European Truck Sim 2 | V1.38 Update Preview Images

Paul Jeffrey · Jun 23, 2020

SCS Software are currently busy developing a major new update for their European Truck Simulator 2 title, and with such visual improvements planned, it feels like a great time to drop some preview images!

As seems to be the standard procedure with SCS Software, this upcoming new build release is set to be packed full of new features, content and improvement to existing aspects already available within the game. As well as updating the title to build 1.38, SCS are also looking to deliver quite a bit of graphical improvement to the French city of Lille, a location that already exists within the sim, but is about to get much more detailed...

SCS Software have spent plenty of time updating the vegetation within the region, bringing it up to modern standards whilst also reworking much of the road network and junctions - to bring the area closer to its real world layout.

To get an idea of the changes that have taken place, have a look at these interesting before and after comparison shots below:

We don't yet have a release date or full details about what is expected to be included in V1.38 of ETS 2, so stay tuned for more information as and when it becomes available.

Original Source: SCS Software blog

European Truck Sim 2 is available exclusively on PC.

Keep on truckin' folks - but spare a minute to pop over to the ETS2 sub forum and get the conversation with our awesome community flowing!

dwightyone · Jun 23, 2020

Would love to know whether they are going to turn their attention to updating the UK map anytime soon

Patrik Marek · Jun 23, 2020

so we are never going to get that BUS extension ?

cool see updates, but maybe it's time to go to new engine all together

would love if you coulds start with smaller trucks or even VAN and just do deliveries in Cities

robokun · Jun 23, 2020

dwightyone said:
Would love to know whether they are going to turn their attention to updating the UK map anytime soon

I agree, there comes a time when they need to stop adding new countries and improve the quality of the older ones, the biggest problem with SCS is constantly pumping out new maps yet not updating the actual game with new improvements and features.

FeltHat · Jun 23, 2020

Where did that euroPEAN come from?

MarcG · Jun 23, 2020

If ever a game needed to "move on" it was this one, sure it's nice they're refreshing old content but there comes a time when they'll need to think about ETS3 and improve the experience overall not just in the looks department.

Still thankful for this though, new screens do look great.

robokun · Jun 23, 2020

MarcG said:
If ever a game needed to "move on" it was this one, sure it's nice they're refreshing old content but there comes a time when they'll need to think about ETS3 and improve the experience overall not just in the looks department.

Still thankful for this though, new screens do look great.

Indeed, problem is they have little desire to improve the actual game itself hence why they probably won't release ETS3 for a very long time, right now the development plan seems to be 90% mapping and 10% other stuff, that's not good enough.

I'm sure there's still a lot more they can do with the current engine, I mean they've added DX11 and now AO so there's no excuse.

DaVeX↯ · Jun 23, 2020

FeltHat said:
Where did that euroPEAN come from?

Isn't it missing the simULATOR part too?

turbo86 · Jun 23, 2020

MarcG said:
If ever a game needed to "move on" it was this one, sure it's nice they're refreshing old content but there comes a time when they'll need to think about ETS3 and improve the experience overall not just in the looks department.

Still thankful for this though, new screens do look great.

Why would they? There's no competition and therefore no need for substantial improvement or even a push for a new title.
Besides, the current "playerbase" of ETS2 and ATS don't even care about having something better or god forbid something new and more demanding.
I mean, the trucking sim fans stopped playing a long time ago. Having to install a ton of mods or even PAY for some in order to get more realism out of it....gets silly and boring really fast.
So the current playerbase is consisted mainly of casual people who see this as something "relaxing". Like an ASMR driving game. They don't want more realism, they don't want more challenge. All they want is something that will help them sleep. It's true i'm not making this up.

Damage Inc · Jun 23, 2020

MarcG said:
If ever a game needed to "move on" it was this one, sure it's nice they're refreshing old content but there comes a time when they'll need to think about ETS3 and improve the experience overall not just in the looks department.

Still thankful for this though, new screens do look great.

There's not much left of Europe to do now, so I'd say within 5 years at least ETS3 needs to be released. With better economy and seasonal weather top of my list.

FinFan · Jun 23, 2020

Patrik Marek said:
would love if you coulds start with smaller trucks or even VAN and just do deliveries in Cities

But that would mean they have to expand the existing cities a lot if you'd want in town delivery. With a handful of companies like there is now that would get boring pretty fast. Or you'd make courier deliveries from city to city. But you already got that and doing it with a smaler delivery van means you'd only get different cargo and a faster means of delivery.

MarcG · Jun 23, 2020

turbo86 said:
Why would they? There's no competition and therefore no need for substantial improvement or even a push for a new title.
Besides, the current "playerbase" of ETS2 and ATS don't even care about having something better or god forbid something new and more demanding.
I mean, the trucking sim fans stopped playing a long time ago. Having to install a ton of mods or even PAY for some in order to get more realism out of it....gets silly and boring really fast.
So the current playerbase is consisted mainly of casual people who see this as something "relaxing". Like an ASMR driving game. They don't want more realism, they don't want more challenge. All they want is something that will help them sleep. It's true i'm not making this up.

That's the thing, just because there's no competition doesn't mean they shouldn't improve the base game to be something much better than what we currently have. As above a better Economy System would go a long way, a more in-depth Garage/Driver Management System, a better all round graphical engine etc etc there's plenty of reasons to do an ETS3 I think.

Edit: ...and to think i almost forgot one other huge feature; A far better online System than the current "hack", mix that with a better Economy driven by players and you already have the base for ETS3

justfdl · Jun 23, 2020

turbo86 said:
Why would they? There's no competition and therefore no need for substantial improvement or even a push for a new title.

Well, if you don't like ETS2/ATS, there are other games to look at. For example "On the Road - Truck Simulator", which has a more detailed goods managing system, you can put several deliveries on the truck and have to make the deliveries to different customers. I try from time to time, but personally i run into bugs more often I would like to, but your preferences might be different than mine.

If you prefer a even more logistic approach, have a look at the early access game "Truck and Logistics Simulator", you'll even have to load your van or truck with a forklift yourself. Most likely going to get that to check it out.

If that's still not enough, steam lists the game "Alaskan Truck Simulator" as available soon, which is supposed to have some survival elements included, like getting attacked from wildlife while changing tyres. Most certainly are going to get this one asap. Following the game on steam is quite interesting, they publish a devlog with previews, I really hope it's going to go at least in early access soon.

So some competition is already there, some is coming up, each with a more involved games mechanic, maybe that's more what you are looking for.

RufGTI · Jun 23, 2020

The reason why SCS is not moving to ETS3 and a new engine is probably because the game has an extremely broad, mostly casual player base. Together with Sims 4, this could be one of the few remaining PC games that are still sold in large quantities in your local electronics store. Many of the ETS2 users are likely playing it on relatively simple hardware, which makes it very difficult for SCS to impose higher hardware requirements etc.

TizerisT · Jun 23, 2020

turbo86 said:
Why would they? There's no competition and therefore no need for substantial improvement or even a push for a new title.

Thing is, visible damage is now part of the genre. These 'old boys clubs' that try to ignore these aspects will need to adapt and change their ways..

justfdl · Jun 23, 2020

RufGTI said:
The reason why SCS is not moving to ETS3 and a new engine is probably because the game has an extremely broad, mostly casual player base. Together with Sims 4, this could be one of the few remaining PC games that are still sold in large quantities in your local electronics store. Many of the ETS2 users are likely playing it on relatively simple hardware, which makes it very difficult for SCS to impose higher hardware requirements etc.

But they just did that recently, moving from DX9 to DX11 (V1.36 I guess). And if you look into the steam forum, it actually produced some fallout with players with very old graphic cards not supporting the needed DX11 level. SCS even had to offer a beta branch freezing the update on the last level with DX9 available.

It's just there's no need to change anything, the business modell producing map DLC and some other content like trailers seems to work out, they even expanded quite some bit having to move to a bigger office space. Introducing a major version update limiting their income for development timespan and rendering a massive amount of mods useless and possibly anger their player base because of that might not be the best option for a studio with limited resources.

The game just caters to a different target group than players who are interested in damage models, rush deliveries racing style as a challenge, or economy simulations and driver management. And personally I think it's fine like it is. If I want to have a challenge, I play ACC, fiddle with setups and do a few online races, or do some events on DR2 trying to reach a two digit place on the global leaderboard. If i want do to a hardcore management sim, I'm ruling my replicants in oxygen not included trying to survive my questionable strategies. And if I had a rough day at work, I put on a chill internet radio channel, put on my VR goggles and drive a truck, without pressure, a limited traffic density I rarely enjoy in RL, watching a nice landscape with the biggest challenge to park the trailer. Some won't like that, but just because it's not working for them doesn't mean it can't work for others. There's a massive player base for such a niche market, if you compare the active player numbers of ETS2 to any racing sim of your personal preference it will have twice or more active players at any given time, so it has to work for a lot of players like it is.

dbracedesign · Jun 23, 2020

dwightyone said:
Would love to know whether they are going to turn their attention to updating the UK map anytime soon

Would like to see the island of Ireland added too, but they may need to get updated soon after release

Koen Verlinde · Jun 24, 2020

turbo86 said:
Why would they? There's no competition and therefore no need for substantial improvement or even a push for a new title.
Besides, the current "playerbase" of ETS2 and ATS don't even care about having something better or god forbid something new and more demanding.
I mean, the trucking sim fans stopped playing a long time ago. Having to install a ton of mods or even PAY for some in order to get more realism out of it....gets silly and boring really fast.
So the current playerbase is consisted mainly of casual people who see this as something "relaxing". Like an ASMR driving game. They don't want more realism, they don't want more challenge. All they want is something that will help them sleep. It's true i'm not making this up.

Euro Truck Simulator 2 - Steam Charts

An ongoing analysis of Steam's player numbers, seeing what's been played the most.

steamcharts.com

It's one of the few games where the playercount keeps rising...

Look, it may not be your thing, but that doesn't mean you have to lie about the game, the playerbase and its popularity.

The best mod for the game (ProMods) is free, you just can pay for a faster download and to support their work.

Damage Inc · Jun 24, 2020

justfdl said:
It's just there's no need to change anything, the business modell producing map DLC and some other content like trailers seems to work out, they even expanded quite some bit having to move to a bigger office space. Introducing a major version update limiting their income for development timespan and rendering a massive amount of mods useless and possibly anger their player base because of that might not be the best option for a studio with limited resources.

Like I say above the "maps" expansions are going to dry up quick, within the next year or two at least, Iberia is coming this year so that leave the rest of the Balkan states and maybe (but I doubt it coz no snow) the northern areas of Scandinavia...after that Europe is done. Germany is being updated for free, UK hopefully (PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE SCS) next. Then Benelux upgrade, Austria, Czech and going East, lastly Scandinavia will get an update to modern map standard. After all the SCS will have to think about ETS3 because the money will have already dried up. It wouldn't surprise me if their working on ETS3 bones right now.