The Disastrous State Of The Peninsula Corridor / Side By Side Comparaison

Hello everyone ! The Peninsula Corridor from DTG is a route realeased in 2019. From San Francisco to San Jose with the opperator "Caltrain". The route on paper is one of the best In the game. It has commuter/fret/industrial branches/express/switching. It's also a full route ! So where is the issue ??

It's the scenery
The scenery is the worst I have ever saw in the entire game. Even the early route like GWE or the first Sand Patch Grade are better. I have made some "research" via Google Maps and made a side by side comparaison, the only difference between the screenshots and real life is the catenary that was added recently.

See below :
IRL:

In game:

IRL:
In game: (Apparently the road isn't in the game ??)

 

IRL: This one is probably the worse IMO
In game:
IRL: In game:

 

IRL: (Camera position is a bit off)
In Game: IRL:
In Game:

 

IRL:
In game:
IRL: (Couldn't find a correct view but there you go)
In game:

 

IRL: (The camera is 300m off but it's the same hills)
In game:
IRL: In game: (There was alot of crowd noise but no crowd ??)
End voilà !
As you can see a big improvement is needed on the scenery. And that's why I think it deserve the same treatement as the recently "upgraded" WSR. And even why not making the route up to date with the overhead wires ? A perfect route in 2024 with EMU and older diesel stock is a perfect sight !

 

yea the scenery is ehm, what I have issue with is that those trains dont have any safety systems I think except maybe alerter... I know a route is supposed to represent itself at a certain time period, but even Antelope Valley has at least some sort of signalling/safety stuff on those trains... this one is just managing speed... so it would need a major overhaul, yeah

 

I can't help but feel this thread only really shows a couple of awful scenery areas, and the rest are just "okay..."

Considering it's an early TSW Route it'a a fair effort.

The WSR upgrade was a passion project of a dev, not a DTG project.

 

Yeahhh when I saw the thread with hundreds of messages criticizing Rivet despite them arguably doing a good job with the Bernina scenery, I just thought “Wait until you take a look at some of the existing routes!”

 

I have a lot of other screenshots but the image limit is quite problematic. And you can't play the route for 1 minutes or 2 without seeing something awful or off.

Why is Main Spessart Bahn "good looking" even for it's age ?

 

LIRR as well, but that one had several major updates, some pretty recent

 

Wanna talk about scenery issues? Go run Cane Creek a few times then look at what its modeled after. Whoever thought CC was a good route for a sim must been having some wonderful drinks that night.

 

It's an old route which DTG have long abandoned as regards any further updates or fixes so other than making a point nothing really will be gained from the OP.

 

I can forgive older routes (especially TSW1 routes) as to be fair to DTG it was their first attempt.

It's their later releases that I can't forgive.

 

Nah, Peninsula Corridor is just horrible looking all the way. Easily one of routes with the worst scenery in the whole selection.

Not really, as the scenery on this route looked bad even when it released. The only good thing about it scenery wise was that this route was the first in TSW to have road traffic. Also the San Fransisco skylines looks great.

Such a shame, because as the original post has said, this could be a perfect route otherwise. Full line, offers stopper and express passenger, freight, some shunting and industry interaction. If you buy the Baby Bullet and the switcher, then you have pretty much a full experience, as you will also have rolling stock variety and even maintanance operations.

This route really deserves the WSR treatment. Could be the textbook example of a perfect route then.

 

Yeah I don't know what you're talking about, despite the Early major Inaccuracies of Penninsula Corridor, Main Spessart bahn has aged like Milk in the Summer heat. I can literally see Untextured Landscape from the Cab of my train.

At the end of the day, its an issue of DTG not paying enough attention to scenery development and constantly using the same assets almost everywhere.
I understand development of this routes is hard, but at a certain point you just have to find better ways of doing it.

 

I can agree on the scenery, it is awful.

 

A route set in modern day with the emu which is still in testing from what I know would require it to be sold separately and rebuilt. It's not going to come for free which is what the wsr upgrade is which started as a passion project

 

Technically its not truly a full route, as now about half of Caltrain trains originate/terminate at Tamien Station, not San Jose.


The route also lacks alot of UP trackage, branches and minor freight runs

 

Imagine this route in Run 8 with all the industry spurs and branches active! Then of course the downside of Run 8 is that it doesn’t support scheduled passenger services or turnarounds.

 

The only issue I ever had with the route was that the water bodies were woeful, to the point you couldn’t tell if it was even water in areas.

Anything that DTG has done to the route in the last couple of years though has completely wrote it off for me.

I could list off the issues, but I think too many of us expend too much energy on this sort of thing. DTG don’t care, they won’t fix it. At best they’ll let a new employee have a crack at it & if they break it even more, too bad.

 

Same.

The livery designer update pretty noticeably broke some textures on the rolling stock. No graffiti on the hoppers, and they can't be painted at all in LD. The UP loco also has issues behind the cab, and the side mirror textures on the gallery cab car are broken.

The Baby Bullet cab car still cannot be selected from the timetable...

Also passengers no longer seem to be able to navigate on the platforms, so they just remain standing there where they get off the train.

 

We have different routes, that are missing different things.

For example, Penninsula Corridor is OK about services, as you cross lot of them.
But as showed it needs an update as it deserves!
DTG had mentioned they will make a big improvement to it, since so long time, but nothing has happened yet.
Even some things went back, as several crossings where the gates does not works!.
Hope on this 2024, they do it!

I believe it is better to keep it on the diesel era!
Due to we have lot of german routes being electric, and some of Uk ones too.
Having also the Baby Bullet is great.
It will be nice if you also have some UP freights as AI running there.

Another route which is almost empty about trains is Munich Augsburg.
Due to only ICE trains runs from Augsburg.
No Dostos, no other type of regional ones - or even some freight ones as there are 1 big yard on each side - , considering there are specific tracks for them, for almost all the route!
The only part with some extra traffic is near Munich with the commuter trains BR 423.
It also will be nice if they includes some extra services using the DB 101 + IC passenger cars.
Of course if you have purchased it!.

Hopes the announced, new extra traffic for Koln Aachen, be available soon!.

 

I think the big improvements they spoke of was the preservation update and fixing the baby bullet cab car not showing services in tt mode

 

It hasn’t aged well aesthetically and sure it’s not a 1:1 recreation of the real thing, but the timetable is a standard I wish we could have consistently going forward.

 

I feel like this route looks... OK... the scenery is basically accurate as far as the configuration of roads, rails, buildings, tracks, etc... it just doesn't look great anymore.

Can't be too hard on it considering its one of the oldest routes.

One thing, maybe I am crazy, but I feel like in the older TSW1/2 days it had sort of a "fog" or haze that made the distant scenery not look as bad... then they got rid of that on some update and now the far scenery has some bizarre stuff like jagged mountains and floating houses.

 

Yes, originally this route had a constant haze effect going on. While I enjoy finally being able to see further, the empty and barren hillsides are now really apparent.

Another things a later update broke on the route is the AI traffic. See this flying bus at San Antonio, for example.


I believe either sometimes during TSW2 or at the launch of TSW3 they made AI traffic move more smoothly. Overall this is good, because cars on the road feel look more realistic. But as a result, many older routes get flying/sinking/clipping vehicles are they take originally sharp corners in a smoother line now.

 

Yes and some goes trough buildings too

 

Hey, at least they managed to have the amber lights flashing to warn on-coming trains to stop due to children about to cross to board the bus.

 

I agree with your images like, the scenery could definitely do with an upgrade similar to WSR

Though MSB in my opinion is one of, if not the worst German route for scenery. I never liked that ones scenery much tbh, particularly the hills and trees.

 

I think the biggest shame is that if this route was released today, in place of say Antelope Valley. It would probably be very well received. (Current issues not existing of course).

The Scope of the route & overall gameplay is generally good, much better than the current US stuff we get.

 

I really enjoy Antelope valley. It's a full route, with a real timetable, decent scenery and a good loco. Apart from some sloppy placement of floating assets it's one of the better US ones, up there with Boston Sprinter IMO.

 

I do like Antelope, much more than I thought I would, but it’s still not one of those routes you can pick up & play everyday (IMO).

My point wasn’t really taking a shot at AVL, more that the US routes with have in game, could have a place on the top shelf - if they are improved.

PC is one of the few US routes that fits into a varied TSW DLC, around an hour, not extreme mileage, has varied service patterns & multiple bits of rolling stock available. Decent track speeds. It’s just abit of a shame to waste the opportunity, when the US doesn’t have much of said opportunity to offer.

 

This is one of my favourite routes. Always enjoy a drive on it.

 

This 100%. There is a handful of routes, that fair well with these types of side by side shots... you won´t find them on TSW or Simrail. They are on Train Simulator Classic. A very small number of third party and freeware routes. I know that Konstanz-Villingen (TSG) and Chat Moss (ATS) do very well with this type of reality check.

By the way: it has nothing to do with routes being old. It´s about taking the time to do the details and place the assets right. As we all know: DTG ain´t got no time.

 

Als the lod distance of the F40PH-2 is to short, from a small distance the Lod level changes causing that the shadow also disappears.

 

This route has always been garbage from a scenery and atmosphere standpoint. I'm not sure where it's supposed to be set, but it sure as hell isn't the Bay Area and it looks nothing like it.

 

LIRR is still a terrible route unfortunately. Terrible scenery and a unrealistic timetable

 

I would say the best US route currently is Boston Sprinter. I will say for LIRR, while it is a downgrade from the highly detailed TSC variant, it is decent none the less. On LIRR, I can run a smooth 60fps. If LIRR gets another update, I would like to see some track and signal work done as well as enhancements to scenery. I am curious how the next US route will compare to Boston Sprinter in terms of quality

 

Yes Boston is varied with the Northeast Regional, Acela and the MBTA services. A bit too linear(Like in a straight line) for me but still very good

 

What updates did LIRR receive recently?

 

Recently none. It did get some preservation crew updates back in TSW2, but since then I don't think it had any?

 

I've never been on the Peninsula Corridor, so I'd never have known whether the scenery is realistic or not without reading this thread. That aside, it's one of my favorite routes for the same reasons others have mentioned: it has two passenger engines, two cab cars, a freight engine, and a passenger switcher. The timetable is pretty darn realistic and there are multiple activities. More importantly, for me, the MP36 and the Bombardier cab car are similar to the commuter equipment that I've ridden, so it's a way for me to drive equipment I've seen in real life.

Boston is also a favorite. I just wish it had freight. Maybe if Dovetail would do a timetable pack and overlay some night freight, or maybe some yard switching?

For those mentioning LIRR I have a question - if one was pondering that vs. Harlem, which is better?

 

I do like Boston Sprinter, but it has so many scenery issues. Broken lighting everywhere, completely missing scenery on station platforms, level crossing gates going up just as you depart from the station and drive through, bad framerate...
Timetable also comes to a half after a while due to stuck trains, ATC still feels like it acts up sometimes (pointless speed restrictions).
And while on paper it provides good variety - MBTA locomotive + cab car, Amtrak passenger and Acela - is still feels a bit sterile. It really needs another MBTA rolling stock with the bi-levels and another locomotive. And personally I would also like another Amtrak locomotive to get a bit more variety alongside the ACS-64. And of course a freight layer would also be welcome, considering all the freight sidings along the route.

So I do prefer Peninsula Corridor over it. While the scenery is worse, at least it is simply consistently weak, instead of being bugged or empty due to obvious oversight (like the empty platform on Boston Sprinter). So the route simply feels dated instead of "badly made".

By the way, another thing I noticed is that while driving a train and an MP15 comes past you, you start hearing the rattle of the MP15 in your cab at full volume. How in the hell do you even break something like that?

 

I mean, I don't think DTG could make Peninsula Corridor scenery too realistic for "reasons"

But the route could do with a refresh. Extend to Tamien, then add one of UPs branches Iike the branch to the Port of Redwood, which includes street running. As well as expand mainline services to add things like the dirty dirt train and subbing from CC and/or Sherman Hill.

 

Ah, the old Magic Schoolbus mastery

 

Now that I think about it, both Peninsula Corridor and Boston Sprinter have better scenery than New York - Trenton. At least we can see the San Francisco and Boston skylines.

Yeah, I noticed that too. Some of the British routes have that kind of bleed - you can hear door chimes from other trains.

 

Noticed at a few stations, there were many passengers standing on the line. Not seen this before. Could be the latest update may have caused this?

 

Yeah, just bought this route for 8.00 and noticed no graffiti on the twin bay hopper cars. How ridiculous to not address this and leave it in this state. I will not be giving DTG anymore money because of them pumping out routes and ignoring older ones, leaving them to rot. Shameful.

 

My problem with the route, other than, the lack of scenery is how dark the overall environment is. Im from the bay area and its nothing but bright sunshine

 

Looking at the route now and there are 425 and dosto services for regional traffic plus extra freight for anything other than the MRCE 185.
it's still a very quiet route compared to real life but it's not that desolate as you say. I'd still argue it holds up as the least fun german route.
RSN is still good looking and interesting to drive. Wüppertal - Hagen isn't very exiting but has service variation. HBK with the timetable update doesn't look particularly amazing but there's a lot of different traffic. SKA holds up to this day, especially with the new timetable coming, and RT has always been buggy and not really real but at least it's long. MSB has the grade but yeah some routes could really do with some new love.