Japan mod for Euro Truck Simulator 2 goes viral for crazy level of realism

A video showing a highly realistic recreation of driving a truck in Japan has recently gone viral on X. Although it appears to be real life footage at first glance, it is actually from the Project Japan mod for the game Euro Truck Simulator 2. According to Project Japan’s X account, it seems a new version of the mod will be released soon.

Project Japan is an ambitious effort to recreate a map that spans the entirety of Japan in Euro Truck Simulator 2. According to their website, it started back in 2017 when the founder of the project, Stoked Dude, singlehandedly made the Hokuriku portion of Japan. It may seem strange that he started with a lesser-known area of the country instead of famous Japanese cities like Kyoto, Tokyo or Osaka. However, his reasoning was simple- he started with Hokuriku because it is located in the center of a map of Japan. 

In 2019, Project Japan took on more members, becoming a predominantly Japanese team. Cooperation between other modders and the Cities Skylines modding community led to more Japanese assets being added and the Shikoku and Kansai regions were created. A ferry route (impossible in real life) was implemented to enable players to travel from the Hokuriku portion of the map to the new areas. 

Project Japan started off using a 1/19 scale map but as the work grew more ambitious, it became apparent that this was limiting the team’s ability to build the complex intersections and roads found in real life Japan. At this point, the team made the bold decision to redo the entire map in 1/10 scale. This version 1.0 was released in December 2020. This greatly improved the realism- making signs, buildings and roads almost indistinguishable from real life photos. However, despite this, “Project Japan does not aim to recreate the real world” according to the project’s PR officer Hiroshi Haruyama, who explains that it also has touches of playfulness- such as the hotdog man.  

Japanese commenters on X are stunned by the uncanny realism however, with responses like “It took me over 10 seconds to realize it was CG!”  The sound design also surprised users, including the realistic sat-nav instructions and the warning that sounds when trucks reverse in Japan. Overall, users praised the small details like the faded paint on the crosswalk and the visible repair work on manhole covers. 

The viral tweet has brought the Japan Project to the attention of those outside the community. A number of commenters mentioned that they want to play the game for themselves, so Euro Truck Simulator 2 and the Project Japan mod might well get some new players in the near future.  

Euro Trucker Simulator 2 is available on PC, Mac and Linux (Steam). Project Japan mod download instructions and updates can be found on their website.