(MST/Speedmaniacs.de) – For Euro Truck Simulator 2, SCS Software officially launched the Open Beta phase for the upcoming version 1.59 on Thursday, April 16, 2026. ETS2 players can now for the first time visit the revamped cities, including Amsterdam, Groningen, Rotterdam, Brussels, Liege, and Luxembourg City, as part of the Benelux Rework project, and use new traffic routes such as the E40 or A2.
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In the far north, more precisely in Gothenburg, Sweden, the Volvo Trucks Experience Center (VTEX), including a test track exclusively for trucks, is waiting to be explored. From now on, all trailer variants equipped with refrigeration units are from Thermo King.
The routing, completely redesigned for V1.58, receives further improvements in V1.59 based on community feedback. Some of the features missed by players, such as information on vehicle damage and finances, are now available in a new widget. This is intended to provide quick access to necessary information about damage to the truck, trailer, and cargo, as well as display the account balance and average earnings over the last 7 days.
Benelux, Volvo Trucks Experience Center and much more
Another new feature is the “Tow to Road” function, which allows requesting assistance after the truck has overturned or gotten stuck in a ditch or on uneven terrain.
There are also changes in the design of the Skills screen, in the form of a presentation of information aimed at better overview and usability. This allows the current experience level and the next steps to be viewed together, while tooltips enable the exploration of further rank levels. Furthermore, SCS Software continues to improve the user interface. For example, the internal news banner has been revised, and tooltips are displayed when hovering the mouse pointer over a message. In addition, a longer excerpt of the news with clear instructions for action is displayed, and deactivated news is more easily recognizable.
User Interface and Navigation further improved
Gamers using a controller (gamepad) should now be able to navigate the world map more easily. An “Undo last pin” feature and revised settings for adding, removing, resetting pins, and areas to avoid complete the measures. Saving has also been adjusted and now uses the standard save icon instead of a black screenshot, and overwriting is now clearly described as such. Furthermore, cutscenes displayed after garage upgrades can now be skipped with the (B) button, and gamepad users benefit from improved D-Pad usage.
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There are also some adjustments to the traffic ambient sounds. According to official statements, the sounds have been attenuated and rebalanced to better match real-world perception, with less emphasis on distant engine noises and more on the quiet “road noise” of the tires. Honking behavior has also been slightly randomized to reduce repetitions. Overall, traffic should now feel less intrusive and be better integrated into the ambient soundscape.
Traffic Sounds, Height-Blend Effect and Maintenance of the Rerouting Feature
Improvements have also been made to the Height-Blend effect function introduced with V1.56. This ensures more realistic transitions between different surfaces such as grass, earth, or stone and uses a height map to seamlessly blend textures depending on height and slope. Derived Normal Maps can now be activated to free up GPU memory. Display issues have also been resolved to ensure more consistent and visually accurate results.
Temporarily, ETS2 long-haul truckers will have to do without the rerouting function. As the development studio explains, this has been deactivated to allow them to focus on maintenance and further development, as the current system no longer meets requirements. The revision will also take into account the numerous reports that reroutes do not work as intended. However, the change only affects the rerouting function. Random road events will continue to be available in the game.
How to try out Open Beta V1.59
The upcoming version 1.59 is now available as an Open Beta via Steam by navigating to LIBRARY, right-clicking on Euro Truck Simulator 2, then to “Properties”, “Betas”, and finally selecting “public_beta”. According to SCS Software, problems and errors that can manifest as unstable program behavior, crashes, and other limitations cannot be completely ruled out. The Open Beta serves to find and fix the causes of such unwanted disturbances before the regular update. Before installation, backing up your profile and save game files is not a bad idea to ensure that you don’t lose your previous progress in the event of a major error and can quickly restore the original state.
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