Zusi 2 was very good but the price tag of Zusi 3 and not discount in the sale puts it beyond my budget for casual train simming. I have heard that technically it is very good, obviously the graphics are not up to the standard of TS or TSW. Have also read there might be scaling issues with text on UHD monitors (3840 x 2160) but don’t take that as gospel. At one point there was a demo version on the actual Zusi site. Might be worth checking if that’s still available and give it a go.
Tried it, working it out was more effort than I'm prepared to put into something I'm not being paid for and made me very grateful for the existence of a drop in and play style sim like TSW. If you really want a full, and I mean full simulation to the point you'd be able to hijack a German train if you wanted, it's worth the price, but the high cost is a reflection of how niche it is.
You have a point there because it's actually used as a train simulator for Deutsche Bahn train driver with a locomotive cab.
I presonally love Zusi 3 for it's depth and also the freedom it gives to train driving (weird right?). The visuals aren't as good as TS or TSW but they are functional so you can read every sign and stuff. Also the demo is still available. To my knowledge, the steam version has a lot more stuff translated but it's been a while since I played the demo version. http://www.zusi.de/demo
Sorry, just a clarification about the price. ZuSi is just shy of €60, and at that price you get all current and future content for ZuSi, right? So for the price of 2 route DLCs you get quite a lot more than 2 DTG DLCs, both in terms of trains, routes and features (obviously not all trains are that good - but the same can be said for DTG's products)
My understanding is that that’s a one off price, but don’t quote me on that. From what I’m seeing, Zusi and TSW seem like different products and tough to compare. TSW is a highly realistic game, and a great one at that. It’s fun and approachable yet still challenging. And it looks really nice. Zusi is a bone dry simulator with no visual appeal. In TSW, I can no HUD play a PZB route with a couple cocktails on board. Not sure the same could be said for Zusi
That‘s because of their different roots. TSW was always and still is a commercial product for entertainment purposes. Zusi is an off-shoot version of the actual, real simulation software used by DB in their simulators for driver training.
Honestly I love Zusi 3. I have started playing it much more now that I have a raildriver. Like TSW it has its issues like some instability, issues with translations (some things aren't translated the best and others lack translation), but overall it is very good. The price is a one off and there seems to be fairly regular updates that sometimes even adds new content. There is so much more content than TSW with way more rollingstock and routes but only german content. If you like realistic driving and you like german driving this is the gamer for you. If you have a raildriver I also recommend this game, there is so much configuration possible and you can save setups for different trains and load them up when you need it. It is far more difficult than train sim world but its so rewarding when you do things right. The game also comes with ZUSI display which is an extra app that displays the train information in the locomotives respective displays. I use it with my ipad and it allows me to use touchscreen to input train data or change display.
In Zusi3 you have the active Fahrplan screen but it's dead in TSW2. I just wish it's active so that you can do Hud off German routes.
Yeah I like to put that on my second monitor as well as any other displays I need/want and I keep the main display on my iPad in front of me.
I also like Zusi 3. It's a bit of a steep learning curve in the beginning, but once you master it it's great!
I just got Zusi 3 for my potato laptop (I‘m a console player) since a key selling website had it on sale for 40€. My first impressions are mixed. The Good Signaling and safety system seem to be on point (as you‘d expect given Zusi‘s professional applications). Physics also seem quite good. There‘s quite a bit of vintage content as well. What I really love though is that you‘ve got a driver‘s real tools at your disposal - for every run, you get an accurate Buchfahrplan (the document telling you about speed limits and stations etc.). There‘re also a lot of routes to choose from, you won‘t run out of trackage anytime soon. The Bad The user interface is horrible. It takes some effort just to select a run since you need to manually select a timetable file first which then has to be loaded in. Once you’ve selected a run and the 3D simulation has loaded in, you might be a little confused since there’s no train. Well, you have to use the time skip to get to the point in the day at which your train runs. That’s not only really convoluted, but also takes several minutes for my potato. The Ugly Need I mention graphics? Obviously, anyone buying Zusi will be aware that you‘re not going to get TSW graphics, but the real problem here are the cabs. These quite pixilated cabs make it all but impossible to actually read the gauges accurately. With some knowledge of the locos you‘re driving, you can make a good educated guess as to what the gauges should be reading, but precise readings are impossible. That not only makes driving harder than it should be to my mind, but also really shatters my immersion. Conclusion I do like what I‘ve seen so far despite my harsh words earlier. I will definitely continue playing Zusi but it‘s not going to replace TSW as my main simulator anytime soon (and that‘s not just because I‘m playing on a potato). Everyone will need to decide for themselves if the price tag is worth it, but you do get a lot of content (and possibly future updates) for the price tag and extensive documentation on pretty much everything is included (seriously - the manual is like 800 pages long!).
Because I use raildriver and seperate monitors for zusi display I like to use the front cam without the cab. It actually adds so much Immersion. But yeah the pixelated cabs are a big drawback, but I find some trains aren’t that bad.
About these poor quailty cabs, all the 4:3 720p ones were ported from Zusi 2 and are being worked on as far as I know. Just drive the trains that already have the HD ones. My favourites are the BR 103 and the IC cabcar.
Thus far, I‘ve driven different versions of the Br 140 and 150, which I believe do have HD cabs (please correct me if I‘m wrong). Doesn‘t change that the gauges are very pixelated.
I just wanted to report back in case there are other people considering Zusi. I've done a few runs so far and have invested more time into Zusi today since I can't play Dresden - Chemnitz as I was planning on. The criticism of the cabs is something I still stand by but would like to soften a bit. They (or some of them) are quite pixelated, but you get used to it after a while and while some gauges remain hard to read, you do get better at deciphering them. I've had some thoroughly enjoyable runs in Einheitseloks (mostly the Br 150) so far and am loving it. One thing I enjoy a lot more than I really should is the fact that in the laptop control scheme, the tap changer is assigned to the mouse wheel, which allows you to really rack it up or down quickly as you see in some cab rides The sheer variety of rolling stock you can spot on the route is also fantastic! One great tool I found was this app which allows me to use my iPad beside my laptop as an EBuLa. Really heightens the immersion and I can wholeheartedly recommend it
That can also work for Train Sim world 2 German routes because all trains don't have the electronic time table off. The professional version uses a Locomotive Cab
Strange things happen, but every year the game seems more and more advanced .....promising. Moreover- I find the graphics in TSW to be more annoying and outdated compared to Zusi 3. You can think of me as crazy Games like Zusi are for long years TSW - for couple of months
You are correct furthermore there is a professional version that uses a locomotive cab as it's controller. One might find it inside an Österreicher Bundesbahn/ Deutsche Bahn training centre. That version was demonstrated at Innotrans 2012
at least it has a working Fahrplan/Ebula edit: having a working Fahrplan/Ebula would go a loooong way towards getting more ppl to try HUDless - as of right now, cos of some things like weirdly placed speed signs etc, it is often hard or impossible to get all data you need to properly drive the train without some info from the HUD
