After launching, we create our virtual character, choose a city for the headquarters of our company and first we have to earn for our own car by driving for other carriers. After some time, through the mailbox in the game, the bank notifies us with a loan offer. We can take it or... continue driving for other companies, waiting until our account is full enough with money to buy our own tractor without credit.
We can choose trucks from brands such as Iveco, Volvo, MAN, Renault, Scania, DAF and Mercedes. Each of the trucks can be personalized by choosing the type of cab, chassis, engine, transmission model, as well as installing various accessories, lights, plates, etc.
Once you have your own tractor, you can start working on your own. In every city there are companies willing to hire us as a carrier. At first, they pay poorly, but as our career develops, we unlock more valuable loads and in this way we lead to a rapid multiplication of our account balance.
Economy, however, is not the strong point of this game. While at the beginning it can be boring, because we can't afford much, in the later stages of the game it's... boring... because you can afford almost everything. Along with buying more garages and hiring employees, unimaginable amounts of money begin to go into our account, after which they increase again after spending on more garages and drivers. SCS, do you have luxury in real trucking companies too? I don't think so.
Fortunately, our work is made miserable by speed cameras and invisible (unfortunately) policemen, who punish us for driving through a red light. However, they often forget about the fines during collisions. Ramming other vehicles is fortunately not profitable, because repairs to the truck cost a lot, and damage to the transported goods reflects on our reputation.
We have thousands of kilometers of European routes to cover. From Great Britain, through France, Germany, northern Italy to Eastern Poland (DLC) and Hungary. The routes are atmospheric, more or less adjusted to the reality of European roads. Their grid is not particularly dense, but it is very interesting. The cities are not large and it is practically impossible to distinguish Milan from Dortmund, but after all, the game is not about sightseeing and accurately reflecting the city topography. There are just a few streets and companies and that's it.
Transporting goods between companies is a lot of fun. Depending on the weight that we pull, the dynamics of the set changes, and our driving style affects the consumption of fuel and vehicle parts. When braking, the weight of the truck and, in the case of a heavy load, the force of its inertia make themselves felt, often pushing us into the vehicle in front, which has just decided to slow down or stop. And this happens quite often, because sometimes the not very refined AI lets us know about itself. Caracan" drivers simply behave irrationally. They slow down for no reason, overtake in places completely unsuitable for this, and when turning at junctions they can stop in the least expected moment.
Moving environmental elements, such as ships sailing down rivers, planes landing, or balloons, add spice to the experience.
SCS continues to work on ETS2 and at fairly regular intervals publishes patches that fix bugs reported by players and add new features.
A great advantage of the product is its open structure, which has led to more and more amateur mods/add-ons being created, allowing us to improve the game.
The small SCS studio has gone through a long ordeal to finally release a game that is not only playable, but also fun to play, especially since amateur mods from the very active ETS2 scene add to the game's realism.