Well I've always been a fan of the racing genre and driving games in general. I always got a kick out of just cruising around in GTA games, listening to the radio and taking in the sights of a "living breathing world".
ETS2 seemed like a natural extension of that wander-lust. I must have watched Nerd³ 1.5 hour ETS2 Road Trip video a dozen times before realizing that this kind of stuff was only happening on PC and it was time to come back.
I dropped out of PC gaming after the golden era of '95-'01 just as I was getting fatigued with the upkeep process. Things were a LOT more complicated pre-Steam unification when hardware & software didn't self-update and patch. That's when MS landed with OG Xbox offering many traditional PC franchises (Crimson Skies, MYST, Elder Scrolls, Thief, etc.) with traditional PC amenities (HDD saves, custom soundtracks, online, etc.). All in a unified box that just worked in the plug & play sense.
So I was console through the 360 / PS3 era. However, as I've gotten older, I've grown increasingly bored of AAA gaming. Big Spectacle productions feel pretty droll by this point, barring a few exceptions. So falling into the Nerd³ Euro Truck video felt like a breath of fresh air and a siren song of possibility on the other side of the tracks. It totally got me into the Mundane Vehicle Sim genre, with some of my favorite franchises like Farming Simulator, OMSI, etc. placing high on my personal GOTY lists.
It really represents the contrast between PC & console if you think about it. While consoles have been catching up with indies thanks to digital distribution channels, PC has always been the Wild West of anything and everything. Console tends to play it safe, but PC has the flexibility to cater to the niche audience. Left-field productions like my beloved Viscera Cleanup Detail, Duskers and Kerbal Space Program only further cement the notion that I'm done with consoles for good. And hey, even if I do want to dig into the latest GTA, that option is always there as well.
