IMMERSION
The sights, the sounds, the shaking of your truck when you start her up or accidently run over a curb are all great. For maximum immersion I’d recommend turning off the lights in your home, making sure your controller’s rumble feature is on, and plugging in a good headset.
I cleared all of the extra pop ups off of the screen, hitting your F1, F2, F3, ect, ect buttons a time or two usually does the trick. So this way if I wanted to look at the GPS or side mirrors, I’d have to make sure they were in the eyesight of my driver, instead of just always being in a pop up window no matter where I was looking. This makes the game a bit more difficult, but it’s all about that immersion.
CONTROLS
It will take a few minutes to get the hang of the controls, but they are pretty easy once you figure them out. I played using a XBOX Series X controller and found it to be a fairly precise and comfortable way to truck across Europe. The default controller layout worked just fine for me, except I unassigned the horn from clicking in the left thumb stick and moved it to the XBOX share button. I kept accidentally hitting the horn when trying to park, and by moving it to the center of the controller, it’s closer to where an actual horn would be placed. If I had a sturdier desk and felt like burning some cash, I’d imagine the steering wheel/pedal controller set up is the way to go.
QUALITY OF LIFE IMPROVEMENTS
While I would recommend playing the game with no music for a trip or two for the immersion, you are going to want some sweet jams sooner or later.
File Explorer > Documents > EuroTruck Simulator 2 > Music > Drag In Your Favorite Podcast & Music MP3 Files
OVERALL THOUGHTS
If you’re curious about it, get it on a deep discount, it is exactly what the game title says, a “Truck Simulator”. It is a very well made game, but I think the key to making the game go from boring to relaxing is to have a really good podcast on in the background.
