Yeah I envy you It was the same with SEHS, which has a bad reputation amongst the English player base, but to me it is one of my personal favorites for sure. these are the boons of being unfamiliar with these regions. Though I could understand how a missing fence was a big issue, it did not bother me too much. This time it is the other way around, Nat said that if the wrong lights are a dealbraker so be it, and as weird as it seems, it kinda is for me. I will see that loco every time passing me on a service, entering a station and substitute into older routes and each time I would be reminded of the inaccurate look... That being said, of course I wish anyone who can look past that (or the other issues) their utmost enjoyment from the route and content!
All trains in TSW2 use the new adhesion system so it makes them quite realistic as physics go. Now i am not talking about sounds and functions implemented but strictly how the vehicle behaves on the rail. Even the god old HST has some insane realistic behavior to it. Just apply the emergency brake or brake hard during rain/snow and you will see the WSP (wheel sleep protection) system working constantly with an audible hissing sound as it apply and releases brakes in order to stop wheel lock/ slip.This is exactly how the real life system works. The only thing i think could be improved is the implementation of wheel slip protection for both acceleration and braking on some trains (ICE3 for example) Its non existent or to weak compared to real life. But even so i am quite happy with how trains feel in TSW2.
First I would say that there is more to physics realism then adhesion but perhaps you are more focused on UK rolling stock. In that case I do think the HST (iirc) and the Class 377 (in TSW 2020 and on SESH but at some point it was severely bugged in preserved collection) has quite good physics. When it comes to German rolling stock I disagree however. I go into more detail in these threads: Freight Passenger
Well i cannot argue with such a well documented case. I can imagine the amount of research that went into those threads and i really hope the devs take note of all that hard work for some more tweaking. I was biased towards UK rolling stock as you noticed but also based on some runs with the ICE3 and Talent 2. Sadly i only played a little with the likes of the 146 and 185 in TSW2 due to the sound issues in TSW2 so once again you are right