How to Plan Routes and Find Services

The music is still doing its job, but your fuel gauge is low and your best skill cards are spent. That long road suddenly feels much longer. Before choosing another destination in Keep Driving, check what will stop you first: fuel, car durability, driver energy, or cash. Plan the next leg around that shortage.

A useful detour keeps your summer moving. It gives you room for another passenger, another strange request, and another story worth taking home. The map's roads and stops can change between trips, so use your own connections and visible service symbols rather than copying a whole route.

Choose Your Next Stop in Four Steps

Name your limiting resource. Durability is your car's condition; energy supports the driver and many road-event actions. Skills are abilities you use during road events, the turn-based problems you meet while driving. Low energy and spent skill uses are separate problems, so check both.
Find the next connected destinations. Locate your current stop, then follow the roads to the destinations you can select next. A selectable road is not proof that your supplies will last through it.
Compare the visible road information. Read the map's Road Types legend. With a mouse, hover over each road to inspect its distance, travel time, and fuel information. Use whatever route details your interface displays. Think about the skills and items you can still use. Leave room for losses during encounters; do not budget only for the drive itself.
Choose a stop that addresses the shortage. Use the service legend to look for fuel, repairs, rest, or work. If the service you need is not shown, treat it as unknown. Check what you can restore at your current stop before committing to that uncertainty.

Annotated Map Example: One Particular PC Run

This text sketch marks the current position and two connected stops in one particular PC run. The stops use letters so you can focus on the decision. It is not to scale, and these connections are not a route to copy into every trip.

[B] Northwest stop                 [C] Northeast stop
    Two destination symbols           One destination symbol
               \                     /
                \                   /
                 [A] Current position
                     Red map pin

Visible information:
[A] No service symbols shown beside the current pin.
[B] Connected to A; two destination symbols visible.
[C] Connected to A; one destination symbol visible.
Road Types key: Country, Motorway, Rough, City.
Service meanings, route distances, and fuel costs:
not established by this sketch.

Read the example before choosing: Two symbols do not automatically make B a better stop than C. Open the service legend and identify what those symbols mean. Then check which destinations you can select and inspect their road details. Until you identify a fuel, repair, rest, or work symbol, neither candidate is a confirmed answer to that shortage.

If energy is your problem, inspect any shop or rest option available at A before leaving. Buy a supply only if its description restores what you need and you can afford it. If your useful skills are spent, look for an eligible sleep option: sleeping replenishes skill uses. If fuel is the problem, check for an available refill or carried fuel before choosing a road toward an unknown service.

Find the Service You Actually Need

Use the map's Legend to match destination symbols to services. A displayed symbol identifies a service to investigate. Missing information means you still need to check; it does not prove that the destination has no services. Once you arrive, inspect the actual options, costs, and requirements before spending.

Low fuel: Look for a gas station. A detour to a visible pump can be useful, but you still need enough fuel to reach it and cash to use it. Refill now when the next pump is unknown or the road would leave little reserve.
Damaged car: Look for a Garage, marked by a wrench on the map. Compare the drive to the garage with your remaining durability and available ways to handle road threats. Repair at your current stop when leaving would put an already fragile car through another risky leg.
Low energy or spent skills: Look for a place to sleep, then check the offered rest action. Sleeping restores energy and replenishes skill uses. Resting in the car can cost durability, so check the tradeoff before using it to solve an energy shortage.
Low cash: Look for Work and inspect the job's requirements, time, and energy cost. A job detour helps only if you can reach it and complete the work. A town name alone does not promise employment.

If a needed service is absent, stop and reassess before driving farther. Use an eligible carried supply, check another available service, or compare the next connected stops. If you are already stranded, read the recovery choices displayed in your situation and their costs. Asking for help can be a practical way forward when that option is available.

Before You Leave

Fuel: Check the gauge against the next road's visible information, with room for encounter losses. Refill first if you would be relying on an unknown pump.
Durability: Repair when possible if the car has little room for more damage. Account for any durability cost from resting.
Energy: Check what remains after work or other actions. Restore it before a demanding leg.
Cash: Keep money for the next needed service and possible recovery. Delay optional purchases when they would use that reserve.
Usable skills: Review your equipped abilities and any remaining uses you can inspect, plus the abilities your current passengers can contribute. Sleep first if your useful options are exhausted.
Accessible encounter items: Put suitable road-event items in the glovebox, the small storage space you can use during encounters. Check their effects and remaining uses. Pack the items you want to use against dashboard threats before departing.

After replenishing, check the map again. Your best next stop may have changed. Choose one manageable leg, reach the stop, and repeat the check before the next stretch of road.

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