ETS2 - 250.000.000 km driven!!!
The much-anticipated date was the 8th of April 2021. The day that every virtual truck driver would be able to drive through Spain and Portugal. The date on which SCS Software released the Iberia DLC for Euro Truck Simulator 2.
It was during a live stream that the DLC got released and with it a new event on the World of Trucks website. The #CruisingIberia event was divided into 2 goals, a personal one and a community one. Personally, you had to visit 20 unique cities within the Iberia DLC with a cargo. It was either starting from and/or arriving in a unique city that counted towards the personal goal. For the community goal, people needed to gather 250.000.000 kilometres combined. Today we are the 16th of April and that goal got met a bit before 5:00 pm CET.
After meeting those goals, rewards were given. For the personal goal, truckers got a very nice paint job of a lynx running in the wild. The community goal was good for a plush lynx and bobblehead ornament that c.an be put in the cabin.
Why a lynx, I hear you ask? Well, Iberia has its very own lynx, the Iberian Lynx. That animal is the world's most endangered cat. In 2002, there were fewer than 100 left in the wild. Although now there are over 400, their numbers are still declining in Doñana National Park—a reserve in Andalusia, southern Spain—from 93 in 2013 to only 76 in 2015. In 2020 there were around 855 Iberian Lynxes again. So, it is very nice that SCS Software took an Iberian Lynx as a subject for the event rewards. That way, a bit of attention was put on the preservation of these beautiful, big cats.
Be honest, would you have known all of this if it wasn't for those rewards we got? I surely didn't and I like it when I learn new things by playing my favourite games.
But … don't panic if you didn't get your personal goal yet. There is still plenty of time. And yes, you only get the community rewards when you've reached your own, personal goal. SCS Software even said to take it slow and enjoy the environments and all the details when cruising through Spain and Portugal.
Safe travels!