At the time Great Western Express has been set, (2015 - 2016), most of the HST, Mk3 and Networker stock hadn't actually been painted in the new GWR Livery, and so there were still lots of sets that bore the old FGW Dynamic Lines livery. This is still somewhat true even now, as you'll often find GWR-liveried Class 43s hauling FGW-liveried Mk3s. It'd be great and would surely add some realism if Dovetail added the FGW dynamic lines livery as an option or as AI, similar to how the EWS livery was added for the Class 66. (PS: A secret NSE livery for the 166 could be very cool too )
DTG has already made the content for FGW 166s and HSTs. Its just not used. And it doesn't really work that well either.... (yuck) Hopefully, DTG can find an opportunity to put these paint jobs in the game for real, because they just don't work with the modding abilities we have now.
Yeah, that definitely looks very unfinished. With any luck, DTG might complete these at some point and add them to the game. This could also open up some pretty interesting options, such as maybe including the special liveried 43s (43185 and 43002).
The reason the files for the old livery are in the game is because DTG created them before the GWR rebrand. First Great Western was recently rebranded to GWR, so First will limit DTG to using their most recent branding as they are a very 'brand conscious' company; It's very unlikely we'll ever see the old livery from DTG, purely because First will not licence it.
Do you have any insight of what DTG has planned? I don't think so because you don't work at DTG so you can only speculate but nobody except DTG knows the exact reason why it's not in the game.
What are your sources for these claims? As far as I know the textures weren't in the GWE pak file at release and DTG devs said that apart from time nothing prevents them from making FGW liveries.
Plus, GWR and FGW are for all intents and purposes the same company - FGW simply rebranded into GWR, and the company is still a part of the FirstGroup. Unless there is something copyright-related which is preventing DTG from using the FGW trademark, I don't see why they shouldn't be able to use FGW branding.
I can confirm that those files did not exist until after release. I think it was with the EWS 66 that they appeared as well, so they didn’t even exist until weeks after release. And based on the way all the folders are named (GWR166 and GWRHST) that the original intent was always to do GWR first and FGW later, simply because GWR is newer, and people tend to like stuff that is ultra modern more so than set 5 years ago. As for why they aren’t out now, nearly a year later, probably something technical they have not had the time or a good reason to fix, as much of the art appears to be complete...
I used to work for First Great Western, so I am aware of their brand guidelines. It's very unlikely First would license the use of an old livery, especially one which is still on the network, as this would weaken the GWR brand.
It’s also very unlikely that DTG would even begin to make this kind of thing without licensing. And for that matter, allow its continued existance within the files (though nowadays less files are there than originally). They tend to be extremely careful about licensing, and they would not risk having unlicensed content in every single person’s game files. GWE is set in 2015, when FGW paint was still very common. Even today FGW HSTs still roll around (but I think all 166s have been repainted) and this is train simulator. One of the main advantages of the simulation is that it is not limited by time. Anything can happen in the simulator.
Well, this is my guess on why. I don't think it's a DTG thing, but a GWR thing. The FGW era is not one to be proud of, so I wonder if the licencing agreement put an end to anything of the sort.
