Train Sim World®: Great Western Express DLC

I'm not quite sure how I feel about this DLC and there lies the problem, the locos feel lifeless and very dull to drive which maybe due to the little if no cabin sway & the sounds are way too quiet & I just don't feel engaged enough. If you take that across a very short route it's all a bit meh imo. I like the graphics & the live time table but if the main mechanic of driving the train isn't good then it's not fun.

Does anyone else thing DTG have bent us over a desk and Fckd us ? They made us pay full whack and gave us promises of next gen - multiplayer yadda yadda, In reality we get a badly sounded, incomplete routes with bugs (doors that open both sides along with doors that open when driving), stations have same announcement, stations dont have working boards !! I have a feeling this was a ploy from the start to big this up and get us spending and we all belived the hype. By now there should be extensions to the route, new trains, new all sorts but we get half arsed new routes full of bugs......................welll played DTG you screwed us good. Keep churning out sub standard shite and the good folk will keep buying lining your pockets.

If you like passenger play this has great content. The HST is pretty boring, to be frank, but the stop/start of the "slow train" services is good fun, keeps you busy, and if you play by the proper TS series rules of keeping to the time table, its quite a challenge. The route is decent, its England so its going to be a bit bland. Good length for what it is, but seriously we need longer routes, Dovetail. Do that thing. Performance isn't the best however, and you may need to make some GPU tweaks to get constant framerates (FPS isn't low, but it isn't too stable). Its a good package though, lots of content if driving trains is your thing. I just prefer the vanilla CSX content, far more interesting. More like that, please Dovetail!

Much better than TS2017 looks really good still needs few touches and be a good sim. stations look better and passengers and can even ride a train now. As always there will be a few issues once there sorted this can become a good train sim. Rain and snow effects add to weather effects having to use wipers. Maybe a bit more life added to roads as looks a bit dead.

TSW: GWE brings a new level of realism to train simulation with incredibly detailed rolling stock and scenery, a 24h timetable that guarantees a living and busy railway, and my favorite new feature: the fact that you are able to walk anywhere you want, including the possibility to take the train as a passenger and enjoy the scenery in a more relaxing way. I have to say as a train driver in real life, it is the first time i get a feeling so close to driving an actual train. While all those things make this new DLC to TSW a great experience, there are still some bugs that need to be fixed. None of them however will break your gaming session as they are mostly related to AI passengers behavior. So far i have noticed passengers standing on the tracks, sitting between seats in the trains, half disappearing into the platforms or people on platforms standing in the way of disembarking passengers, preventing you or anyone to step off (you can still try another door and you will eventually be free but AI passengers of course don't do that). As i said none of those bugs will ruin the game for you and you will still enjoy the game a lot. I am confident that the developpers will fix those soon enough. I recommend this game without hesitation.

DLC looks good! Graphics are awesome, passengers are much better than in the old train sim. Still some things to be polished like graphic glitches on the high speed train and movement of the passengers. Last but not least I think there should be more scenario's and above all more tutorials. Of course you've still got the whole 24-hour timetable thing, which is pretty nice. But it could be even better exploited with some more custom scenario's where things go wrong or where trains need to be rescued and such. Overall I'm really excited and I think it's definitely worth the money, though I'm still hoping for some more polishing and tutorials.

I'm not very good at reviews so I'll just post why I personally enjoy this game. But please take note that what I'm saying isn't a "FEATURE" but I love to role play and invent my own features, which is possible if your imagination is good. I love to role play and pretend I'm at work or doing something in reality, int this case it's being a conductor or looking after the trains in the depot. I know, I'm weird! This game is one of my favourites now and although I don't have many hours, it's not because I don't enjoy it, it's because I don't have much time to play games these days, but it gives me total enjoyment each time I play it. You can walk around your train, and there are 3 to choose from but my favourite is the more modern passenger train. I really enjoy being able to stand up, walk out into the passenger compartment and walking down the train while it's in motion. You can even do this as the driver, just stand up and go take a seat! I'm not sure if that's a very good idea though. What I like to do is sit inside the back cab, where the conductor would sit. I like to walk down the train and "check tickets" (roleplay, it isn't a feature in the game!) and then return to my conductor's cab. At stations I'll open the doors for the passengers and make sure everyone is on the train before telling the driver he can carry on! The detail of the trains themselves (exterior) seems really good, I would say that the interior, mainly in the passenger compartment, leaves something to be desired. Especially the audio, I don't really feel like I'm on a train when it's moving because the sound cuts in/out sometimes, but that's really my only negative for this game. It's fun, it's what I've always wanted from train simulator (more first person) and they've done a good job for what this is. :)

I have to register my utter disappointment with this release. I only want to do this because it has the potential to be absolutely amazing and does look really good. To release it in this state though is nothing short of shocking and to be honest if they had called it early access alpha that would have been about right. So many issues it's hard to list them all but fundamentally the main one is the passenger AI. It is so disappointing to see hordes of passengers colliding trying to get on or off a unit, trying to get out the wrong side of the train at a station and falling on the track and just standing there. Passengers end up on the track and just stand there permanently until a train hits them and moves them along a little like they are an indestructible zombie mannequin. I'm looking right now at several AI slide walking into a bunch of other passengers not moving trying to get into a train where the doors are closed. This though is just the tip of the issues of which I'll try and summarise; - Ridiculous and terrible AI passengers - Passengers to stand like zombies on a platform, especially Paddington and don't ever get on a train - Passengers on stabled trains at depots before they have gone into service in the morning - Trains stopped at a red signal go right up to it, so close that the driver cannot see the signal from the cab. Surely Dovetail you know anout the 20/20 rule if you are making a train simulation. Surely thats a simple one to fix ? No? - Sounds terrible and almost non existent (this especially kills the realism) - Sounds are terrible. It deserves a repeat, at least turn up the volume! - You can step from the platform hearing the diesel engine of a 166 to one foot inside the doors and it's like the sounds have been switched off. No gradient of outside sound at all as you walk in. - Shadows from passing trains that looks like aliens spikes that are about to attack you - Trains goring forward with red tail lights on the front - Trains with no drivers - Why do you have a timer that the driver has to wait for before he can close the doors at a platform? This is not how it works. The driver if he's DOO will decide when it’s clear to close doors. Or if these stations are all staff dispatch then where are the staff or guard? - I rode in cab with an AI driver and enabled the AWS (Not enabled from the start on any train, a crazy decision) and the vigilance alarm went off and just continued to sound with no action from the driver and no consequence to the train. - The feeling that you are in some sort of zombie world where stations are very quiet with few services. Paddington at times feels likes it been closed there are so few services moving (in services mode) - The few pre-scripted and extremely quiet station announcements have the tone of an on train announcement, nothing at all like you would hear over a station PA system - No working destination boards or on train announcements ( this I find very surprising given how long Dovetail have been making train simulators) - AI drivers just sit there like zombies, even when you are riding in cab with them, completely breaks any immersion of the simulated experience - No proper dispatch system from any station, not even Paddington. You take over a service and have no indication of if you are clear to leave, to close doors or to set off (CD/RA/Right Away in the real world). - No way of seeing your schedule in services mode when you walk up and take over a train - The whole world feels dead and the services mode as far as I can make out so far has no ability to be dynamic. It just appears to be pre-scripted, you go here at this time and that is it. Where are the daily changes/problems/delays/rush hours congestion. (Make it a different experience each time you play) - AI passengers get stuck in doors, open or closed - There appears to only about 4 different AI people, then they are mixed with various cloths or hair colours. You couldn't dedicate someone to at least come up with maybe a minimum of 10 different AI characters? - Doors open on both sides of train at a station (What ???? surely you know that at least from play testing and then would have said ok get this fixed now? No? if not its beyond me) - I've tested taking over a train (in services mode) and then walking back out onto the platform and waiting 30 minutes. There has been no option to release the train back to the AI and all other services on this line are backing up outside the station. Its like I've stopped the world because I won't move this train. Why isn't the AI taking it back over or where it the option for me to release it. I walked to the next train waiting at red to get into the same platform and tried to take that over so the other train would release to the AI but it just says "you do not have permission to drive this service" - Where is the dynamic management of the railway to re route trains if I don't move this one? - Also now an hour after taking over this train and not moving it there are 12 passengers standing on the track and many more moon walking trying to get on and off the train. I have seen these problems within a hour of jumping into the game and there are more. How is it possible that Dovetail have not experienced these issues. If they have and still decided to release it as a full product then I just cannot understand their logic. I am a huge supporter of Dovetail and what they do, what they have brought us simulations fans and what they are trying to do. But we want realism and a sense that you understand these issues break any sort of immersion and realism. That aside the attention to detail on the route is absolutely incredible and a joy to see the effort they have made. This though seems to have muddled their overall view of the simulation into thinking it’s working fine. If I'm wrong then Dovetail please communicate and explain but you simply never extend any sort of open forums/feedback or communication to discuss issues or what people want. This is only frustrating because I believe we as simulation lovers want the same as you do while making the game but were always left feeling 'oh well if only'. I really am not someone who ever writes reviews or is unrealistic about their expectations but you have an amazing platform here to produce a truly stunning simulation but you seem to lack either the knowledge or the head count to deal the things that really matter. I hope these issues starting with the terrible passenger AI are fixed, but how long will this take? We want a new TSW route every month and I'll buy them all but there is clearly no chance of this as it feels like a long road for you to get this one past what is clearly an early access alpha stage of the simulation. Dovetail, thanks for making this and please we want more but for the sake of our sanity please play test before release and openly communicate with us who want what you want, an immersive, realistic working simulation!

PROS: +Models are well done +Route is more accurate than current TS2017 version +Optimisation has been improved +Shaders are good +Finally got an English Route CONS: Still buggy as hell -Can't hear outside sounds while driving if you switch to outside view -No Diesel particle effects -Random shadow walls appear on the screen when passing another HST Optimisation issues are better but still bad -Give an option to turn off motion blur as it's distracting -Give an option to change filtering; everything looks choppy 5/10: Getting there, but still needs a lot of work. However still playable Will change this review after any patches

[b]Summary[/b] This is a pretty good add-on. There are a lot of services to choose from, models are pretty nice and detailed, and most of the buttons actually do something or at the very least are clickable and not just for decoration. Overall, it's a great improvement over the old Train Simulator and its British routes - this one looks better, feels alive with the entire schedule recreated, and FPS is finally good. It has some problems, mainly with very quiet sounds, but I haven't encountered any game breaking bugs and CTDs so far in my few scheduled rides. [b]What works[/b] 1. The entire schedule allows you to take any train and even just ride along. The world finally feels alive and you don't need to create missions in the editor or download them to drive a lot of different routes. 2. Route is pretty accurate and looks much better than TS ones. 3. Graphics are pretty good and shaders work well. 4. A lot of little switches in that cabin make it feel more realistic than TS ones. 5. Optimization is finally pretty good now. It almost tripled the FPS compared to the original release for me. 6. Both high speed and commuter trains for you to choose from. [b]What doesn't work[/b] 1. The route could have been longer. I really love those Trainz routes that while not as detailed perhaps, can last for several hundred miles. 2. There are some minor problems such as the one concerning sound (you can barely hear the train and ambient effects) and weird shadows every once in a while. [b]Final note[/b] I really like where the direction in which train simming seems to be moving. Vast, open worlds with real schedules where you can simply drive any train you want, customize the weather and do pretty much whatever you want - for me that's the childhood dream come true. I hope they will add more historic routes over time, especially the really old ones that were hardly ever represented - like the late nineteenth century ones or the 1930s. So, overall, good job Dovetail. If you had to postpone it just to get it right, it was a good choice.