Euro Truck Simulator 2 Iberia expansion: Is it worth it?

SCS Software has been in the business of making virtual renditions of the real world for many years now. I’ve been a fan of its products since childhood. You would think that after all this time, anything new would trigger just a tiny happy response from someone like me. That said, I wasn’t quite prepared for the experience that Euro Truck Simulator 2 – Iberia has to offer.

This is, without any sort of hyperbole, just about the best expansion the studio has put out yet. Despite Euro Truck Simulator 2‘s advancing age, this expansion — combined with the recent graphical overhaul in update 1.40 — makes this something that any truck sim fan needs to enjoy for themselves in order to get the full sense of what I’m about to describe.

 

Oh, and it’s important to mention that you don’t need the Vive la France! expansion in order to access the Iberian peninsula. You can sail to the northwestern shores of Spain by means of a ferry from the UK. Alternatively, you can also come in from the east by means of Italy. So, anyone can experience this great new map — and it surely is worth it. Why?

Beauty from the first kilometer

My journey began by picking up a job in Toulouse, France. I headed southwest past the newly added city of Bayonne, and then across the border. The immediate transition between the two countries was far more subtle than I was expecting, but the changes quickly started to become apparent. The foliage began to vary, the topography became more mountainous, and road networks became more intricate. Soon, I was rolling through the Spanish countryside of the northwestern region of Spain, admiring the sheer beauty of it all.