Fuel, Tolls, Loans: This ETS2 Mod Makes Your Trucking Company Expensive Again with Update 1.61!

Since our last look at Real Economy Reloaded, something important has changed first of all: The mod is not merely somehow launchable under ETS2 1.61. Developer ExiaRS explicitly updated it to version 1.61 on September 19. According to him, there were no major changes to the economic data crucial to the mod compared with 1.59, which is why the existing foundation remains compatible. In addition, minor adjustments were made to the police data, exchange rates were updated to the European Central Bank’s August average, and diesel prices were brought up to date as of September 14.

This also answers one of the most important questions from our older article: There is now an officially adapted version for ETS2 1.61. In the Workshop, the developer still currently describes the mod as intended for 1.59 and newer; the latest change note explicitly confirms 1.61. Nearly 95,400 players are currently subscribed to Real Economy Reloaded – so several hundred more have joined since our last article.

What remains interesting about the mod is that it does not make ETS2 artificially harder through astronomical vehicle prices. Instead, it targets the many small sources of income and expenses that eventually hardly hurt at all in the normal game. Diesel prices, ferries and tolls are more closely aligned with real costs, exchange rates are updated regularly, and the relationship between jobs, experience and income is also changed. According to the developer’s description, he regularly updates diesel prices – most recently to the level of September 14.

That initially sounds unremarkable, but it changes exactly the areas where ETS2 normally becomes generous very quickly. If a long trip costs more fuel, several toll booths are waiting along the way, and a huge profit margin is not automatically left at the end, then which job you accept at allsuddenly matters again. A longer route is then not automatically the better route just because a larger number appears as the reward at the end.

At the same time, Real Economy Reloaded changes the loan system and adds an insurance mechanic. Here too, the term “realistic” should not be taken too far: The developer himself points out that a completely real economy is not possible within the existing ETS2 systems. For example, the insurance system operates within what SCS technically provides in the game and does not reproduce a genuine European commercial vehicle insurance policy in every detail. The aim is rather for financing and ongoing costs to carry more weight than in standard ETS2.

The same applies to penalties. Real Economy Reloaded revises traffic fines and, with the current 1.61 update, also received minor corrections to police_data . Anyone who ignores speed limits or accumulates other violations should therefore feel the consequences more strongly in the company accounts. Especially with less starting capital, a fine is no longer just a number that briefly flashes in the top right and is forgotten five minutes later.

The decisive difference, however, lies in income. The mod changes experience points, rewards and turnover and thereby attempts to make advancement considerably slower. This affects not only the player, but also the economic balance of the hired drivers. That is also where one limitation of the mod becomes apparent.

The developer himself explained in the past that the income of hired drivers is technically connected to parts of the normal job market. If he simply increases AI drivers’ income significantly, other job rewards also rise as a result and the entire balance shifts again. In the Workshop comments, some players therefore report that hired drivers earn little at the beginning or may even generate losses for a time. This is not a value we measured ourselves, but a known discussion surrounding the mod – and a good example of why Real Economy Reloaded should not simply be described with the switch “make everything realistic.”

That is also precisely what makes it appealing to players who have eventually found the standard ETS2 trucking company too easy. In the standard game, a growing driver company can eventually generate money almost independently of what the player does themselves. With Real Economy Reloaded, the decision of when to hire the next driver, when to finance another truck and when a new garage is truly affordable, can become considerably more important again.

Anyone wanting to try the mod for the first time should also not simply load their millions profile built up over years and expect to see the full effect immediately. The developer explicitly recommends a new profile, in order to build up the economy under the changed conditions from the very beginning. Technically, an existing career can of course provide a different starting position, but anyone who already has millions and employs dozens of profitable drivers is thereby removing a large part of the actual challenge.

For the intended gameplay experience, the modder also recommends activating the “Realistic Fuel Consumption” option in ETS2. At Norwegian toll stations, he currently recommends not using the Autopass function because the mod uses its own toll values there.

There is also an important limitation regarding maps. Real Economy Reloaded supports the base game and practically all official map DLCs up to and including Greece. RusMap is explicitly supported, whereas with large other map mods such as ProMods, the developer warns that they are probably not fully compatible. Anyone using an extensive map profile with several economy files should therefore not simply assume that everything can be combined without problems.

It is also interesting that 1.61 itself did not force the mod to undergo a complete rebuild. According to the developer, the major changes to the economy had already been made with 1.59. For 1.61, he was largely able to continue using his existing foundation. That is precisely why one should not expect the new mod version to suddenly have completely different rules from those it had in the summer. What is new above all is the confirmed compatibility with the current ETS2 version – not a completely reinvented economic system.

And that makes it easier to answer the actual question from our older article today. Real Economy Reloaded does not make ETS2 harder because hardly any money remains after each trip. Its approach is subtler: More expenses are based on real-world scales, jobs pay out less generously, loans and insurance carry more weight, and your own fleet develops more slowly.

Anyone who mainly wants to drive ETS2 in a relaxed manner and think as little as possible about their bank account will probably get little enjoyment from this. Those who, on the other hand, have reached the point where 500,000 euros more or less practically makes no difference will get back exactly what is often lost in the later vanilla game: economic pressure.

Perhaps that is also the best reason not to use Real Economy Reloaded on an old profile with millions, but to really start from scratch for once. After all, your first own truck feels completely different when the loan payment, diesel, tolls and the next job actually determine how quickly the company can continue to grow.

Has your ETS2 trucking company also reached the point where money practically no longer matters – or, when driving trucks, do you simply not want to turn over every euro as well?