Euro Truck Simulator 2 1.61 open beta adds Proximity Exploration

Euro Truck Simulator 2's 1.61 update has entered open beta on Steam, and its marquee addition is Proximity Exploration, a map-discovering helper aimed at drivers chasing 100% map completion. The update also brings a full Livestock Trailer rework, the first major Schwarzmüller Trailer Pack refresh, and map changes that prepare the world for the upcoming Coaches DLC.

Anyone who took part in the 1.61 Experimental Beta should move to the public_beta branch to keep getting updates; saves made during the experimental build stay compatible. The Multi-Function Display and new in-game menu tested in that build have been postponed so they can be refined further.

Proximity Exploration automatically reveals a small area around your vehicle as you drive. It removes some of the need to drive over every tiny road segment, which should help when hunting down that final percentage of the map. It can also uncover nearby accessible roads around rest stops, toll gates, border crossings, gas stations and other places where road segments often sit close together.

Hidden roads are still hidden, up to a point. Getting close will reveal the first segment of a secret road as a hint, but the rest of the route only appears when you actually drive along it.

The Livestock Trailer has been completely rebuilt from the ground up, based on modern European trailer designs. The older belly axle variant is gone, replaced by a lowered chassis configuration with dual wheels.

If you own a Livestock trailer, there are now two chassis types to choose from — straight 3 axle or lowered 3 axle — plus an aluminium body or a fully paintable body. Accessories have been expanded, and owned-trailer paint jobs have been made more flexible, allowing different colours to be set across up to four trailer sections. Freight Market and AI traffic versions have been rebuilt around the new model, and company paint jobs have been redone for a more realistic look.

More details are in the Livestock Trailer Rework post.

The Schwarzmüller Trailer Pack is also starting a longer-term modernisation. First up is the low loader trailer, which has been rebuilt to match Schwarzmüller's latest real-world model. Its accessories have been updated too, while available cargo options remain the same. This marks the beginning of a planned rework of the whole pack.

More details are in the Schwarzmüller Trailer Pack update post.

The base game map has been quietly updated ahead of the Coaches DLC. Nuremberg gets the biggest change, with a brand-new bus station plus several remade and newly created landmarks in the surrounding area.

Bus stations in Karlstad, Aarhus and Thessaloniki are now functional for coaches. Karlstad has a new station building, Thessaloniki has received new signage and similar updates, and Heraklion has opened a previously inaccessible street to make room for its new bus station.

Border crossings have also been adjusted for passenger transport, with vehicle-specific navigation added and previously inaccessible parts of border areas opened up. Kapıkule, on the Turkey–Bulgaria border, has been redesigned to match its real-world counterpart more closely. Smaller layout tweaks have been made to other crossings, and numerous smaller bus-stop updates have been spread across the world.

As with any open beta, this is not a stable version yet, so expect bugs, instability or crashes. Feedback and bug reports can be shared in the official forum section for Euro Truck Simulator 2.

To try the beta on Steam: right-click Euro Truck Simulator 2 in your library, open Properties, go to the Betas tab and select public_beta from the Beta Participation dropdown. No password is required. You may need to restart the Steam client before the branch appears.