From TramSim Vienna to CTS 2026: The Same City – But What Has Actually Changed?

When TramSim Vienna was released on October 29, 2020, ViewApp consistently focused on trams. The virtual Vienna map covered nearly four million square meters and included routes around the Ringstraße, through the Prater and into the south of the city. The focus was initially on Line 1, with further drivable sections such as U2Z and Line 71 added later. Vehicles such as Flexity, ULF and E1 also gradually expanded the game.

Six years later, some of these names appear again in City Transport Simulator. This can quickly create the impression that ViewApp is simply reaching into the old TramSim shelf, taking existing vehicles and buildings and placing them on a new map. But that impression is not correct.

Even in the announcement of Vienna for CTS 2026, ViewApp explicitly speaks of more than 1,000 newly created buildings. Streets, intersections, stops and the entire surroundings along the three lines are being created using the current technical system of City Transport Simulator and are being newly based on their real-life counterparts. The old TramSim buildings are based on a different technical foundation and also no longer meet the current quality standard ViewApp uses for the CTS Vienna map. Simply copying the old city would therefore have been neither technically nor visually viable.

This can also be seen in the geographical layout. TramSim focused heavily on the Ringstraße, the city center, the Prater and southern areas. CTS 2026 deliberately goes somewhere else. Tram lines 37 and 38 start at Schottentor and head toward Hohe Warte and Grinzing, respectively. In addition, there is bus line 35A between Spittelau and Salmannsdorf. Instead of rebuilding the same familiar TramSim streets once again, the expansion shows other parts of Vienna – with dense urban areas, Döbling and increasingly greener surroundings toward the outskirts of the city.

The distinction is even clearer when it comes to the vehicles. The new ULF A and ULF B of the Vienna Expansion are not vehicle models copied from TramSim. According to information from those involved in the development, the existing CTS models ULF A1 and B1 were used as the technical basis and the variants suitable for the new Vienna lines were developed from them. This, in turn, involved extensive adjustments. ViewApp itself confirms that the Vienna vehicles have their own driver’s cabs, controls, functions and sounds corresponding to their real-life counterparts.

That is an important difference. Continuing to develop an existing technical vehicle base is something completely different from recycling an old TramSim vehicle. Especially in a simulator, a vehicle involves far more than just a 3D model and textures: control logic, doors, sounds, driving physics, the driver’s workplace, lighting, weather effects and numerous interactive functions.

The fact that ViewApp is continuing to revise these vehicles can also be seen in this year’s updates. With the major CTS 2026 overhaul, vehicles were already adapted for the new dynamic weather and seasonal system and received, among other things, new sounds, working air conditioning and windshield wipers. Further bugs and details were corrected afterward. In the ULF, for example, interior issues and visible scratches were revised, followed later by further detail improvements to the 3D model as well as new or revised sounds.

Flexity and E1 also show why calling them “recycled” would fall short here. Both vehicles were further developed within the current CTS and received additional changes to their controls, sounds and functions in 2026. In the E1, for example, the dead-man’s control was corrected and the entire sound design was revised further. The Flexity received adjustments to its windshield wipers, display sounds and other functions, among other things.

The biggest difference between TramSim and CTS Vienna, however, lies in any case not in the model of an individual vehicle, but in the game surrounding it.

At its core, TramSim Vienna was a tram simulation. You boarded a tram, operated it in as much detail as possible and drove real routes through Vienna. City Transport Simulator 2026 takes a broader approach. Buses and trams exist in the same game, lines can be set up independently, timetables and vehicle assignments are part of it, and AI drivers can take over your operation. By now, there are express lines, the option to skip empty stops, Free Roam as a passenger and individual announcements. Vienna will therefore not simply become a new backdrop for the same old simulation, but part of a larger public transport system.

The 35A bus line shows this particularly well. A bus was simply not an issue in TramSim. In CTS, by contrast, the Vienna Citybus C2 drives through the same city alongside the ULF A and ULF B, in both solo and articulated versions. This means we no longer experience Vienna only from the perspective of the rails. Traffic lights, private traffic, stops and narrow streets feel completely different behind the wheel of a bus than from the driver’s cab of a tram.

And this also changes how the price should be assessed. 49.99 euros is a lot of money for an expansion, and there is no need to sugarcoat that. With DLC in particular, it is entirely legitimate for players to ask themselves before buying whether three lines are worth this price to them.

However, the discussion should take place on the right basis. This is not an old TramSim map with a few new textures and transferred vehicles. According to information from those involved in the development, Vienna now represents nearly two years of work. The more than 1,000 buildings were newly created for the current system, the routes were rebuilt and the Vienna vehicle variants also had to be developed or adapted based on current CTS technology. The official information about the newly created buildings and specially adapted vehicles fits this account exactly.

Whether this result is ultimately worth 49.99 euros to you, however, is something everyone must decide for themselves. More development effort makes a high price more understandable, but it does not automatically guarantee that every player will see enough value in it. That is precisely why the decisive test on October 13 will not be the question of how much comes from TramSim – because according to the current information, practically nothing comes directly from the old Vienna. What will matter is whether the nearly two years of work are also noticeable visually and in gameplay.

The comparison between the two games nevertheless remains interesting. It simply takes a different form now: Not “How much TramSim was reused?”, but “What can ViewApp do differently, technically and in terms of gameplay, with the same real city six years later?” TramSim showed Vienna as a focused tram simulation. CTS 2026 rebuilds a different part of the city, combines buses and trams and places the whole thing within a considerably broader transport system.

The only real constant is therefore above all Vienna itself.

Anyone who would already like to secure the new version can buy the Vienna Expansion now and redeem the Steam key directly. It will be playable on October 13, 2026. The expansion normally costs 49.99 euros. With our discount code SIMULATORENNEWS you also get 5% off in the official CTS store and pay around 47.49 euros.

Vienna Expansion – 5% cheaper with code SIMULATORENNEWS

Anyone who does not yet own CTS 2026 can get the main game and Vienna together in the Vienna Edition for 69.99 euros. Alternatively, the Vienna Expansion is included in the 2026 Season Pass for 64.99 euros . Our discount code also applies to both options, providing an additional 5% discount.

CTS 2026 Vienna Edition – 5% off with SIMULATORENNEWS

CTS 2026 Season Pass – 5% off with SIMULATORENNEWS

Did you play TramSim Vienna yourself back then? When comparing the old and new vehicles, can you clearly see how much ViewApp’s models have evolved? Do you find 49.99 euros more understandable given a real city that has been practically rebuilt from scratch – or are three lines still too few for you regardless of the development effort? And which part of Vienna would you like to see next in CTS after lines 37, 38 and 35A?