Great Britain is being completely rebuilt in ETS2 – even the map scale is changing!

The UK Rework is one of the largest map projects SCS Software has so far started for existing areas of Euro Truck Simulator 2. Great Britain was already part of the map when the game was released in 2012 and therefore differs considerably today from regions that were created many years later. Old road layouts, comparatively simple cities and frequently used standard assets now meet an ETS2 whose map design has developed significantly over more than a decade.

In other reworks, old areas are partially modernized or individual cities are rebuilt. For Great Britain, however, that is not enough for SCS. The developers have decided to rebuild the region practically from the ground up. The existing map therefore does not simply serve as a basis for nicer textures and a few new intersections, but is being fundamentally replanned.

One reason lies in a peculiarity that many players are probably not even aware of: Great Britain currently uses a different map scale than mainland Europe. With the UK Rework, this difference is supposed to disappear. SCS wants to standardize Great Britain with the rest of Europe in the future.

At first, that sounds like a technical detail, but it has enormous effects on map design. Due to the change, relatively speaking, less space will be available for depicting Great Britain. At the same time, SCS wants to fit more details into this smaller area. Roads, cities, landscapes and landmarks therefore have to be selected more carefully and packed more densely, without making the region feel like a series of backdrops.

That is precisely why the UK Rework does not automatically mean that every existing road or current location will simply return in modern form. SCS has already made it clear that a complete rebuild will also require compromises. Some areas may change, others may disappear, while entirely new locations may find their way onto the map at the same time.

And there are now several concrete examples of this. Leeds is being added to Euro Truck Simulator 2 as a new city, while Scotland is also receiving additional locations and roads. With Inverness, we now know of another completely new city that will serve as a gateway to the Highlands in the future. Bristol will also become part of the ETS2 map as an independent city for the first time.

This means that the new UK map is even expanding in terms of content in some places, despite the scale being standardized. What matters, therefore, is not just the size of the playable area, but how SCS uses that area. Modern map areas in ETS2 rely much more heavily on distinctive road layouts, individually designed intersections and landscapes that differ from one another.

Well-known landmarks are also supposed to be integrated more strongly. Stonehenge has already been confirmed as part of the rework and has since been shown in greater detail. For SCS, such landmarks are now an important way of ensuring that a drive consists not only of motorways and delivery destinations, but that players can recognize regions by their surroundings.

The same applies to cities. London, for example, presents the developers with a completely different challenge than rural regions. The real road network is enormously complex, while naturally only a fraction of it can be implemented within the ETS2 scale. The goal is therefore not to recreate London street by street, but to select characteristic routes and well-known locations in such a way that the city still feels believable despite the considerable reduction in size.

Cambridge is also being worked on. In northern England, Wales and especially Scotland, other map designers are working on completely different landscapes. Several teams have been assigned to different areas for the UK Rework. That alone shows the scale the project has now reached.

There is another special feature as well: Great Britain is no longer being designed exclusively for trucks. During the rebuild, SCS is also taking the upcoming Coaches projectinto account. Bus stations, tourist destinations and road layouts therefore sometimes also have to work for coaches. Stonehenge, for example, has a visitor area with a bus parking lot, while a dedicated bus and coach station is already being implemented in Bristol.

This very connection could make a major difference in the long term. Old ETS2 maps were developed exclusively with truck gameplay in mind. With the new Great Britain, on the other hand, SCS already knows during map development that several types of vehicles will eventually use the same world. As a result, certain locations can be designed accordingly from the outset instead of having to be painstakingly adapted later.

The Eurotunnel is also supposed to be completely redesigned. Such crossings are particularly important because Great Britain is relatively isolated from mainland Europe in gameplay terms. Anyone driving from France to England experiences this transition regularly – accordingly, it is particularly noticeable when such areas still visibly come from a much older generation of the game.

The UK Rework therefore illustrates quite well how far Euro Truck Simulator 2 has now moved away from its original map. This is no longer an attempt to somehow adapt a region that is twelve or more years old to current standards. Instead, SCS is using the opportunity for a fresh start within the same game world.

However, it will still take time before players can drive through the complete result themselves. SCS Software still has not announced a release date for the UK Rework. Considering the size of Great Britain, the complete rebuild and the many map designers involved, that is hardly surprising.

What is certain, however, is that the UK Rework will later be released for free for owners of Euro Truck Simulator 2 . This means that one of the oldest areas of the game will eventually be replaced by a modern version without requiring the purchase of a new map DLC.

The changed scale in particular makes the project more exciting than a normal map rework. The developers have to depict Great Britain as smaller than before while simultaneously trying to turn it into a more believable, varied and detailed region. If they succeed, a drive through the United Kingdom may eventually bear little resemblance to the map that has existed since the early days of ETS2.

What matters more to you in the UK Rework: as many cities and roads as possible, or fewer locations that are implemented in considerably more detail and realism?