HANDS-ON: Euro Truck Simulator 2 – Go East expansion

An expansion to the cult PC simulation game Euro Truck Simulator 2 has launched in the UK – and PCR has tested it out.

Developed by SCS Software, Euro Truck Simulator 2: Go East adds 13 Eastern European cities from four new countries – Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia – bringing the total number of cities, which already covered the UK, Belgium, Italy and the Netherlands, to more than 70.

Many may approach the game as a po-faced simulator, but the game itself seems to have a sense of humour. Player display avatars include a variety of moustachioed hillbillies and grinning lady-truckers, and players can turn on real-life internet radio from across Europe in their truck (PCR went for a particularly amusing French heavy metal station).

That’s not to say that the game is total goof, either. The controls are true-to-life, with virtual truckers able to control nearly every aspect of their vehicle, from headlamps and windscreen wipers to trailer hitching.

The model of each truck’s cab compartment is lovingly recreated, and players can use the mouse to look around and even stick their head out of the window – which also means they’ll hear the noise of the rushing wind. Similarly, real-life locations and landmarks can also be spotted by players.

Euro Truck Simulator 2 wasn’t just a driving simulator – it was a management simulator too, and as in that, Go East players can earn their own truck, customise its lights, paint job and horns and then expand their garage by buying more vehicles and hiring other drivers in order to build up a fleet of trucks and a successful haulage business.

After a successful tutorial mission delivering potatoes in the Polish city of Katowice, PCR was assigned a job running yoghurt across the country, in order to pay for our very own truck. Several minutes and many driver errors later – including a considerable number of fines for speeding and driving on the wrong side of the road – and it looked like we just weren’t cut out to truck, but that wasn’t going to put us off and we eventually managed to purchase a fancy-looking machine to explore the massive open world.

The original Euro Truck Simulator 2 was a cult hit, receiving positive critic reviews, and it seems that the Go East expansion is set to be as big a success, currently (September 20th) sitting at number one in Amazon’s PC simulation game chart.

Euro Truck Simulator 2: Go East is out now, and is available bundled with Euro Truck Simulator 2, which is required to play the add-on, in the Euro Truck Simulator 2: Gold pack.