Considering picking up LGV for PS5 in the sale, as I like fast routes. Anyone got any thoughts please? Is it a good route? Anything I should be aware of before purchasing? Thanks
Only caveat on PS is that changing voltage just outside Marseille with joypad rather than KBM on PC is very tricky. If you like a quick, fast run through not entirely 100% convincing French countryside certainly worth a punt in a sale. Unlike the German high speed line, has a real rollercoaster feel to it.
To summarise: LOVE scenery, far worse than the TS version. Takes about half an hour to drive end to end. The TS version is four times as long if you buy the extension. The timetable is quite empty. The TGV is actually quite nice, it's one of the better DTG trains. You can drive the Class 395 on it if you want to. The route adds extra services to SEHS.
Also it's purely TGV, there's no conventional SNCF stock such as Corail etc. at Marseille even as AI.
For me it's the best "Lgvesque" route in the game. You truly needs skill to not overspeed with the 3,5° gradients. And the TGV is nicely done.
I got it when it was free last year, purely for the SEHS AI, the playable TGV services on there are also fun. Haven't touched the route.
It’s quite a one-trick pony with the lack of regional and freight traffic that high speed routes in the big three offer. Run one service and you’ve run them all (which is actually not an exaggeration for once). That being said, the TGV is quite well done - it shows that SNCF were keen on DTG getting it right with their constant back and forth then. I’d personally only pick it up at 50% off or greater if you’re interested in the TGV.
If it's a big sale (More than 50%), you could consider it but normally, its not one I'd recommend. To summarise Pros TGV itself is pretty good. 329kph top speed and the fastest train in the game between 200 and 300kph. Low speed acceleration is very weak however. Also sounds decent (by dovetails standards) and is fairly fun to drive. If you're a fan of the Eurostar, running the TGV with a creators club livery is the closest you can get to an e300 Eurostar in TSW unless they ever relent on the license. Route has a lot of tricky elevation changes, more than 2 degrees up and down Cons Scenery is truly appalling. In my opinion, this is the worst scenery and distant detail out of any of the routes I own. The route is utter LOVE in visual terms. No variation in services (TGV full run only) Decent length route on paper but the high speed limits mean you'll finish in 30mins Only 1 intermediate station on the route. It's basically just a flat out blast the whole way. For me, I'd look at it as buying a TGV loco add on that happens to come with a route because in my opinion, the route is so poor that its really not much of a selling point. If you are interested in high speed, you can't go wrong with the TGV though. Just make sure its at an acceptable price point. With that said, if you want high speed running, I'd suggest that Kassel-Wurzburg, Southeastern High Speed and ECML - Doncaster to Peterbrourough are all better than LGV if you were missing any of them.
Anecdotally, after reading this thread yesterday evening I fired up LGV on TSC starting at Lyon and it does look better, IMHO. Only downside is much less to interact with in the cab, not even sure if the voltage changeover system works when I get to Marseille.
The train and the sounds are very well created. The route has some horrors in places (like where there is a river near Avignon) but it is about 90km if I remember correctly. The downside is that you will only see other TGV doubles like yours running. There are no other trains (or TGV models) other than yours. After an update, in my opinion, the TVM has been ruined. I challenge anyone to arrive on time respecting the braking curve that the update offers you. To arrive on time, during braking, you will often have to end up with the digital speedometer on the red. Before the update, when you went from 170km/h to stopping (without further instructions) it was much more faithful to reality (given the numerous videos of real TGVs along the same route) but above all you arrived on time without having to miss the braking curve. If you like the TGV anyway, get it (maybe on sale), because the train is really well made. If you also have a PC, get it for Train Simulator because (aside from the train) it has a route that goes all the way to Lyon.
One thing I will say for the scenery is that it feels like you're actually covering a great deal of distance. Even though the high speeds mean the journey takes a short time, you still feel like you've really moved from one location to another location far away. In my opinion it easily beats routes like SFS Kassel-Wurzburg or ECML on that count. On the other hand the scenery looks terrible. There's no real sugar coating that.
