We are still trapped in isolated segments, stuck in rigid, scripted scenarios, with no real transition between routes. In 2025, for a serious simulation game, this is no longer acceptable. What we truly want is to travel freely across Europe: to go from London to Brussels, Brussels to Cologne, Paris to Amsterdam — without loading screens, without breaks, without artificial borders. Belgium, the beating heart of European rail, is shockingly absent. And yet, it is the political capital of Europe, a major crossroads where hundreds of international trains pass through every single day. InterCity, Thalys, Eurostar, ICE — everything connects there. Leaving Belgium out of Train Sim World is ignoring one of the most vital hubs of European rail transport. Microsoft Flight Simulator lets us fly around the entire world in one seamless experience. Why can’t Train Sim World offer the same freedom — on rails — across Europe? And what about ticket control? Why not allow us to play as a train conductor — check tickets, interact with passengers, detect fare evasion, handle onboard incidents? This would add a rich, human layer of realism to the gameplay. Finally, the absence of the Eurostar is hard to accept. This iconic train represents the very spirit of high-speed international travel. A true rail simulation simply isn’t complete without it.
The game does currently have conductor mode where you can check tickets and interact with passengers by asking them to move bags. Though of course there is scope to add more. I believe by 'controllers' you were referring to like train managers etc., but it would also be cool to play route control (if and when dynamic 'chaos' is introduced), or signallers.
The problem with introducing any form of signalling or traffic control elements is that in real time it could get boring. Games like SimSig or the old SIAM games allow you to speed things up at quiet times. I've done signaller mode in SimRail a few times and it generally consists of a couple of minutes of frantic activity followed by 20 minutes of not much happening. What's needed is a better and more flexible AI signaller which can react to late running and use alternative lines or platforms. At which point DTG could sell their programme to the real railways!
Remember that these "isolated segments" are topping up the systems they're running on. Ongoing optimization will help, but there are still hard limits on the benefits. I can't even imagine the size and power of the system that would be needed to track every train in Europe all at once while keeping the entire continent's scenery and infrastructure loaded at all times. Saying this would be nice to have is one thing; saying it's unacceptable that this doesn't exist is a bit detached from reality.
Comparing tsw to msfs is not a good comparison. Completely different games. Asobo has the complete support of a tech giant, Microsoft which means they have a huge budget and has access to the latest tech, bing maps, data streaming software and ai which also has a bunch of limitations. Might look good up top but very low quality up close. You can't have that in a train sim. Tsw has none of that. They don't have the budget and don't access to the latest tech and ai. That would make the game expensive and resource demanding and use a bunch of storage and make current issues even worse. Remember msfs has access to massive servers to stream the world. Dtg has none of that. Also creating all the track is pointless without trains which you can't make without licensing or access. Not as easy as you think.
And from what I can see, though I haven't had FS2020 installed for some time, they never did fix their own particular save game issues either - mainly the FMC not retaining its data and the flight resuming with autopilot off flying aimlessly.
