In this guide, you'll learn about job lengths in Euro Truck Simulator 2.
How to change the average distance of a job
When selecting a job, you can sort them based on their route length.
In addition to that, you can also define your preferred job distance in the settings, so the jobs will be longer or shorter, depending on what you like.
To do this, click ESC to open the menu.
- Open Options.
- Select Gameplay
- Scroll down to the Preferred job length factor option (in the Game Settings section).
If you enjoy shorter routes, you can move the slider to the left; if longer, to the right.
Now you can refresh your jobs, so new ones should adjust to your preferred job length factor.
Should you take Short or Long jobs?
Both long and short jobs have their advantages.
Long jobs:
- They should be more profitable. Usually, the average speed is higher, and you don't waste time parking every 5 minutes. Most importantly, you can take advantage of the "Long Distance" skill benefits.
- It's just simpler and requires less focus because you are driving mostly on highways. It's a good choice, for example, when you want to play "in the background" while listening to a podcast.
Short jobs:
- They are more interesting because you have to drive more through cities and side roads. These jobs also allow you to explore a specific region better if you keep driving within its boundaries.
- It's better for training purposes. Driving through tight cities will teach you more than long straights. Also, you will have way more possibilities to train your parking skills.
- If you're the type of person who likes to complete something every sitting, it's easier because short routes usually take a dozen minutes, while the longest ones can take up to ~4 hours of real time.
The choice is yours.
Personally, I usually take long routes (when I listen to podcasts), and shorter ones only when I'm in the mood for more interesting and challenging gameplay.
I'm not gonna lie, ETS is my go-to "background game".
What is the longest job in ETS2?
If you really enjoy long journeys, you're probably wondering how far they can go.
This makes sense, especially if you're competing in TrucksBook and don't want to take new jobs all the time but focus on racking up more and more kilometers.
Some players create their own routes using programs like Virtual Speditor. Others change the course of their route in ETS2 to explore more roads and cover a greater distance.
As for standard routes, in my case, setting the maximum 150% preferred job length factor, the longest route I managed to find was 4,523 km.
Longer routes can be available on some modifications that offer even larger maps than the standard one.
So 4,523 km seems like a lot, but it can go even further. Way further.
For example, one of my friends from the Virtual Company recently completed a route that was over 8,000 kilometers (Lisboa-Utsjoki, probably also exploring many side roads).
It took him almost 5 hours of real-time.