Having played the route for a few days and having covered over 800 miles, here are my thoughts on LGV Méditerranée. Parts of the route, particularly the parts going over the river are poor quality. Very baron, ugly and TS looking in appearance. Parts of the route including Marseille station look amazing. Having just one type of train on the route is disappointing given that several different trains in different liveries operate on the route in real life. It’s a shame the route wasn’t extended to Gare de Valence TGV. Especially as this is the start/end of the LGV Méditerranée. Driving the TGV is fun and it is very easy to get to grips with it. There are some bugs with the TVM-430 system on Bad Things, which causes the train to be emergency braked for no reason. The Bad Things scenario trophy hasn’t popped for me. There aren’t many passengers.
GODDAMN. Puttin in that work! Can this be one of the issues with the new method they are using to create the routes? I've seen people say that this is a step back from what we've seen in previous routes like HMA. So much for us not seeing any "visual downgrade". This right here makes me believe that the handcrafted parts of the route are of high quality, while the auto-generated portions are not. Classic TSW, just like the Original LIRR, GWR, and East Coastway. At least it's good to hear that the train is fun to drive. Same old, same old... We're in a pandemic... But for real, TSW has an issue with passenger density.
People might like to check the line ahead on the map when playing Bad Things. I suspect that the TVM “bugs” in this scenario are actually the TVM system responding to the train in the blocks ahead that’s not running at full speed. I had no bugs, just lots of target speed alterations that matched up to me continuously gaining on a slower train ahead. So I sat at 160 and watched the targets shift up and down all the way to Aix.
Plus a quick view of Google Earth shows that the tidal plains near the Duance are actually pretty dull.
I gotta be honest, this is definitely my favourite of the DLC routes so far, and up there with the Bakerloo line for my favourite route in TSW2. Driving the TGV is really fun, especially when changing between power modes, and it actually runs reasonably well on a standard PS4! I was afraid this route would be a repeat of HMA, which has the framerate of a power point presentation whenever more than one train is on screen. Overall, I'm super happy with this route, and I hope more high speed routes get added soon! Especially if we get to drive more TGVs, better than all the countless German routes I can never tell apart.
This is a really good DLC I covered 2500 kilometers and despite some bugs like with the TVM or some coaches/powercar missing with the AI and the lack of variety of train but why not like in TS we’ll get in a future DLC both TGV Réseau and RD
I think the ground textures and parts of the scenery outside of Marseille and Avingon are really disappointing. I know it’s a big route but the repeated bland textures and color palettes can really kill some of the experience. I think DTG will improve the route as we go but to pay 25 bucks for a route that to me looks unfinished, is a punch in the gut. I think it’s offset by the fact that the TGV duplex is super fun to drive.
