These four features already make CTS 2026 better – and will be especially important for Vienna!

The first new feature concerns route planning itself. Bus routes can now be created as express routes. You can specify exactly which stops should be served and which should be skipped. A longer connection therefore no longer necessarily has to include every single stop along the way. This can be used, for example, to create a regular route with dense coverage and a faster express variant along the same basic route. ViewApp explicitly describes shorter travel times and fewer intermediate stops as the aim of this feature.

At first, this sounds like a specialist tool for players who build their own network particularly intensively. The second feature, on the other hand, is something practically everyone notices immediately: Buses and trams no longer have to stop at every stop when nobody there wants anything. If no passenger is waiting and nobody wants to get off the vehicle either, you can simply continue driving. This eliminates one of those little situations that becomes much more noticeable in a simulation after the hundredth journey than during the first playthrough: slowing down, stopping and accelerating again, even though there is actually no reason to do so.

This change in particular could be more important for the Vienna Expansion than it appears on a feature list. From October 13, we will leave Tramau for the first time and drive on a faithfully recreated real-world map. Included are the tram lines 37 from Schottentor to Hohe Warte, 38 from Schottentor to Grinzing and the bus route 35A between Spittelau and Salmannsdorf. More than 1,000 buildings have been recreated along the routes based on real-life models. Once the surroundings can suddenly be compared with the real Vienna, artificial processes during a journey also stand out more quickly. Being able to simply pass an empty stop is therefore a small detail with a fairly major impact on the overall impression.

The third new feature completely reverses the perspective. In free exploration, we can now actually take a seat and ride our own routes as a passenger. Instead of experiencing operations exclusively from the driver's cab or from outside, you can use this to see how the network you built yourself works from the perspective of the people it is actually operated for. This has a practical side effect, especially after creating a new route: stop spacing, route layout and the atmosphere of a journey can feel quite different from the passenger compartment than they do behind the wheel.

And here too, an interesting connection to Vienna emerges. According to ViewApp, the expansion is not only bringing a new setting, but is also explicitly intended to feel significantly different from Tramau. Street layouts, intersections, stops and numerous buildings are based on real-life counterparts. Not driving route 38 to Grinzing yourself for once, but simply watching from the window, should therefore make considerably more sense than on a map whose surroundings are entirely fictional.

The fourth new feature should particularly appeal to players who want to make their own operations as individual as possible: Announcements can be customized much more extensively. PC players can use their own audio files to replace the existing or predefined stop announcements. In addition, special announcements can now be triggered manually on supported IBIS devices. Some are already included, and custom special announcements can also be added on PC. We are deliberately summarizing both changes here as one new feature area – because in everyday use, both amount to the same thing: for the first time, the audio aspect of your own route can be made considerably more personal.

What is interesting is that ViewApp has not simply installed a universal button in every vehicle. Depending on the IBIS system, the special announcement is triggered differently. On the Vienna IBIS this is done via button 3, for example; on the Munich system via “Special announcement”, on Frankfurt IBIS via the speaker icon, and on buses via the ticket printer. The Mannheim IBIS does not currently support the feature. Differences like these are particularly important for CTS, because different driver's workplaces therefore not only look different, but are also operated differently.

However, these four points are only the visible gameplay aspect of Update 26.2.0. Existing vehicles have also been further revised in parallel. On the E1, the dead man's warning now has to be acknowledged using the designated dead man's button. On the Flexity, the windscreen-wiper controls were corrected, among other things; the ULF and Flexity have working pedals for the bell and rail brake, and further details of the 3D model were adjusted on the ULF. Adhesion also now reacts differently to high braking force, so that the wheels lock up less quickly.

There are also new or revised sounds for the E1, Tatra, ULF A1/B1, Flexity Vienna, GT6/GT8, R2.2b and Tramlink, as well as improvements to passengers and pedestrians. People should distribute themselves more naturally, deal better with obstacles and differences in elevation, and appear in incorrect positions less often. On consoles, environmental elements around Toriyama Allee were also optimized to improve stability and performance. Update 26.2.0 is therefore considerably larger than just these four new features – but the four points mentioned are the innovations that most immediately change the everyday operation of a route.

It is also noteworthy that several points from the roadmap published in May have already been completed. At that time, express buses, skipping empty stops and passenger mode were still listed as goals for the third quarter. Today, you can already try out precisely these things yourself. In retrospect, this makes the roadmap more interesting, because announced bullet points have now actually become playable systems.

For Vienna, this is a pretty good time. The Vienna Expansion will be released on October 13, 2026, for PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S and will be the largest expansion for CTS 2026 so far. Alongside the ULF A and ULF B, the Citybus C2 in solo and articulated versions will add suitable vehicles for the three real routes. Above all, however, the new city will not arrive on the CTS build from spring, but on a game foundation that has continued to evolve, especially in the inconspicuous everyday processes.

That is precisely why I find these four features almost more interesting than any single major feature. Express routes change network planning, empty stops change every individual journey, passenger mode opens up a different perspective on your own network, and custom announcements make operations more personal. None of these things alone sells an expansion. Together, however, systems like these ensure that a real city such as Vienna can later not only look attractive, but also feel more believable in operation.

Anyone who had already firmly planned to buy the Vienna Expansion can now purchase it in the official CTS Shop and redeem the Steam key directly. The expansion can then be played from October 13. The Vienna Expansion costs 49.99 euros; with our discount code SIMULATORENNEWS you get an additional 5% discount and pay around 47.49 euros. The code also supports our work at Simulatoren-News.

Vienna Expansion – €49.99; 5% discount with SIMULATORENNEWS

If you do not yet own CTS 2026, you can instead choose the Vienna Edition for 69.99 euros . It combines the main game with Vienna; with the code, the calculated price is around 66.49 euros. The Season Pass 2026 costs 64.99 euros and includes Vienna alongside additional content; with a 5% discount, that comes to around 61.74 euros.

CTS 2026 Vienna Edition – 5% discount with SIMULATORENNEWS

CTS 2026 Season Pass – 5% discount with SIMULATORENNEWS

Which of the four features is most important to you? Do you find express routes more interesting, or are you already happy to finally be able to simply continue driving past a completely empty stop? Do you use custom announcements – and which of these features do you think could make the biggest difference specifically on the real Vienna routes?