Running Train Sim

Discussion in 'Off Topic' started by Jasonic, Apr 18, 2026.

  1. Jasonic

    Jasonic Well-Known Member

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    Last edited: May 6, 2026 at 9:09 AM
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  2. OldVern

    OldVern Well-Known Member

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    For a moment I thought that was actual real life footage like the Ongakukan games but looks as if it’s actually a proper game engine. Will definitely bookmark it, the only caveats being early access and how much it will cost. I’m getting a premonition of £39.99 flashing in front of my eyes. Also my CPU is slightly below the minimum spec (though GPU okay).
     
  3. Emmy_MAN

    Emmy_MAN Well-Known Member

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    When I looked at the screenshots, I thought this was just another one of those train simulator games.
    It wasn’t until I watched it a second time that I realised these were the game’s graphics, which are stunning and look absolutely brilliant.

    DTG really ought to take a leaf out of their book.
    Here you can see just what you can achieve with the Unreal Engine, and these aren’t just tracks running through empty landscapes, but mostly routes that pass through densely populated areas.
     
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  4. -_-LivvuAurora-_-

    -_-LivvuAurora-_- Well-Known Member

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    I feel like im going to sink an unhealthy amount of time into this game solely due to heritage i cant lie.
     
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  5. fpriotto520

    fpriotto520 Well-Known Member

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  6. fakenham

    fakenham Well-Known Member

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    This looks incredible, the track and lineside detailing alone looks insane, so many details. Looking forward..
     
  7. eldomtom2

    eldomtom2 Well-Known Member

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    That's just the last day of Q2.
     
  8. fpriotto520

    fpriotto520 Well-Known Member

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  9. Doomotron

    Doomotron Well-Known Member

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    I'll have to see it with my own eyes to make a final judgement, but from the screenshots it looks stunning, even when comparing it to 'normal' games. I'll keep my eye on it and see if it's too good to be true.
     
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  10. OldVern

    OldVern Well-Known Member

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    Watching that clip, I'm wondering if they have somehow managed to combine real video into a graphics overlay. It just looks too realistic to be any sort of game engine and, if it is, then going to need a NASA computer to run it on.
     
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  11. fpriotto520

    fpriotto520 Well-Known Member

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    I've been following this developer for at least three years.
    I never thought this program would ever actually be available on Steam, even though that was indeed the goal, as the developer themselves stated a couple of years ago.
    There was also the option (or still is?) of subscribing for a few euros to become part of the development.
    Perhaps there was also the option of getting a demo?
    By the way, has anyone tried it?
    That said, it all looks truly astonishing, even considering the fairly reasonable PC requirements.
    If everything were this fantastic, it would be truly difficult for me to go back to a program with graphics that aren't this good .
    However, before getting carried away with facile triumphalism, it's best to wait until you get your hands on the whole thing.
    Please note that the route is fictitious.
    Let's see if the developer is a master of PC game optimization...
    In the meantime, I've added "Running Train" to my wishlist.
     
    Last edited: Apr 22, 2026
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  12. Emmy_MAN

    Emmy_MAN Well-Known Member

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    In this game, there are no videos playing; instead, these are the actual graphics that you see as the train driver.
    At first glance, the whole environment looks like real images or a film, but these are really just the game’s graphics.
     
  13. Princess Entrapta

    Princess Entrapta Well-Known Member

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    Just like TSW, the extremely ropey cars give it away.
     
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  14. SuperExpressMizuho

    SuperExpressMizuho Member

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    JNR 115-series, local suburban lines, a timetable mode, livery editor, and service variations.

    I’m sold.
     
  15. kman2080

    kman2080 New Member

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    Amazing looks good!
     
  16. fpriotto520

    fpriotto520 Well-Known Member

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    Maybe the release date now is May 2026?

    Translated from Italian (7 days ago):
    "This is a solo project I've been working on for years. Finally available for EA release in MAY (cool:)) , if all goes according to plan."
     
    Last edited: Apr 25, 2026
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  17. OldVern

    OldVern Well-Known Member

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    Solo project, not wishing to be negative but definitely getting a Train Crew or Hakodate Tram vibe here. Will wait and see what the early adopters have to say.
     
  18. fpriotto520

    fpriotto520 Well-Known Member

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    It will definitely need to be evaluated.
    It won't be long now, and we'll see.
     
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  19. eldomtom2

    eldomtom2 Well-Known Member

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    So perfectly good games?
     
  20. OldVern

    OldVern Well-Known Member

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    Not really. Train Crew is the better of the two, but even with relatively simple graphics suffers optimisation issues and the route is still quite short. Not bad, but not great and obvious limited by being a one person effort. Hakodate Tram has even more basic graphics so it looks and plays like something from pre MSTS era. In fact, the old Densha de Go tram game on the Playstation looked better!
     
  21. fpriotto520

    fpriotto520 Well-Known Member

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    Okay, but in this case, the graphics are definitely the main attraction.
    After that, if the product isn't stable on PC, then that's another matter.
     
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  22. kman2080

    kman2080 New Member

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    New GamePlay Preview Released:-
     
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  23. Jasonic

    Jasonic Well-Known Member

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    Looking good, can’t wait to try it for myself.
    I see it’s out on May 25th $19.99
     
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  24. fakenham

    fakenham Well-Known Member

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    Oh my word, looks incredible, is this going to be the new standard for train simming? And 19.99? That's pretty cheap.
     
  25. PseudoStalker

    PseudoStalker Well-Known Member

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    Where is the stutters? Train sim without a stutters is nonsense.
     
  26. frank351981

    frank351981 Active Member

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    I dont know how they done it, but what I see I say: they done it well (only the sounds could be a little better)
     
  27. _Crash_

    _Crash_ Active Member

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    The night lighting, the snow, the textures,

    And to top it off, NO crazy visible LOD pop-in.
     
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  28. Princess Entrapta

    Princess Entrapta Well-Known Member

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    You say that like it's somehow magic, but that's just standard UE5 nanite LOD rendering.
     
  29. OldVern

    OldVern Well-Known Member

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    Fudge me, that just looks brilliant. Still can’t get my head around how lifelike it looks. Without cutting to the external views, I was convinced it was driving a video clip like the Ongakukan games. Sounds could be better yes and there was definitely some drainpiping going on, but that could be in part compression making the video.

    Even though my PC is slightly under spec, think I will still give this a go, even on reduced settings should still be good. I’m a sucker for anything Japanese after cutting my teeth on Densha de Go and BVE over the years. My only other slight caveat is whether if you get too many penalties or run late, the game over message appears.
     
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  30. Emmy_MAN

    Emmy_MAN Well-Known Member

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    When I first saw a video of this simulator, I thought there was a video clip playing in front of the driver’s cab.
    When I took a closer look, I realised that this is actually the simulator’s graphics, and it looks so incredibly realistic.

    So this developer clearly understands what you can do with the Unreal Engine; DTG could certainly learn a thing or two from them.

    I’ll definitely be buying this simulator, even though I’m not really into Japanese trains. But what’s going on in this simulator is simply brilliant.
     
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  31. fakenham

    fakenham Well-Known Member

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    Hopefully, Hmmsim runs great on my ancient PC, get mostly 60fps with decent settings and masses of AI and that uses UE5, so it can be done.

    As an aside, tried out Subwaysim2, thought performance would be OK but it was bad - not sure what's going on with that one, tried all sorts of stuff that normally works, but no joy.
     
  32. OldVern

    OldVern Well-Known Member

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    Even if it stutters, can sit in my Library until I upgrade or change the PC later in the year. I’m guessing this doesn’t have a save feature.

    I’ve been watching a few clips of SubwaySim 2 but, while tempted, graphically it’s not that good and very little track audio. Typical TML/Aerosoft mediocre effort which with a bit more polish could be really good.

    Back to Running Train, I would like to think DTG and Matt especially as producer of trains is watching closely and particularly those night graphics.
     
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  33. Princess Entrapta

    Princess Entrapta Well-Known Member

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    Eh, everyone says that about every new iteration of the engine, but if you've played enough games in the older version of it, enough stands out that one can always tell stuff rendered in UE from all the telltale quirks, right down to scenes in The Mandalorian.
    More likely, this developer doesn't have a complex and in depth simulation of the physics of every locomotive in the timetable running heavily in the background, and therefore there's much less load on the hardware, because system resources are freed up to focus on style over substance.

    That's raytracing for you, basically shifts the burden of all the difficult work of getting lighting realistic off the developer and onto, to a lesser extent the GPU, but also quite heavily the CPU (I am VERY glad for having a 16-core CPU since most games started getting that feature) with the balance depending largely with UE5 games on if it's software or hardware Lumen. Night lighting once you have that available to work with becomes SO much easier and more realistic looking than baked raster lighting.
     
    Last edited: May 7, 2026 at 12:03 PM
  34. Princess Entrapta

    Princess Entrapta Well-Known Member

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    Caveat to my comments about night lighting in UE5 - a consistent bug with the engine's night lighting I have encountered is that it can possibly be quite unsafe for anyone with photosensitive epilepsy, as in several games (Avowed, Hellblade 2, Immortals of Aveum, Mechwarrior 5: Clans, The Outer Worlds 2) though not in some others (Lost Records: Bloom & Rage, Robocop: Rogue City) there's a tendency sometimes for the night sky to temporarily turn into flashing disco lights without warning. I am still not 100% sure what triggers it, but it occurs on both Nvidia and AMD hardware...
     
  35. fpriotto520

    fpriotto520 Well-Known Member

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    We need to understand where the truth lies.
    This Japanese game with UE5 looks fantastic, while Subway Sim 2 with UE5 looks nothing special, in fact it looks very similar to TSW.
    One reason might be that it's PC-only.
    Well, we'll find out soon enough.
     
  36. PseudoStalker

    PseudoStalker Well-Known Member

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    DTG, you can buy this cool looking assets on the market. Instead of making your own, and then excuses that you run out of time to create all of the landmarks.
    Just imagine how great looking can be Hellgate Bridge made on outsource(not by DTG).
     
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