map, to make you really feel like
you’re trucking across Europe. When
we look at a new country to add to
the map, researchers look at
everything from road signs, traffic
laws, buildings, and even small things
such as grass and tree types. And, of
course, Google Street View is always
our friend.”
JOB SEEKER
One of the more surprising outcomes
of ETS2’s success is that it has
become, entirely accidentally, a sort
of propaganda for the trucking
industry. “Truck manufacturers don’t
see us necessarily as a marketing
opportunity for them, but more like a
stepping stone into the industry. They
also sometimes tell us that our game
makes the job look like a cool
adventure, and that is, of course, very
desirable to the transportation
industry in general.”
And while you’d think the last
thing a truck driver would want to do
after a week on the road is do it
virtually on their PC at home, you’d
be surprised. “Whenever we’re on
the road, traveling, and meeting
people at expos, we get a lot of truck
drivers stopping by and telling us that
they love the game. Even the younger
generation, who are learning to be
drivers or aspire to learn one day, say
it’s an inspiration for them. Someone
who recently learned to drive trucks
in real life told us that our game
actually helped them ace their
maneuvering test, and hearing that is
very satisfying for our team.”
more varied weather, and
multiplayer.” You can play Euro Truck
Simulator 2 online now thanks to the
TruckersMP mod, although it has a
few drawbacks, namely the roads
being completely devoid of traffic. So
it would be good to see an official
multiplayer mode from SCS itself.
“Euro Truck Simulator 2 was a
crucial factor in making SCS
Software what it is today. In the
beginning we were a small team,
loyal to making great truck sims, but
now there are over 140 of us. But we
still don’t have enough manpower to
take advantage of all the ideas we
have. We also want to thank the fans
who have been by our side from the
very start, and through many years of
development. We hope this is just the
start, and we hope to become bigger,
better, smarter and faster when it
comes to making games.”
SCS recently expanded the game
with a DLC pack called Beyond the
Baltic Sea, which adds 13,000
kilometers of new roads, countries
including Lithuania, Latvia, and
Estonia, a chunk of southern Finland,
and Russian territory. The rate the
studio works at is obscene, and with
every new piece of country added to
the map it gets better at creating a
sense of place. So whether you’re
driving through the rolling farmland
of France, the dramatic mountains of
Norway, or the rain-lashed
motorways of the United Kingdom,
Euro Truck Simulator 2 is the best
road trip on PC—and it doesn’t seem
like it’ll run out of gas anytime soon.TOP: Signs, police
cars and other details
change realistically
between countries.
LEFT: Hauling
oversized cargo is a
real test of skill and
endurance.By now, most developers would
have cashed in on the surprise
success of their game by releasing a
sequel, but SCS has resisted so far. I
ask Medek why this is. “Euro Truck
Simulator 2 has become such a
long-term platform for us that we
have never really made any
commitment to making a third game.
But if we did ever want to make a
new one, we’d have to do it from
scratch to justify it, and improve on
everything we have currently. But we
don’t have the time or the team size
for such a venture at the moment.”
Instead, SCS is staying relevant by
steadily improving the game. “We’re
constantly working on new features,
and we’re always upgrading the
engine, assets, physics, and scenery.
We also have a lot of common
requested features including seasons,BIG COUNTRY
How ETS2 has grown over the yearsKEYBase game (2012)
Going East! (2013)
Scandinavia (2015)
Vive la France!
(2016)
Italia (2017)
Beyond the
Baltic Sea (2018)