Euro Truck Simulator 2 Heavy Cargo Pack: Loads of Up to 61 Tons

SCS Software has released the Heavy Cargo Pack for Euro Truck Simulator 2. The DLC raises the stakes on European roads with loads of up to 61 tons, and it arrives alongside a free update to the base game.

What the Heavy Cargo Pack adds

The new freight runs from 28-ton metal centering up to a 61-ton locomotive. Loads that size need equipment to match, so the pack includes new high-tech trailers with steering axles, which turn their rear wheels to follow the tractor through tight junctions and roundabouts. Moving them takes planning: slow speeds, wide turns and careful route choices.

The Heavy Cargo Pack is sold on Steam for $5.49 CAD.

The free update

Every owner of the base game gets new content in the same release:

• New chassis options, including for the Mercedes-Benz Actros
• New accessories to customise a truck
• A Truck Analysis screen that shows how well a truck configuration suits a particular job, so players can see whether their engine, transmission and chassis can handle a load before taking it

SCS Software and the truck sim

SCS Software, based in Prague, has made driving games for most of its existence. Its first title was Hunting Unlimited in 2001; a year later it released Hard Truck: 18 Wheels of Steel. More than two dozen driving simulators followed, covering trucks and buses across North America and Europe, along with a detour underwater in 2005’s OceanDive.

The first Euro Truck Simulator came out in 2010 and, by SteamSpy’s estimates, sold around 640,000 copies on Steam. The sequel in 2012 was far bigger, with SteamSpy putting it at nearly 4 million owners on Steam by May 2017.

The studio’s newest game at the time is American Truck Simulator, released in 2016, with around 630,000 owners by the same estimates. Euro Truck Simulator 2 is no longer SCS Software’s newest series, but it remains the one the studio keeps expanding most actively, and paid packs such as Heavy Cargo sit alongside a steady stream of free updates.

Driving a 61-ton load

Heavy cargo changes how the game plays more than its size suggests. Weight affects everything: the truck accelerates slowly, climbs hills in low gears, and needs far more distance to stop. A load that is fine on a motorway can become a problem on the narrow roads around a factory, where the trailer has to swing wide to clear kerbs and parked cars.

A few habits make these jobs easier:

• Pick the truck for the load. A powerful engine matters, but so does traction. A chassis with two driven rear axles (6x4) copes far better on hills than a standard 4x2 with the same engine.
• Use the Truck Analysis screen before accepting a job. It shows whether a configuration can actually pull the weight on the planned route.
• Brake early and use the retarder or engine brake. On long descents the service brakes alone can overheat in real life, and in the game a heavy trailer simply runs away from a late stop.
• Check the route. The in-game map shows the whole path, so towns and tight junctions can be spotted before the load reaches them.

Fines and damage also scale with the job. A collision with a 61-ton locomotive is expensive, and the higher pay for heavy freight only makes sense when the delivery arrives intact and on time.

Where heavy haulage went next

The Heavy Cargo Pack proved popular enough that SCS Software returned to the idea. American Truck Simulator later received its own Heavy Cargo Pack, and Euro Truck Simulator 2 gained the Special Transport DLC, which goes further with oversized loads, set routes and escort vehicles that hold back traffic along the way. For players who enjoy slow, careful driving, these packs turned an occasional job type into a whole style of play.