As we've recently had Tram Simulator from DTG It would be absolutely fantastic to see an addition of a bus simulator or if DTG gets into that market. There's thousands of Bus enthusiast's and player's that play Bus simulators. An OMSI 2/TSW styled game would be perfect with a timetable mode and open world. However licensing for bus operators would be the biggest hurdle to get through. Such as getting a contract with First, Stagecoach, Network West Midlands Etc. As long as licensing would be settled for this concept I believe this idea would absolutely take off although this would have to be optimized for a real life environment so I'd suggest starting with a small town would be the best way to start this off with 15 routes and 4-6 buses to choose from with the option of changing the ai list too so we get to see what's visible on the map
The big question would be, why would people buy and play DTG's bus sim instead of one of the big, established ones? What niche could they fill that's big enough to make developing this new sim from scratch worthwhile?
I think by giving people a real world of exploration on foot and in vehicles could really make this game stand out then possibility to route hop to different DLC area's from different terminus'. Hypothetically; Bristol City Network intertwines with Bath with InterCity bus services route hopping to different areas of the country in different cities then using that city for it's local area network to play. I'm sure if there's any buses that reflect in real life with the correct liveries, I think this would take off more than OMSI 2
Well OMSI 2 is at best temperamental. Sometimes it works, sometimes it crashes with a hex code error. The only way I can control the bus is via mouse as it will not set up with the joypad properly. It does look rather dated too. So any attempt at a decent bus or coach simulation (as opposed to the more arcade style The Bus or Fernbus) would be welcome. Biggest issue I can see is that not only are DTG going to have to start from scratch with all new algorithms for the free movement of road vehicles as opposed to trains following a defined path, plus trying to get AI traffic and pedestrians to act sensibly. They also do not seem that flush for programming staff at present as testified by the virtual abandonment of TSC and the long list of stuff that still needs fixing in TSW - not to mention Catan and the Fishing games, which also seem largely forgotten. So deploying someone with the expertise needed, essentially full time for many months to put together a new game from scratch seems unlikely. Don’t forget, they were previously trying to do a Flight Sim World which got abandoned just out of early access. Now there may have been external factors at play such as MS re entering the game with their Asobo developed MSFS reboot, but I also got the impression they were struggling a bit above their pay grade trying to get it all working.
