your settings, stopping or transition assistance may also provide that braking. Near a facility entrance, facility stopping assistance handles the accelerator and brakes, and can pull away when the ramp light or stop sign allows it. Speed keeper helps with the streets in between.

Press the brake whenever you want to take over the pedals. You still choose optional stops and confirm delivery yourself.

Curve assistance slows you before mapped bends and helps steer through them, even with lane keeping off. You'll still need to correct any drift. It keeps you at the suggested speed through the bend, then lets you accelerate again. Pressing the brake takes over the slowing for that bend; the steering help continues.

Cruise can pause for a tight bend and resume afterward. You'll usually hear the assists use engine braking for a larger speed correction or a downhill stretch. Where engine-brake noise is restricted, they normally use the service brakes instead.

Full lane keeping centers the truck and takes route exits. Use the arrows, or push the controller's left stick left or right, to request lane changes. Partial follows the road but allows gentle drift, so you'll steer for lane changes and exit entry. With lane keeping off, bends are yours unless curve assistance is enabled.

Releasing the arrows, or letting go of the left stick, squares the truck with the road. Slash does the same while another key is held. The presets set lane keeping to off for Realistic, partial for Balanced, and full for All assists.

Speed keeper covers the slower parts of a trip: local limits, corners, and queues. It hands over to cruise when you reach open road. If you turn it off, use the pedals until cruise can resume at twenty miles per hour.

Predictive cruise checks about a mile and a half ahead for hills. Curve callouts are optional, and U and D still answer when those callouts are off.

Latching brake is on by default, for the keyboard brake; the left trigger doesn't latch. Tap the brake, then press and hold it again for half a second. A click and spoken confirmation tell you it's latched, so you can release the key. Press the brake again or accelerate to take it back. The throttle never latches. These independent accommodations and cue volumes aren't changed by presets.

Settings reference

Press F1 on a setting in the game, or Back on a controller, to hear its explanation.

Difficulty and hours of service

Choose the driving pace first. Relaxed gives you more time to react, Standard compresses the trip, and Real time follows the computer clock. Hours of service is a separate choice: its relaxed setting reduces enforcement pressure without granting extra legal driving hours.

Setting	Purpose
Driving mode	Choose Relaxed, Standard, or Real time. The explanations below help you choose your pace.
Hours of service	Choose realistic or relaxed legal limits. Both use the same 11-hour driving limit, 14-hour duty window, and break after 8 hours. Relaxed reduces fines, inspections, and random hazards.
Hours of service planning hints	Off by default. On, when the delivery is out of legal reach, the cab suggests a break or sleep stop once, with time to spare before the next hours warning, and names the last stop you can legally reach if it suggests an earlier one. While rolling, T plans that stop; press it again to cancel. Quiet and Urgent only driving speech skip the spoken suggestion.

Choosing your driving pace

Relaxed passes about ten minutes of road and clock for each real minute, and gives you the most time to react. All the driving systems remain available, but you'll face fewer random hazards, have longer to respond, and receive calmer routine announcements. Collisions and fatigue are more forgiving too.

Standard brings balanced timing and consequences. Distance and time move twice as fast, about twenty minutes for each real minute, so a driving day takes half the real time. Decisions arrive sooner, without the extra forgiveness of Relaxed.

Real time uses Standard's level of challenge and follows your computer's date and time. The driving clock runs in real time on the road and while parked. Pair it with real-world weather if you'd like conditions to follow the world outside. Matching the clock doesn't change your delivery time remaining, career progress, or hours of service.

In the faster modes, the pace eases toward real time when you're moving slowly. If you deliberately wait while parked, time passes at double your selected pace. Breaks and sleep at stops advance time the same way in every mode.

You can change modes from the pause menu during a trip. The new pace takes effect when the truck next stops.

World and traffic

Here you choose where the game's weather, traffic reports, and fuel prices come from. Use simulated conditions or available live sources to suit the kind of trip you want. These choices are separate from online profile sharing.

Setting	Purpose
Weather source	Switches between simulated weather and live conditions for your current route position while driving. Route planning checks live city conditions along the route when available.
Traffic source	Switches between simulated traffic incidents and live reports from state 511 services when available.
Fuel prices	This week's national average, the default, puts the federal weekly diesel price at every pump, with each region's usual difference on top. Simulated draws a price per region for the session.
Parking source	Switches between simulated truck parking and live availability when available.
Live weather controls calendar	When on, live weather uses today's real date and season. When off, live conditions continue while the career date advances at midnight and its seasons pass.
Facility streets	On by default: you drive the real streets between the highway and a facility, turn by turn. Off, as in version 1.8, the exit ramp ends at the facility gate with no light or stop sign, a loaded run leaves straight onto the highway, and a pickup in town is one stretch of road. A change applies from your next drive.

Controls

This is where you change units, transmission, and eligible shortcuts. Open Keyboard shortcuts or Controller buttons to change an assignment. In-game help will name the control you've chosen, so you won't have to translate the default key names while driving.

Setting	Purpose
Units	Switch speed and distance between miles and kilometers.
Transmission	Switch between automatic and manual transmission.
Automatic direction changes	In an automatic, both styles now change direction the same way: a fresh press held at a standstill. A brake held through a stop just holds the truck. The setting remains for familiarity.
Controller	Accept controller input alongside the keyboard. The keyboard always stays active. While it is on, it names the controller the game is using.
Haptics	Use controller vibration for hazards, hard braking, rumble strips, and road seams.
Visual display	On by default: the game window draws the road, the dashboard, menus, and captions of what the game says. Off keeps the window dark and saves battery. Speech and sound are the same either way.
Keyboard shortcuts	Choose the control you want to change and press Enter, then press your preferred key, with Shift, Control, or Alt held if you want a chord. A key another control already has is refused by name; Escape keeps the current key. The pause key, Enter, F1, F2, the Control keys that stop the voice, plus and minus, the radio dial keys, and the message review keys stay fixed. Choose the reset option to restore every default shortcut.
Controller buttons	Choose the controller action you want to change and press Enter, then press your preferred button, with the right bumper held for the second layer. Press its current button to keep the assignment. Start, Back, the bumpers, the triggers, and the sticks stay fixed.

Audio settings

If one sound is covering another, adjust that sound's volume rather than lowering everything at once. Music, radio, engine sounds, and driving cues have separate settings. Lane and edge cue volume lets you make the guidance easier to hear without changing the whole mix.

Setting	Purpose
Master volume	Overall game volume.
Gameplay cues volume	Horn, alerts, road, facility, and gameplay cue sounds.
Lane and edge cue volume	Make rumble strips, shoulder sounds, the lane locator, and hairpin warning bars easier to hear. This works alongside Gameplay cues volume and adjusts only these road cues. Quieter keeps them below the engine, Standard brings them to its level, and Louder helps them stand out. Assistance presets leave your choice unchanged.
Steering guide	Which way to steer when the engine sound moves to one side. Steer toward the engine, the default, or steer away from the engine, for drivers used to that from audio racing games.
Lane guide sound	What leans toward the side to steer: the engine, the default, or a soft tone panned the same way, for setups where the engine is hard to place.
Weather sounds volume	Rain, wind, thunder, snow, and fog sounds.
Engine sounds volume	Engine start, shutdown, and running engine sounds.
Engine sound	Real plays the engine recorded from a working truck cab, following the RPM through its range. Classic keeps the original engine sound. Changes apply immediately, even while driving.
Engine brake sound	Recorded, the default, plays the real engine brake growl. Classic plays the synthesized growl from earlier versions. Changes apply at once, even while driving.
Music volume	Menu and facility background music volume.
Music source	Choose Original or Synthesized music. Changes apply immediately. See Choosing music for your drive for what each plays.
Music seed	The seed determines the music the game composes. Press Enter to type a whole number, perhaps one another player shared with you. Escape keeps your current seed. Left or Right chooses a new seed and reads it aloud so you can share it. Changing the seed changes all the synthesized music and restarts the current piece immediately.
In-cab radio volume	Driving radio music volume. It defaults lower than speech and safety cues.
Radio streamer-safe mode	Limit the radio to built-in safe stations while streaming or recording. Off by default. See Choosing music for your drive for how it works with Synthesized music.
Shuffle personal playlists	Play your music in a random order. Off by default; see Playing your own music.
Game sounds step back for speech	Off by default. On, the engine, weather, and radio drop to half volume while the road voice speaks, then come back.
Menu and UI sounds volume	Menu movement, selection, warning, and cash sounds.

Speech settings

Driving speech controls how much the game announces automatically. Standard includes fuller updates and traffic calls. Quiet and Urgent only reduce those automatic announcements; your readout keys still answer when you need information. Roadside chatter and place names have their own controls.

Setting	Purpose
Language	The language the game speaks. Automatic follows your system language when the game has it, and English otherwise. The radio, its station IDs and other recordings stay in English. To correct a translation, see the lang folder's README in the game's source, or open a Translation correction issue on GitHub.
Driving speech	Standard gives full confirmations, status updates, traffic calls, and a driving tip once per route leg. Quiet keeps short spoken updates, including lane openings, assist confirmations, costs, and navigation, but not the traffic around you or tips. Urgent only speaks safety warnings and directions requiring action; achievements earned at the wheel wait silently in message review. Anything else a setting leaves out makes no sound and stays out of message review. Readout keys always answer on demand. Billboards, place names, and landmarks keep their own switches below.
Roadside chatter	The ambient color spoken between navigation cues: entering parks and forests, named river crossings, mountain passes, museums and attractions, and parody billboards. One master switch turns it all on or off, and each kind has its own switch below it. Safety and navigation speech is never affected, and town names have their own Place callouts setting.
Place callouts	How much the GPS says about places along the road. Sparse, the default, speaks only the town names that explain a speed limit change, like Entering Strawberry right before its 35. All adds the towns the route passes through or skirts. Off silences place names entirely. Speed limit announcements themselves are never affected, and no tier ever reads out every place on the map.
Menu position announcements	When on, menus say the position, like 3 of 10, after each option. Turn off to hear only the option.
Say when a career is backed up	How often you hear that a career is backed up to your orinks.net account: every time, the default, once a session, or never. Backups keep going either way, and a refused backup is always spoken.
Driving event voice	Routes road events through the main voice or a separate software voice when available.
Output	Speech and braille is the default: you'll hear the game's messages and, with NVDA or JAWS, receive them on your braille display too. Choose Braille only to play without speech. Menus, readouts, and road events all go to the display, including messages normally spoken by the driving event voice. Braille only requires NVDA or JAWS; with another voice source, the game keeps speaking and explains why. If your screen reader closes during a drive, speech returns until it is running again.
JAWS arrow keys	Appears only when JAWS is your screen reader. JAWS reads each arrow key with its own script, which waits for the screen to change, so menus answer slowly and held arrows lag. Faster adds a small script for this game to your JAWS settings, in your own user folder, so the arrows answer at once. Default removes it. The game touches only its own two files there, and leaves alone any script of the same name that it did not write. Restart JAWS if nothing changes. With JAWS, tapping another key while you hold an arrow keeps the hold for a moment, but the truck can still stop accelerating after a few seconds, so tap the arrow again to keep going.
Speech rate	Appears only when the current voice source supports rate changes.
Speech pitch	Appears only when the current voice source supports pitch changes.
Speech volume	Appears only when the current voice source supports volume changes.
Speech voice	Appears only when selectable voices are available.

Online menu

You can browse public driver information without sharing your own. Connect an account when you want private cloud backups or a public profile, then choose which sharing options to keep enabled. Profile sharing and cloud backup can be switched off independently.

Item	Purpose
Driver directory	Browse public driver profiles, with active drivers first. Enter opens a profile; Check again refreshes the list. Viewing it shares nothing about you.
Drivers on duty	Hear who's playing and what they're doing. The list refreshes about once a minute; Enter opens a driver's public profile. You don't need to share your own profile to view it.
Say when drivers go on or off duty	Hear when other drivers start or finish playing. Off by default, and urgent driving messages come first. No account is needed.
Online services	Turn orinks.net services and Discord presence on or off together. Your individual choices are remembered. Live weather, traffic, and parking have separate settings.
Account achievements	Browse achievements from all your careers on this computer in seven categories. For one career's record, use Achievements on the main menu.
Your profile	Read your public driver profile as other players hear it. Requires a connected account and Profile sharing.
Set up orinks.net account	Connect an existing account using your browser. The account and backup guide explains setup.
Open my driver setup page	Open orinks.net to change your driver name, manage profile sharing, or sign out other computers. If the browser can't open, the game copies or reads the address for you.
Profile sharing	Choose whether to share your driver profile, activity, achievements, and road journal.
Back up saves to your orinks.net account	Keep private backups after saving, for recovery or play on another computer.
Restore a cloud backup	Choose a backed-up career to restore, or use Back up this career now to upload your current save.
Automatic cloud retention	Keep up to ten cloud careers. Replacing a cloud career leaves its local save intact.
Discord presence	Show broad activity, route, and cargo in Discord. On by default while Discord is running; no driver profile is needed. It clears after half an hour idle and never shares saves or personal details.

Problem reports

Problem reports shows where the game log is saved. It includes the spoken output from your session and stays on your computer unless you share it.

Setting	Purpose
Where the game log is saved	Find the log for your current session, including what the game said. The previous session's log is kept too, so restarting won't immediately lose it. You can attach the log to a report; the game doesn't send it automatically.

Audio, speech, and accessibility

The window shows the core information the game speaks. Speech can come through an available screen reader or system voice, including NVDA, JAWS, ZDSR, PC-Talker, BoYing, SenseReader, System Access, ZoomText, Narrator, VoiceOver, Orca, and Speech Dispatcher. You can start a reader during a drive and have the game pick it up without restarting.

You can give driving events a separate voice. Either Control key stops that voice, as does Back on a controller while it's speaking, and message review lets you return to anything you missed.

If a sound is unfamiliar, open Learn game sounds, select the cue, and press Enter, or A, to hear it. F1, or Back, explains its meaning. Haptics also reinforce seams, lane edges, hazards, and braking.

The game window

Everything in Freight Fate can be played by ear, and everything the game says can also be seen, for sighted and low-vision players and for anyone driving with a friend watching.

• Menus and screens appear as a large-print panel with the selected choice highlighted and a count such as 3 of 9.
• While you drive, the window shows the road from behind your truck: your lane and the lanes beside you, the traffic around you with brake lights and signals, bends and hills as they come, and the signs on your route, including speed limits, curve warnings with their advisory speed, work zones, exits, rest areas, weigh stations, state lines, and billboards. The sky follows the time of day where you are, and rain, snow, fog, and storms show as they happen.
• The dashboard shows your speed with the posted limit and cruise speed marked on the dial, engine speed and gear, fuel, air pressure, truck and cargo damage, warning lights such as the parking brake and low air, turn signals, the next bend and your next turn, the time and weather, how far you have left, and a traffic display of every vehicle within half a mile.
• Blind-spot lights glow amber on the truck's mirrors, with the lane shaded on the traffic display, while traffic holds the lane beside you. They answer the same way the "lane open" announcement and the L key do: change lanes only once the light on that side is out.
• Captions show each announcement for a few seconds, so nothing the game says is missed.

The window can be resized or made full screen, and everything scales with it. To turn the drawing off, set Visual display to off under Settings, Gameplay, Controls; the window stays dark and uses less power. The game also stops drawing while its window is minimized or, on a Mac, covered by other windows.

Category	Examples
UI	Menu movement, selection, warning, cash, pause, unpause, and notification sounds.
Engine	Engine start, shutdown, idle, and RPM-tracking running engine audio.
Vehicle	Horn, gear shift, parking brake, brake air, road noise, road seams, collision, rumble strip, and fuel pump sounds.
Weather	Rain, snow, wind, thunder, and fog sounds.
Route events	Hazards, construction zones, inspections, state crossings, traffic slowing, and toll charges.
Facilities and stops	Facility gates, docks, rest stops, and weigh station lanes.
Music	Menu, facility, day-driving, and night-driving music pools.
In-cab radio	Keyboard-controlled driving music and safe station status.

Radio and playlists

Switching on and tuning

With the engine running, M switches the radio on or off. Page Down or apostrophe tunes forward, and Page Up or semicolon tunes backward. Hold Control to jump between categories.

For volume, hold Shift: Page Up or semicolon raises it by ten percent, and Page Down or apostrophe lowers it. O saves the current station as a favorite, or removes it if it is already saved. Y reads radio status, while Shift+Y gives available song information.

On a controller, the right stick runs the radio. Push it right or left to tune, and up or down to change the volume; hold it to keep stepping. With the right bumper held, up turns the radio on or off, down saves a favorite, and right or left changes category. The right bumper with the left stick click reads radio status, and the right bumper with Back says what's playing.

Finding a station

Hold Control with a tuning key to move between route music, Freight Fate stations, your playlists, favorites, terrestrial stations, AFN, satellite, international, fallback, web radio, and other stations. This saves you from moving through the whole dial one station at a time. Open the Radio app if you already know the name or want to browse your favorites.

Radio status shows the stations you can receive. The Radio app lets you search, tune, and manage favorites. Regional stations fade as you leave their range. A favorite does not fade: once its signal thins, the radio plays the station's stream instead, and the signal reads as streaming. When a signal is lost, the game tries a clear local station, then a fallback if needed. A failed stream leaves the dial for that session. Roadhouse and Night Line are available across the map.

Choosing music for your drive

Original, the default, plays licensed menu and Roadhouse music. Synthesized uses music the game composes, along with the original three tracks from Freight Fate 1.5. It removes voiced breaks and fictional regional stations. Real streams and personal playlists remain available unless streamer-safe mode hides them.

Streamer-safe mode limits the dial to built-in safe stations. With Synthesized music, only the synthesized Roadhouse remains. You can still switch the radio on or off, adjust its volume, and check what's playing, but other station controls do nothing.

Playing your own music

To bring your own music, put an M3U, M3U8, or PLS playlist in the Playlists folder inside your saves folder. Radio status tells you where the folder is and reloads it when you open that screen. Playlist entries can point to files, network paths, or stream URLs. Supported formats include mp3, ogg, opus, flac, aac, wma, and tracker .it, .xm, .s3m, .mod, and .mo3.

Stations remember their position when you tune away. Your playlists normally play in order and resume where you left them. Turn on Shuffle personal playlists to hear every track once in a random order, with a new order each time through. Unreadable entries are skipped, and slow streams get time to connect. If none can play, the game explains the problem and names the folder.

Suggesting a station

If a station is missing, open Suggest a station in the Radio app. Enter its type, name, and stream address; Control V lets you paste. For AM or FM, include the call sign and state. City and frequency are optional. You'll need account setup and Online services enabled.

The service checks whether the stream plays and whether the station is already listed before sending your suggestion for review. If it's accepted, it can appear when you launch the game later, without a game update. A station with a matched transmitter location is available within reception range. If its license can't be matched to a location, it's listed as web radio instead. You can also use the station suggestion page. The streamurl.link site can help you find a stream address.

Achievements and career progress

Open Achievements from the main menu and choose a saved career. The menu reads how many achievements that driver has earned. Choose a category to browse its entries, using Up and Down to move and Enter to repeat an entry. Escape returns to the categories. On a controller, use the D-pad, A, and B.

Earned entries include their descriptions. Locked entries don't give you the same detail, and hidden achievements keep their names secret until earned. You can browse them between trips without starting or changing a career.

After your first dispatch, check Career plan at the terminal for your next goal. Career stats shows the level, reputation, deliveries, qualifications, and record that affect your opportunities. Business status explains your equipment and business position. Use those reports to plan for new freight, another truck, or own authority.

Online sharing and cloud backups

Use the Online menu to browse other drivers or choose your sharing options. To share your own profile or keep cloud backups, connect an account first.

Account setup connects an existing account through your browser. The game opens the sign-in page with an activation code and finishes connecting once you've signed in; the setup screen can also spell or copy the code if you need it. Connecting enables profile sharing and backup. You can turn either off afterward.

Your public profile can show lifetime earnings, but it doesn't publish current cash, full saves, coordinates, or precise location. Detailed career statistics need a validated private backup. Turning off sharing hides the profile without turning off backups. On the setup page, you can change names and revoke computers you've signed in.

Cloud backup uploads privately after each save and keeps ten accepted revisions per career, for up to ten careers. Connecting your account enables it. Restoring verifies the signature and keeps the replaced local save as a fallback. Back up this career now sends a backup immediately. Removing an old cloud career doesn't remove the local one.

Common questions

Do I have to buy a truck?

No. As a company driver, the carrier assigns your truck and pays for its fuel, repairs, and insurance. Buying trucks opens with the owner-operator buy-in, from level 18. Business status lists the other requirements, and Business status in this manual explains the costs.

What are the fleets on Career stats?

Each fleet is a set of carrier trucks that dispatch assigns by level: the yard standard truck to start, the regional fleet at level 4, the long-haul fleet at level 9, the premium fleet at level 13, and first pick of the yard at level 17. Moving up costs you nothing. Career stats names the fleet your truck comes from and the level for the next one.

Why am I in a different truck on some loads?

Until level 9, dispatch matches a spare truck to each load: a sleeper for a long run, a heavy-spec truck for a heavy load, a day cab for a short turn. Each spare keeps its own fuel and wear. From level 9 you keep one truck for every load until dispatch moves you up to the next fleet, at level 13 and again at level 17.

Why am I not in the truck my level earns?

Low dispatch trust, a suspended CDL, debt, or your driving record can hold equipment back. Career stats names the reason and what brings the truck back.

What is the difference between reputation and dispatch trust?

Reputation is a score out of 100 built from your deliveries and lowered by your driving record. Its descriptions are Outstanding (90 and up), Well regarded (75 to 89), Established (60 to 74), Unproven (40 to 59, where every new driver starts at 50), Shaky, Damaged, and Ruined. Dispatch trust lines add it as, for example, "Dispatch trust: full. Reputation 85 out of 100." In Settings, Speech, Score display can speak both the description and number, the percentage only, or the description only. Dispatch trust is what the carrier lets you do right now: how much of the board you see, how many loads you can refuse, and which truck you get. Your CDL, your record, and what you owe count toward it as well as reputation. See Dispatch trust.

How many levels are there?

Thirty. Owner-operator and own authority open along the way; Business status lists the levels.

Why can I not accept a load?

It may need a certificate, endorsement, or trailer you do not have. Press F1 on the load to hear its requirements, then visit Licenses and training.

Why did I get a citation at a weigh station?

When you hear "Open weigh station ahead", every truck must pull in. Press X to signal for the scale exit, stop at the scale, then press T to check in. A closed scale is not announced, and you can drive past it.

Why is the speed limit 55 on a fast highway?

Some states, California among them, hold trucks below the car limit. S names the state when the limit you hear is a truck limit.

Why do I keep getting speeding tickets?

S tells you the posted limit and how far over you are. The dash overspeed chime is a free warning, so slow down when you hear it. Automatic speed control holds no more than five over the posted limit and prepares for sharp limit drops.

I missed my exit. What now?

Keep driving and follow the turnaround guidance to the next safe place to turn. R reads the distance left.

The truck will not move. What should I check?

Fuel, the engine, air pressure, and the parking brake. Damage, worn parts, or a suspended CDL can also stop the truck. See When you need help.

How do I reverse?

In an automatic, stop fully, release the brake, then press and hold the brake again. To go forward again, stop with the accelerator, release it, then press and hold it again. Driving controls has the details.

How do I know when a hill ends?

G reads the grade under the wheels and the next grade worth planning for.

How do I change stations or play my own music?

With the engine running, M switches the radio on, and Page Up or Page Down tunes. Put M3U, M3U8, or PLS playlists in the Playlists folder inside your saves folder; Radio status says where it is. See Radio and playlists.

Can I hear a weather warning again?

With live weather on, the Weather app under Driver apps lists active alerts. Comma also steps back through recent messages.

Can I steer the truck myself?

Yes. Choose the Realistic preset, or set lane keeping to off, under Settings, Gameplay, Driving assistance. Taking curves explains steering by sound.

Can I play in braille only?

Set Output to braille only under Settings, Speech. It needs NVDA or JAWS.

When you need help

If the truck won't move, check the basics first: fuel, engine, air pressure, and parking brake. Damage, wear, or a suspended CDL can also stop you. Roadside help can restore fuel or mobility.

If your controller doesn't respond, see If the controller doesn't respond.

If you're trying to rest, T opens a supported stop when you're fully stopped or plans rest while rolling. You need to stop completely before shoulder sleep. For a missed destination exit, follow the turnaround guidance.

If you can't resolve a problem while playing, open Problem reports. Where the game log is saved tells you where to find the record of what happened and what the game said. You can include it in a report. The log stays on your computer unless you share it.