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The best Euro Truck Simulator 2 settings are the highest combination your computer can hold with consistent frame pacing—not the preset with the most “Ultra” labels. Start at your monitor’s native resolution in fullscreen, use 100–200% scaling at 1080p, enable TAA or SMAA, keep textures and anisotropic filtering high when VRAM allows, and lower mirror resolution before sacrificing the entire scene’s image quality. Then tune shadows, far shadows, ambient occlusion, visibility ranges and environment detail one change at a time on the same route.
There is no universal best preset. A 1080p system, a 1440p ultrawide and a heavily modded profile render very different workloads. The settings below give you a repeatable baseline for sharpness, stable FPS and useful mirrors, followed by targeted adjustments for GPU limits, stutter and flicker.
Quick baseline: settings to try first
Use this profile before changing individual options. It is deliberately conservative: it protects frame pacing while retaining the visual details that are most noticeable from the cab.
| Option | Starting point | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Resolution and display mode | Monitor native resolution; fullscreen | Avoids scaling blur and gives the game a predictable render target. |
| Frame-rate limit | A value your system can hold consistently | A stable cap usually feels better than a fluctuating peak FPS. |
| Scaling | 100–200% at 1080p; test higher carefully at 1440p or ultrawide | Higher scaling multiplies rendered pixels and can quickly become GPU-bound. |
| Anti-aliasing | TAA or SMAA when available | Smooths jagged edges and reduces shimmer; TAA can be sharpened before increasing scaling. |
| Texture quality | High if VRAM permits | Textures affect memory use more than raw shader workload in many scenes, so lowering them first can needlessly soften the game. |
| Anisotropic filtering | High | Keeps roads and surfaces clear at oblique viewing angles. |
| Mirror resolution | Lower one step if cab-view FPS drops | Mirrors render additional views and are a common practical bottleneck. |
| Mirror distance or quality | Reduce after mirror resolution | Preserves the main view while reducing work done for reflected scenery. |
| Shadows | High only with GPU headroom | Shadows, far shadows and lighting can consume substantial GPU time, especially at night. |
| SSAO and visibility ranges | Reduce after shadow quality when needed | These settings trade depth cues or distant detail for frame time. |
| Vegetation, grass, weather and pedestrians | Reduce only after mirrors and shadows | They are useful final levers when dense scenes remain GPU-bound. |
Exact defaults and the cost of each option vary by game version, resolution, graphics card, processor, route and mods. Treat the table as a starting profile, not a guaranteed FPS promise.
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Why ETS2 settings behave differently on each PC
ETS2 can be limited by the graphics processor, processor-side scene work, video memory or frame-time spikes. Resolution and scaling mostly increase the number of pixels the GPU must shade. Mirrors add separate views. Shadows and lighting add expensive passes. Dense vegetation, weather effects, traffic and modded scenery can create short-lived spikes even when an average FPS counter looks healthy.
Your monitor also changes the right target. At 1080p, 150% scaling renders substantially more pixels than native 1080p; 200% is a much heavier workload again. At 1440p or an ultrawide resolution, begin cautiously because the native pixel count is already higher. A lower, steady cap is preferable to a cap the system reaches only on empty highways.
Identify the limiting side before lowering settings
- If GPU usage is near its ceiling and lowering scaling immediately improves frame time, reduce pixel-heavy options first: scaling, mirror resolution, shadows and ambient occlusion.
- If the GPU has unused headroom but cities or traffic still produce spikes, test mirror distance, visibility ranges and environment density; these can reduce scene work without turning every texture soft.
- If stutter appears only after adding a map, weather or graphics mod, repeat the test with that mod disabled. A mod can change the final visual and performance result even when the base settings are unchanged.
Use the same save, route, weather and camera angle for every comparison. Otherwise you may attribute a busy junction’s frame-time spike to the setting you just changed.
Set up a clean baseline
- Choose the display target. Select your monitor’s native resolution and fullscreen mode in the graphics options. Windowed or non-native modes can add scaling behavior that makes image quality and frame pacing harder to judge.
- Set a sustainable cap. Drive a route that includes a city, junction and open road. Watch the lowest recurring behavior rather than a brief maximum, then cap FPS at a value the system can hold through that route.
- Reset variables. Begin without newly installed map, weather or graphics mods. Record the game version, resolution, scaling, cap and route so later changes are comparable.
- Save a screenshot of the options. ETS2 version 1.55 added example screenshots beside graphics options, allowing you to inspect what each option changes before committing to it.
- Change one option at a time. Apply a setting, drive the same test segment and note smoothness, image clarity, mirror usefulness and night lighting. Several simultaneous changes hide which trade-off helped.
Scaling and anti-aliasing: the sharpness-versus-performance core
Choose scaling by frame pacing, not by a headline number
Scaling renders the scene at a higher or lower internal resolution before it reaches your display. At 1080p, begin between 100% and 200%. Keep the lowest value that gives you the detail you want while maintaining consistent frame times. At 1440p or ultrawide resolutions, test increments carefully; multiplying an already large native image can exhaust GPU headroom quickly.
If the game feels smooth at 100% but distant signs, lane markings or vegetation look too soft, do not immediately jump to 200%. First try the anti-aliasing controls and TAA sharpening or luma adjustment. A modest sharpening change can restore perceived crispness at a lower render cost than a large scaling increase.
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- Immersive Gaming Experience: Perfect for Xbox and PC gaming titles, the Driving Force simulates the feeling of driving a real car with precision steering and pressure-sensitive pedals
- Premium Control: The Driving Force feedback racing wheel provides a detailed simulation of driving a real car, with helical gearing delivering smooth, quiet steering and a hand-stitched leather cover
- Customizable Pedals: These pressure-sensitive nonlinear brake pedals provide a responsive, accurate braking feel on a sturdy base - with adjustable pedal faces for finer control
- 900-Degree Rotation: Lock-to-lock rotation of the Driving Force means you can turn the wheel around two and a half times, hand over hand on wide turns - just like a real F1 race car
- Up Your Game: Take your racing simulation to the next level with Driving Force accessories like the Driving Force Shifter or desk and rig mounts
Use TAA to control jagged edges and flicker
The 1.50 update introduced Temporal Anti-Aliasing (TAA). SCS describes it as using previous frames to calculate color values “as if from a higher resolution,” which helps reduce jagged edges and flickering. TAA is particularly useful for thin geometry such as poles, wires and roadside foliage that can shimmer while the truck moves.
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Diagnose shimmer, ghosting and softness
- Shimmering edges: enable TAA or SMAA and check that the frame cap is stable. Increasing scaling can help only if GPU headroom remains.
- Soft image: adjust TAA sharpening or luma first; verify that the game and monitor are both using the native resolution.
- Persistent ghosting: compare TAA with SMAA and lower scaling only if the alternative produces acceptable motion clarity.
- Sudden stutter after raising scaling: return to the previous step and test mirror resolution or shadows before reducing texture quality.
Textures and filtering: preserve surface detail intelligently
Keep textures high when video memory allows
High texture quality preserves the detail on road surfaces, trucks, signs and buildings. It is a sensible setting to keep high when your graphics card has enough VRAM. If you see severe hitching associated with memory pressure, lower texture quality one step and retest; do not assume it will solve a GPU shader bottleneck.
Leave anisotropic filtering high
Anisotropic filtering improves clarity on surfaces viewed at an angle, such as the road stretching ahead from the cab. It is usually a better place to spend available quality budget than raising every shadow option. Judge it while driving, because the benefit is most obvious in motion and at oblique angles.
Mirrors: the first fix for cab-view drops
Mirrors are not a simple overlay. They render additional views of the world, so a busy cab view can become disproportionately expensive when all mirrors show traffic, buildings and vegetation. This is why mirror settings often produce a better quality-to-performance trade than lowering the main texture setting.
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Use this order
- Lower mirror resolution one step.
- If drops remain, reduce mirror distance or mirror quality.
- Drive the same city and junction segment again, checking both direct vision and lane-change awareness.
Do not disable mirrors reflexively if you rely on them for reversing or overtaking. Lower resolution usually preserves their practical usefulness while reducing the cost of reflected detail. If a lower distance hides vehicles you need to see, restore distance and lower resolution instead.
Recognize mirror-specific symptoms
- FPS falls when looking toward the side mirrors: lower mirror resolution first.
- Cab view is acceptable in open country but stutters in cities: reduce mirror distance or quality, then test shadows.
- Mirrors flicker while the main view is stable: compare TAA/SMAA and verify that the mirror setting is not changing between profiles; test with the same traffic and weather.
Shadows, far shadows and lighting
Shadows define cabin depth, vehicles and roadside objects, but high settings can consume considerable GPU time. Keep high or ultra shadows only when your test route leaves headroom. When performance or stutter is excessive, use this sequence:
- Shadow quality: lower one step and retest day and night.
- Far shadows: disable or reduce them if distant shadow detail is not worth the frame-time cost. ETS2’s newer shadow system includes optional far shadows, so their availability depends on the version and graphics menu.
- SSAO: reduce it when contact darkening is causing a measurable cost; check that the cabin and truck do not lose more depth than you want.
- Visibility ranges: lower them if distant objects and shadow coverage are consuming headroom in dense scenes.
Night driving is a separate test. Headlights, street lights and wet roads can expose a GPU limit that is invisible in bright daylight. Keep one night segment in your test route before deciding that a shadow profile is stable.
Environment settings after the major bottlenecks
Once mirrors and shadows are balanced, reduce environment detail only as much as necessary. Vegetation and grass density can be expensive in rural areas; weather quality can add effects across the entire view; pedestrian visibility matters most in populated locations. Lower these in small steps and inspect the scene where you normally drive rather than judging only an empty motorway.
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- Vegetation and grass: reduce when rural routes cause GPU spikes, accepting less foliage density.
- Weather quality: reduce when rain, fog or other effects create spikes; include a weather event in your test if those conditions matter to you.
- Pedestrian visibility: reduce for city scenes when people are not important to your driving experience.
These changes should come after preserving texture quality, filtering and usable mirrors. They are targeted compromises, not a reason to select the lowest global preset.
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Three practical profiles to compare
Use the profiles as decision points, not as promises of a particular FPS. Measure each on your own hardware and route.
| Profile | Core choices | Strengths | Trade-offs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Balanced 1080p | Native fullscreen, 100–150% scaling, TAA with moderate sharpening, high textures and filtering, reduced mirror resolution, high shadows only if stable | Good image clarity, useful mirrors and headroom for ordinary DLC | Less distant shadow and reflected detail than an unrestricted ultra profile |
| Sharpness-first | Native fullscreen, 150–200% scaling at 1080p when frame pacing allows, TAA tuned for clarity, high textures/filtering, mirrors and shadows tested separately | Clean edges and detailed road surfaces | Scaling leaves less headroom for traffic, dense cities, night lighting and mods |
| Consistency-first | Native fullscreen, 100% scaling, TAA or SMAA, high textures/filtering, low-to-medium mirror resolution and distance, reduced shadows, far shadows and SSAO | More stable frame pacing in difficult scenes | Less reflected, distant and contact-shadow detail |
Compare profiles on five axes: stable frame rate and frame pacing, edge flicker and sharpness, mirror usefulness, shadow and night-light quality, and headroom for traffic, DLC and mods. The profile that wins all five does not exist across every CPU, GPU and monitor combination.
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When FPS is low everywhere
- Confirm native fullscreen resolution and reduce scaling one step.
- Lower mirror resolution, then shadow quality.
- Reduce far shadows, SSAO and visibility ranges.
- Only then reduce vegetation, grass, weather or pedestrian visibility.
When average FPS looks fine but motion stutters
- Set a cap below the highest rate you can sustain on the full route.
- Test mirrors in a city and shadow settings at night; both can create frame-time spikes.
- Repeat the route without newly added mods.
- Change one setting and keep the route, weather and camera identical.
When the image is sharp but edges flicker
- Enable TAA or SMAA.
- With TAA enabled, adjust sharpening or luma before adding more scaling.
- Check thin roadside objects and mirrors while moving, not just a paused screenshot.
When the image is smooth but too soft
- Verify native monitor resolution.
- Increase TAA sharpening or luma gradually.
- Raise scaling in a small step only if the frame cap remains stable.
Mods, updates and settings previews
Map, weather and graphics mods can alter both visual output and performance. Re-test the complete profile after adding or updating one. If a problem begins after a mod change, compare the same route with the mod disabled before changing every graphics option.
Version 1.50 introduced TAA, improved cascaded shadows, optional far shadows and clustered lighting. Version 1.55 added example screenshots beside graphics options, making visual comparison easier inside the menu. SCS later described asynchronous loading as an experimental change intended to improve performance, stability and the driving experience. Because these systems and their defaults are version-sensitive, record your ETS2 version whenever you share or reproduce a settings profile.
When hardware is the real limit
If you cannot sustain the scaling, TAA quality and shadow level you want after targeted tuning, a GPU upgrade is the direct path to more pixel and shadow headroom. Compare the upgrade against your monitor resolution and the mods you actually use; a card that is comfortable at 1080p may have less margin at 1440p or ultrawide. Processor limits in dense cities may remain even after a graphics-card upgrade, so use the same city test before assuming new GPU hardware solves every spike.
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For driving control, a USB PC racing wheel and pedal set is a task-enabling accessory rather than a graphics setting. ETS2’s 1.50 notes discuss improved interface use with a gamepad or steering wheel. Before buying, verify current USB support, pedal mapping, wheel rotation range and marketplace availability for the exact model and operating system.
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Best-practice checklist
- Use native resolution and fullscreen.
- Cap FPS at a rate your complete route can sustain.
- Start scaling at 100–200% for 1080p and test cautiously at 1440p or ultrawide.
- Enable TAA or SMAA; tune TAA sharpening or luma before raising scaling.
- Keep textures and anisotropic filtering high when VRAM allows.
- Lower mirror resolution before mirror distance, then test shadows.
- Reduce shadow quality, far shadows, SSAO and visibility ranges in that order when GPU load or stutter is high.
- Reduce vegetation, grass, weather and pedestrian visibility only after the major bottlenecks.
- Retest after every map, weather or graphics mod.
- Record version, resolution, scaling, cap, route and weather so results remain meaningful.
Frequently Asked Questions
What scaling should I use in ETS2 at 1080p?
Begin between 100% and 200%, then keep the highest value that maintains consistent frame pacing on your regular route. At 1440p or ultrawide, test more cautiously because the native pixel count is already higher.
Which ETS2 setting should I lower first for mirror stutter?
Lower mirror resolution first, then mirror distance or quality. This reduces the cost of additional reflected views while preserving the main scene and useful mirror coverage.
Does TAA make ETS2 blurry?
It can look softer than a high-resolution image. Adjust TAA sharpening or luma before raising scaling, and compare TAA with SMAA while driving to choose the clearer motion result.
Why did my FPS change after installing a graphics mod?
Map, weather and graphics mods can alter the final scene and workload. Re-test the same route with the mod disabled, then tune one setting at a time if you keep it enabled.
Quick Recap
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