I was browsing my steam recommendation list when I stumbed upon this game. https://store.steampowered.com/app/2192500/Train_Operator_377/ It's been out for over a month, but I can't remember anyone talking about it. Search didn't bring any results either. Not a whole lot of reviews, but so far a 100% review score is pretty good, even with so few reviews.
It is a clever idea and quite fun and immersive. I like the concept. Driving to a real video is a nice touch plus you get plenty of DLC with it but only one driveable train However it gets a bit boring after a while as there is one video for each direction so you see the same trains in the same place. When you are slowing for a station or signal you get stuttering where the train in the video was travelling at a faster speed, also for example I got held at a red signal at the same time the train in the video was overtaking another, that train then stopped when I stopped of course and started moving when I did. Some of the filter effects to change the time of day and some of the weather effects are not great to be honest so I don't bother using them. Some of the signal overlays need looking at, however it is only the beta version and the creator seems to have fixes in mind. If the creator could get some more videos of the route to mix the journeys up a bit, maybe some early morning or night time ones it would be an improvement. Would be great to see other routes too.
This is nothing more than a cab ride video and you start and pause or speed up and slow down he video xD The same you can do with a YouTube video xD
That is a rather simplistic view, it is much more than that. You have a realistic cab overlay and accelerate and decelerate just like you would in TSW, you can't fine tune a Youtube video like that. You also stop at stations, operate safety systems, open doors etc, just like in TSW. You have operational signals, even if they are a bit fudged at the moment including the ability to have hold ups, something you don't often get in TSW. The sounds are good too.
Yeah. While I won't go away from TSW, the fact that you can accelerate in notches 1, 2, 3, or 4 and have (I assume, haven't tried it yet) reasonably accurate physics is amazing. Also you can drive to London Bridge. AND there are Class 442s driving past.
I gave this a go, and it feels as if there's real potential there. There are certain moments where it feels pretty poor. The final few yards when stopping often doesn't have a nice feel to it and you're quite reliant on the HUD to get the stopping position right, rather than being able to judge it by eye by looking through the front windscreen. I'm also not keen on the appearance of the HUD, which is rather cartoon-like. However, if you can look past these irritations, for the majority of the time, it really does give a feeling of realism which can't be re-produced in a traditional simulator like TSW. The fact that it's based on a video means the scenery has absolute realism and lots of detail. That detail means it's easier to learn the route than on a traditional simulator because every location looks genuinely distinctive, rather than being made up of the same generic building blocks as everywhere else. Unusual little details - unique to that location - stand out and allow you to locate yourself. I can see myself getting to the point where I don't need the HUD much more quickly than I can on TSW. I also like the sound - surprisingly well done, contributing further to a real sense of immersion. For a simulator which is still in development, the rain effect on the windscreen is also a good effort. Then there are the signal checks. The fact that the developers have, at the first attempt, achieved variation through signal checks which are different on every run - which DTG have not managed to achieve in a decade - makes a huge difference to the experience. OK, the signal aspects have had to be 'stuck on' to the video covering up the aspects which the Driver received when the video was made - and you can tell this was an extremely tricky thing to achieve - but it does the trick, and I'm sure if more routes are made the makers of the simulator will perfect their technique over time. This isn't instantly going to become my go-to simulator, but I'll certainly play it from time to time, and I'm more than happy to pay my £8.50 to encourage the developers to keep working at this concept and developing it. The potential here is huge.
