Maybe add more trains outside of Europe or US, maybe add some trains from Asian countries? Like Japan, Indonesia, China or add some Dutch/French routes
Wouldn't say no to a shinkansen route or a tokyo commuter route. Not 100% sure but I'm sure theres a high speed maglev route in china/Hong Kong? Would be fun and different.
As has been said before. It's not just a case of making trains, they have to create the whole eco system. Rails, trackside foliage, buildings, markers, routing, signals... They've done US, GB and DE before, doing this for elsewhere would take more time to get set up I know they did Japan in TSx so maybe that would be easier than a complete new system setup
I know. Still worth it I hope. I'm getting a tad bored of the same old UK/DE/US stuff... DTG didn't do Japan. Union Workshop did, and as far as I know they've been the only Third party to venture into Japan.
Japan is very unlikely for a while - Japan is not allowing in ANY foreign nationals at the moment (and Japanese Citizens arriving from abroad have a mandatory 2 weeks in a government hotel) - this is going to be the case until at least April. So no chance of any on the ground research or recording before late 2021
I think that is going to be a problem all over for now. with parts of Europe going back into a kind of lockdown status it is going to hard. I would love to see something from Mexico. I watched a program a while ago about a certain line which ran through the mountains. Looked really good.
Yes I don't think they are doing any research of new routes even in the countries they do regularly (North America, UK, Germany). You can see on the TSW2 roadmap all the routes being made are those which they have done previously in train simulator classic - they already have the research for these routes done previously. I don't think we'll be seeing any new countries or even routes in the regular countries they haven't done before in Train Sim World before late 2021 at the earliest. Personally I would really love seeing anything from Japan - Shinkansen, Commuter or even the many scenic rural routes in Japan. It would certainly be nice to see them branch out from the usual North America and Europe.
If anything comes from Mexico, I bet it would most likely be Ferromex, as the Union Pacific has a 26% stake in the company (The rest is owned by Grupo Mexico). Not to mention Ferromex currently operates the "Ferrocarril Chihuahua al Pacífico", which from what I see, looks pretty scenic (Though IDK about its feasibility as a route in TSW2.)
The lockdown may cause some challenges, but it doesn't make it impossible. - They can rely on research already done for Train Simulator, which has a pretty huge collection of routes and locos - Lots of information can be found online, without the need to actually travel to the area - Research could be done by people living in the country And Switzerland <3
The Shanghai Maglev, which is in TS20XX. Travels between Shanghai's Pudong Airport and downtown Longyang Road.
I think that France and Netherlands are very much interested in Europe. Not sure thou, might be wrong.
That would be the one, thanks for confirming and also informing me correctly. Yes that would be interesting to have in the game.
I'd like to see other countries like maybe Japan. But I understand that Dovetail makes routes in the same three countries because they can reuse assets instead of making all new ones.
I'd also say there's a market for Japanese routes and trains, given that it seems to be the most commonly suggested country outside these three, and the fact that the Union Workshop routes, especially Wakayama and Sakurai, seem to have sold well, judging by the number of reviews they have, which shows that if they do Japan well, it will sell.
To begin with, they could do any country, because when they make routes they do not go to the countries, the routes are made from the headquarters in the United Kingdom
They are made on headquarters at the United Kingdom but you realise they do go out and do research for each train and route they make?
I wouldn't say that Union Workshop is up to something imo. Their bio says, "Train Simulator / Train Sim World Game DLC Production Group" on Weibo... I think there's hope that Japan might be coming to TSW2 in the future. Tho take this with a pinch of salt as they have been experimenting with UE4 as of recently.
They actually don’t. I remember them saying on a livestream that they didn’t physically go out to check the M3.
They actually do. They do research for literally every route they've made, they have posted plenty of times on twitter pictures of their people doing research with trains in the past (I remember one for Sand Patch Grade and another of Amtrak before they released NEC). Also they consistently talk about how they go out to the routes and do research on the livestream. They also have mentioned in recent livestreams how they have been making routes that they have already done the research for in train simulator because they can't go out and do the research, all the routes on the roadmap are routes they have already made.
Of course they do research. They asked the MTA to give them sound clips and pictures, but they didn’t ACTUALLY go to NY for the M3.
The biggest challenge for DTG I guess is finding a prototype that is going to sell in bulk. I would love to see any of the routes that were in the old Densha de Go games and that quirky little Japanese steam sim (SL de Ikou?) but as MS learned with MSTS putting two Japanese routes in the game didn't wean the Japanese off their arcade style games in great numbers. They were content to stick with DdeGo and of course BVE. We saw little or no Japanese add ons produced for MSTS, Trainz has a few but most of them are very aged and while I bought a couple of the DTG TS Japanese routes I'm guessing they probably weren't huge sellers. In fact, I refunded the last one as it was so incredibly boring. However I would definitely ante up for the Osaka Loop or Yamanote Line or one of the tram lines even - the one in Kyoto is very nice, has a mixture of reserved and street running and a single track branch line. Australia ought to be able to offer some interesting prototypes but, as with New Zealand, may well be closed for months or years to come for casual tourism due to Covid. Closer to home there is plenty of scope in Eastern Europe - for something quirky and different they could try the Sargan Eight narrow gauge line in the former Yugoslavia.
I don't think there'd be a lot of Japanese people playing TSW, but since Japan offers a really different landscape, I think there's a fair bit of people outside of Japan to be interested in such a route. I own a few Japanese routes for Train Simulator, although I gotta admit some of them are fairly boring. When they make a Japanese route, I'd say it needs to be a busy commuter line like the Wakayama & Sakurai Lines, which IMO is by far the most interesting of the Japanese routes made for Train Simulator. The Hidaka Line and the Forest Rail routes did have their charmes, but the landscape could get boring very quickly. I'd say these two routes weren't the best picks. I've seen some cabview videos on youtube on Japanese lines, and there's certainly enough of them to offer a very interesting experience. As for the rest of the world, there seems to be demand for Australian routes. I'm not too familiar with Australia myself, but I'd be interested in a change of landscape. I also quite liked the African route made for Train Simulator. Although I'm not sure I'd buy a second of such a route, it was definately a whole different experience from the usual UK/US/DE stuff. :P I'd be also very much interested in any eastern European routes. Especially those old ex-Soviet locomotives look impressive.
Hidaka was the one I refunded but Forest Rail and Wakayama were definitely keepers. You are right about YouTube, seems most of the Japanese lines are covered. Even though most of the lines are operated by EMU's some of these exude a level of luxury and panoramic views we can only dream about for our utilitarian UK rolling stock. A couple of other good ones from Densha de Go are the Hokuhoku line which includes a number of stations in the long tunnel sections (the Joetsu Border in BVE is good too) and Tazawako Line. From BVE the Seikan Tunnel would also make an interesting study. Japanese routes would actually fit quite well into the TSW paradigm - come in at a reasonable distance, not too complex for infrastructure, multiple unit operation but with an intensive service. Go for it, DTG!
I also agree that Hidaka main line was probably the most boring Japanese route they could have made, its flat, and generally long drives interspersed by only a couple of stops every 10km. Have you tried the Tadami line which was released more recently? It is still single track, but the scenery is through a river valley in the Japanese Alps (though it starts in a city), its more stunning, and you can't just leave the loco for 10 minutes while you go and cook dinner like you can on Hidaka lol. Wakayama and Sakurai lines is by far the best though, because there were AI trains and varying speed limits through towns and countryside, as well as the fact that there were two stations which involved reversal (Takada and Kitauchi). I would think that there is definitely enough of an interest outside Japan for them to build Japanese routes (or maybe help Union Workshop move over to TSW2 production?). Looking at the number of reviews for Wakayama, it has 83, compared to the Brighton main line, a very popular UK route which only has 74. I don't know if this is indicative of purchases at all though, but I would've thought there has to be a correlation between the two. I think something for TSW2 might be to remake the Wakayama and Sakurai lines but make them longer. Or another interesting route nearby could be the JR Nara line from Kyoto to Nara, which is partially double tracked and served by the 103 series and 221 series, which are both fun trains to drive. If you want something scenic the Gono line runs along the Sea of Japan (actually along it, not like the Hidaka line, where it is just within viewing distance). There could also be the classics like Yamanote line or Shinkansen. Just looked up the Hokuhoku line as I'd never heard of it and I've gotta say its a good length and looks like it is operated by different types of trains so looks like a good suggestion too
I don't think that it's necessary to aim the lines at only the locals, especially in the case of TSW where people may well want to drive foreign routes IF they're done well. I would probably prefer to drive a Japanese bullet train than an american commuter one for example
At the moment I think the biggest stumbling block if DTG want to crack Japan is the game isn't translated into Japanese yet.