Coming soon- May 25th https://store.steampowered.com/app/4630570/RUNNING_TRAIN/ Have been looking forward to this one, made with UE5.
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).
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.
I feel like im going to sink an unhealthy amount of time into this game solely due to heritage i cant lie.
This looks incredible, the track and lineside detailing alone looks insane, so many details. Looking forward..
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.
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.
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.
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.
JNR 115-series, local suburban lines, a timetable mode, livery editor, and service variations. I’m sold.
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."
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.
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!
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.
Oh my word, looks incredible, is this going to be the new standard for train simming? And 19.99? That's pretty cheap.
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)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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...
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.
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).
No, it simply all depends on the developer and how they make their assets. Running Train runs better on my PC than TSW does. Console limitations are not the issue. It is simply because it is made by someone who is actually competent and spends an unhealthy amount of time to make it. TSW could also look just like this even on UE4, if the assets were made to look good enough and optimized properly. To put optimization into perspective - this whole game, with 3 train models and 40+ kms of track is only 2.3 GB in size. That's less than the pak file for the smallest TSW route, Isle of Wight, which in comparison is much shorter in length and only comes with a single train.
It releases on Steam for early access in two weeks or so, but supporters have recieved early keys, so we can already play around with it.
Not sure. UE4.x would be as good visually sorry. UE5 uses Lumen and Nanite which is miles ahead of what UE4 is capable of. I also would not be surprised if this demo is also using Nanite Foliage too.
Running Train looks great even with Lumen off. It looks great because the assets are well made (photorealistic textures) and the route building/detailing is done well too. Take a look at the tracks in Running Train and in TSW for example. TSW track ballasts very often look like model train tracks slapped on a carpet. Then they have ugly textures with repeating patterns. In comparison, the tracks in RT look realistic and blend into the ground as they should. This is not Lumen neither Nanite, just someone capable of making photorealistic assets and using them well. Lumen is not a magic solution either if you can't be bothered to set up your materials and light properties correctly. UE4 can be gorgeous as well if you are actually competent. TSW sadly is far away from what it could be visually.
That's the neat part, you don't! I am running it on an old i5 and an 1660Ti. Runs smoother and more stable than TSW. And I am fairly confident it would be playable even on an 1050 as well.
