Time to fire up your trucks, ladies and gentleman, and this time we’re heading to France. The recently released Vive la France! DLC for Euro Truck Simulator 2 has greatly expanded the country, in-game, not in real life. SCS Software have released this expansion that added 20,000 km of new roads and highways, more cities, landmarks and, well, lots more. After having pulled my trusty Thrustmaster T300 RS out of its temporary storage location, I prepared to embark on my tour of France. It may have been a while since my last European tour, but nothing brings the excitement like some new DLC.
My plan of attack was to pick up where I had left off and work my way to France to see if the newly revamped and added areas looked decidedly different from older sections. However, first I had to get there, and it seems that I had tackled the last expansion into Scandinavia a bit differently. For whatever reason, I decided to completely start over last time around, and there I was marooned in Denmark at level one. No problem, I’ll just hop across the country with some quick deliveries. Down through the Netherlands and Belgium and then into France. Should be a nice refresher.
The game, however, had different plans for me. Having worked my way into the southwest corner of Denmark, I found no routes to my south. So new plan, I’ll head to Sheffield and travel down through England aiming to hit France in Calais. Although, once in Sheffield, this hit another snag, as I could not go south here either, so back over to Rotterdam, then to Hull and finally to Calais via Dover and the Chunnel. Phew, well I certainly got a feel for what else was around before exploring the new areas.
I immediately noticed that Calais looked pretty darn good. With some different road textures, the cities looking far more robust like their counterparts in American Truck Simulator. Planning to explore the coast a bit more, I made a stop at an also renovated Paris location. Now, I still haven’t even reached the proper area of the DLC, and already things have been looking great. SCS gave a lot of these areas a major revamp in their 1.26 update. They certainly look the part, as they were indeed a joy to drive through. Finally, we head on to the revamped and new portions of the map.
I made my way from Paris to Le Mans. It was quite the pleasant drive. The added details to the map have really given everything a more personal and authentic feel to them. The areas that got the update in 1.26 blended seamlessly into one another. Even the train ride under the tunnel didn’t leave me with any real sense of a jarring difference between the 2 areas, which is quite good as it was something I was a little concerned about to begin with.
The addition of some region specific industries is a nice touch as well. SCS has done a fantastic job of really adding a lot of small touches that make everything just feel more real. Even little things such as speed limit signs now also look rather fetching. I continued on my journey from Le Mans out to the coast and down to Bordeaux. Wow, there sure are a lot of toll roads in France. Luckily, I’m still doing the quick jobs, and my employer is picking up the tab. Taking in the sites along the way, I can really see the value added to the game with this DLC.
Yes, compared to what the rest of the map covers, it is a relatively smaller area, but my goodness is it ever a pleasure to drive in. I found myself sticking to the new areas, much like I did with the addition of Scandinavia before my hasty and puzzling total restart. Any road I could find I would swing down, and I still made my deliveries on time even with my sightseeing detours. I think I will prolong my French working vacation a bit longer.
Developer: SCS Software
Publisher: SCS Software
Platform: PC
Release Date: 5th December 2016
