Train Sim World® 5 Reviews

Sad, broken, unfun mess. Costs a ton of money just to give you lackluster tutorials, bland worlds half-locked behind a paywall, and a bad time. I can find better games on Roblox for free, and I hope I get a refund.

I miss when people actually made good games and didnt keep selling corporate slop. This is the exact same game as the previous four and after many years it just gets boring. Your not paying for a new game, your paying for a yearly update that only serves to add more expensive DLC that you get bored of very quickly. The DLC Routes are not particularly fun especially once you have played through them enough. What honestly needs creating is a brand new bottom up built game that is focused on creating something that with actually made with love and dedication for train simulator fans. something that allows us to actually have fun modding our games, creating our own routes and importing our own train models so that we can actually have an experience we can enjoy. We dont want to be forced to play the routes that the devs want us to play especially if they are cut down versions of their real life counterparts. Do better.

Game is pretty buggy, it's good for what it is but could definitely use work and is not worth paying like hundreds of dollars for all the DLC which should be included. Also, when customizing trains, you can put any gay flag you want on there but the only RR logo is UP. I mean c'mon, live your life how you want, fine, but why in the world can I not make a NS Dash-9, but I can make my train pan-sexual? Yippee!

Got the game during the steam summer sale, wish i didn't bother in the end. Game itself has only worked once since then it crash all the time.

Train Sim World 5 is one of the most impressive entries in the series so far. Whether you’re a long-time train enthusiast or just curious about train sims, this game has a lot to offer. It’s packed with content, new features, and quality-of-life improvements that make it more accessible and enjoyable than ever. What’s New and Why It Matters Right out of the box, you get three diverse and detailed routes: the West Coast Main Line in the UK, the Frankfurt–Fulda high-speed line in Germany, and the San Bernardino Line in Southern California. Each one has a different vibe, and they all feel great to drive. One of the biggest additions is Conductor Mode, which lets you step off the train and interact with passengers—open doors, check tickets, and more. It’s a small touch, but it adds to the immersion. Another standout is Route Hopping, which means you can travel between connected routes without going back to the main menu. It makes long sessions feel seamless and adds to the sense of realism. There's also a much-improved Live Map, a flexible Photomode, and a helpful Fast Travel option that makes exploring or redoing parts of a route much easier. Why I Recommend It The driving feels great. Trains handle more realistically, especially the tilting on high-speed routes like Frankfurt–Fulda. There's a ton of variety. Whether you're into modern electric trains, commuter services, or freight operations, there's something here for you. The visuals and sound are top-notch. Trains look sharp, environments are detailed, and the weather effects add a lot of atmosphere. It's more welcoming for new players, thanks to in-cab tutorials and clearer controls. Customization and community content through Creators Club let you personalize your experience or download new scenarios and liveries made by other players. A Few Things to Keep in Mind Not every feature is fully developed yet—Conductor Mode, for example, is only available on some services, and while it's cool, it can feel a bit repetitive over time. Also, like many sims, there are occasional bugs or glitches, but nothing that ruins the experience. Final Verdict: 8.5/10 Train Sim World 5 is a big leap forward. It improves on everything the series has done before while introducing fresh ideas that keep it exciting. If you’re into trains, simulations, or just want something relaxing and satisfying to sink time into, this is an easy recommendation. It’s not perfect, but it’s absolutely worth the ride.

I'm just a casual player, but agree that the game runs a lot worse than it should. Now on to the elephant in the room: The "DLC simulator" rubbish. Think of it as DVD's/CD's/whatever. You get the ones you like. Nobody forces you to get all available DLC's. So the fact there's about EUR 3000 worth of DLC? Just to give people a choice. I'm glad we now have an official Dutch route (though would have liked a different part of The Netherlands). Humble regularly has a bundle with routes and locos. If you find prices too high, go for that. It previously contained the base game (with the 3 included routes) in the lowest tier (though since TS5 with the free starter version, it's the free version that's included).

DO NOT BUT THOMAS AND FRIENDS EDITION like i did buy the regular version of the game you get one route with Thomas and friends

TL;DR: The lag spikes are so bad that I don't play this game anymore even though the gameplay itself is really nice and immersive. I bought this game because I needed an upgrade from Train Simulator Classic, but I am so disappointed! The game runs very poorly on my system. I have a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 GPU which is not the newest but should run a game like this on medium settings. Unfortunately I experience game breaking lag spikes which sometimes last for multiple seconds. Even on the lowest settings possible! Between those lag spikes my fps is around 60 so I don't think is my GPU.

TLDR: This is a bugfest but rail fanboys won't care. Its visually pleasing, no doubt. Also there is enough simulation depth to keep you occupied for some time. Tutorials are quite okayish and what they don't provide you can find on youtube or in guides made by the community. Only its really hard to enjoy. These voyages can demand quite the time. Most of my missions are impossible to accomplish due to bugs forcing me to abandon my process. Bugs vary from buttons doing the wrong thing, locomotives getting cold and dark and impossible to restart, getting constantly teleported on top of the locomotive's roof when trying to just sit down and the neverending buggy safety auto-stops out of no reason which randomly emergency stop the train and hence are ruining your run. Yes, I have learnt the locomotives, yes, I studied the signals and the safety mechanics, LZB, PZB, you name it. Sadly won't prevent ending up in the game punishing you for doing nothing wrong. The biggest issue is that noone seems to focus in bugfixing, instead they announce the next TSW after a year. Please don't waste money on business practice like this...

Starting to get sick of this "New Train Sim World game every year" BS Here we go in a month and a half for TSW 6