you got my attention, and not just for the Deco on the truck. this also reminds me, apparently cabover rigs are apparently illegal in the US!

really? in all states? there must be a ridiculous reason for this

I just found this out myself not to long ago (it's probably another reason Optimus Prime got a longnose design in the CG movies). it doesn't prevent existing cabovers from being run; there's still some floating around. I can tell you, though, that there's no way european style caboves would fit through underpasses, especially those tall skinny Renaults. we'll have to look it up, but I bet it has something to do with blowover potential.

I've been researching, and these gripes come up
1. pain in the ass to get into (access in general)
2. drag coefficient (this is probably the ONLY time Americans countered europeans when it came to smoothness!)
3. rock hard ride
4. maintenence means dumping everything loose onto your windscreen when you tilt the cab foreward

the size regulations have changed, we don't need the short wheelbases level anymore (our cube vans, UD's, what's left of Isuzu, and what brits call "white Vans" fill the role, and the sheer long distance endurance needed in our rigs counters the benefits of the small turning radius and fuel economy of caboves.

btw, the US has completed the switchover to European inner city cargo style vans. we've had the Merc sprinter for years, and converted to ford's Transit a couple years ago. I've only seen one instance, so far, of GM's city vans.

1,3 and 4 are just

translation: too much of a literall pain in the ass. besides, I don't think you could squeeze too many euro style Class Eights under american overpases in the urban spots where they'd be handiest. I've seen heights running from 3 to 3.5 meters MAX. Americans have peeled off the roofs of MD box vans trying to get through shortcuts.

now i can´t wait for a game mod that brings euro trucks to the US^^

actually, we had one under the PS2. it was the european racing rigs. there was also the horrendous "bad Mother Truckers", and I believe there's a US PC trucking sim or two. there's probably a zillion mods for those porting over euro rigs. have a search, you may surprise yourself.

i play only ATS and ETS2 when it comes to Truck Sims^^