Euro Truck Simulator 2: Everything you need to know about right now

Euro Truck Simulator 2 (abbreviated ETS2) is a truck simulation that was developed and published by the game developer SCS Software and runs on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. The game was released on October 19, 2012 and is a direct successor to Euro Truck Simulator from 2008. The player can drive different trucks through Europe and transport different types of cargo that he has to pick up and deliver in many European cities. During the game, the player can buy and upgrade new trucks and garages. Countries, but also other game content, such as freight or truck accessories, are supplemented by various DLCs that can be purchased additionally.

Gameplay

800 PS under the bum, valuable cargo in the neck, Truck Stop and Gunter Gabriel are on the radio, the sun is sleeping in front of us, while we heroically tear down the last kilometers of motorway in Euro Truck Simulator 2 and drive Sunday drivers ahead of us. What a great life such a tough trucker has!

Boom. One time you don’t pay attention, one of these Sunday drivers is stuck to our bumper. It costs us 400 euros in Euro Truck Simulator, and it’s not our fault: the idiot cut in way too close to us and immediately got on his irons because he wanted to go downhill. In order not to push it onto the other vehicles, we move to the left. Boom. Guardrail caught. 20 percent damage. The motor repeatedly misfires, at the same time the light flickers longer and longer. Now, of all times, when it’s about to get dark. What a shitty life such a poor trucker has!

At the beginning the player has to choose a city in which the career begins and the own company is based.

At the beginning of the career, quick orders are carried out, the player is provided with a truck, the costs for diesel and toll are paid by the employer. In the further course of the career the player can buy his own truck with the money he has earned or an additional loan and accept orders in the freight market.

Every successfully completed job brings money as well as experience points with which the player rises in the level and earns skill points.

In addition, a steadily growing number of models from international trailer manufacturers such as Krone or Schwarzmüller are available.

Working first of all on behalf of outside companies, the player can quickly borrow large sums of money from the bank to buy trucks and set up his own box. From there, Euro Truck Simulator 2 becomes a real drug because we have to manage not only our daily missions but also our fleet of vehicles, our staff and the international development of our company. Each truck can be customized to the smallest detail. From the engine to the paintwork, including the running boards or the mirrors …

Everything is there. It should be kept in good condition to avoid breakdowns, refuel regularly and tinker with it from time to time to improve its performance. We can employ new drivers by going around the agencies for thejob knowing that each of them has specific characteristics. Some are for example more efficient over short distances while others are specialized in transporting fragile goods.

While we’re talking about it, know that our main character in Euro Truck Simulator 2 also gains experience to be divided between several skills. Little by little, we can then unlock new types of missions and obtain various financial or material advantages (bonuses, fuel savings, etc.).experience to be divided between several skills.

Little by little, we can then unlock new types of missions and obtain various financial or material advantages (bonuses, fuel savings, etc.).experience to be divided between several skills. Little by little, we can then unlock new types of missions and obtain various financial or material advantages (bonuses, fuel savings, etc.).

In February 2016, an offshoot of the game, American Truck Simulator, was released, which is set in California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington, Utah and Idaho.

Stunning Graphics

Of course, the game doesn’t simulate the entire landscape of Europe. Instead, you drive the routes on a smaller scale: From Hanover to Cologne, for example, it is really just under 200 kilometers and three hours, in the game the journey takes around 15 kilometers and 15 minutes.

It’s going from the starting company through the city to the country, then on the highways, back to the country, to the destination city to the company courtyard. And if you park backwards by hand and uncouple the trailer precisely, you get more experience points – more on that later.

Sun, Rain, Sleep

If you know the level limits and can live with the topographical cheating, you will still like the recreated game world. Because it always brings across the many moods and situations of a trip: When the sun is shining on the open country road, we like to look out the side window.

In the case of continuous rain at night on the motorway, we combat poor visibility with windshield wipers, foot off the accelerator and high beam – although we always leave the latter on unmolested, because it does not disturb the vehicles in front of us or the oncoming traffic. And it is the most strenuous in city traffic, because traffic lights, tight bends and the heavier traffic annoy us. And the Sunday drivers, it was clear.

Speaking of exertion, if you sit behind the wheel for too long, you get more and more tired. This can happen all of a sudden: there is a display that indicates the next mandatory rest period – but your body doesn’t care about such regulations, so the occasional yawning announces that it is time for a truck stop. If you ignore that, your eyes will fall more and more often. We tried it out ourselves and will not soon forget how, after 800 kilometers without an accident, bumpers or crash barriers, we scratched a tight Hamburg company gate three times because the screen kept going black.

Driving

The trucks can be controlled in an exemplary manner: You can drive with a mouse and keyboard or a joystick (properly), with a gamepad (good) and with the steering wheel (very good). But you should tweak the default settings right away;

With the gamepad, for example, throttle and steering are on the same stick – if you have two analog sticks, you should immediately distribute the steering wheel and “pedals” between both. The sensitivity is also set very high by default, when gently pushing the stick, our truck initially drove to the side almost at a right angle.

By the way: very hard bones drive the entire route in the cockpit view. This is the only way to experience how darn confusing such a train is. With the outside perspective, “parking” in particular is much easier – but real truck drivers don’t have them either

From last minute delivery to speeding tickets

As in the previous Euro Truck Simulator, most of the experience concerns the delivery of goods by accepting various more or less well paid contracts. Dangerous goods, long distance or fast deliveries … The possibilities are numerous and the variety of cargoes to be transported day and night calls for respect. Knowing that we do not drive a truck the same way depending on whether we have to transport concrete nozzles, eggs, or chemicals, we will have to carefully choose the mission that suits us best.

The choice of destination is not trivial either. For example, if it is easy to deliver in countries largely served by major highways, we will take much more risk by taking, for example, small Swiss or Italian mountain roads.However, Euro Truck Simulator 2 is a realistic simulation and our margin for error is very low. Here, there is no question of taking a motorway slip road at 120 km / h, of overtaking in the bends or a fortiori of jostling other vehicles to go faster.

Every traffic violation is recorded on our pay slip and accidents result in heavy repairs and catastrophic delays in our delivery times.Every traffic violation is recorded on our pay slip and accidents result in heavy repairs and catastrophic delays in our delivery times.Every traffic violation is recorded on our pay slip and accidents result in heavy repairs and catastrophic delays in our delivery times.

Bottomline

So of course Euro Truck Simulator 2 is not free from flaws. The game is resource intensive, currently has no internet functionality, and crashes are very cheap.

The vehicles do not deform in the event of an impact and the first models available are so slow that it sometimes seems to be dragging yourself. In addition, the famous CB so dear to truckers is still missing and fatigue management is fairly rudimentary. Whatever, the software is already very impressive as it stands and the fact that it has room for improvement will certainly give developers the desire to prepare a third opus that we are already impatiently awaiting.

There’s satisfaction in exploring new routes, seeing new golden been-there-done-that squiggles appearing on the in-game map, but it tends to be the promise of cold, hard cash that gets you out of bed in the morning. Like Farming Simulator, ETS2 has a simple yet resonant economic sandbox at its centre.

As realistic as it is complete, Euro Truck Simulator 2 will have no trouble establishing itself as the best simulation of its kind on PC. Between the quality of its graphics, the extent of its map, its possibilities of customization and the richness of its management part, this remarkable software developed by SCS Software will tape the virtual truck drivers of entire evenings on their screen.

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