Reviews

• Vesuvius18

  Nov 27, 2022

  Just purchased this and I'm absolutely loving it. It's huge, detailed and the amount of diverse rolling stock packaged with it is just excellent. It also plays beautifully even on a 5 year old machine. Hats off to the team for putting some serious love into the post release optimisation of this route, I can't comment on the previous versions, but in 2022 this is an absolute joy to drive.
• gamedeal user

  Sep 18, 2020

  Its garbage and unfinished. Euston station was rushed and not completed so they can release it today. There is very lacking objects in Euston, signs that clip through the walls, literal holes in the wales where you can see the grass, no railings on the ramps etcAnd for the rest of the routes, broken signals, walls that go through the tracks etc Anyone who says this is a good effort by dtg is a joke, this is worse than all the other dtg crap. After 2 updates, it is better and they have fixed some issues, but would still rather play the freeware.
• gamedeal user

  Sep 18, 2020

  The hype for this DLC was amazing, with so many people happy for the new trains as well as a route we have not seen on Train Sim before, with trains such as the 66, 221, 350, 377, 378, 390 - for a new person this is the perfect map for you as you have a large amount of trains for a small price.But with the constant amount of problems found within my 90 minutes of driving. This map is not worth it at all in it's current state. There are sections of the map where you will be driving through bridges, tunnels that are missing textures, stations that are missing signs, signals that don't work. Dovetail Games this is not the kind of quality that you should be releasing in 2020.
• gamedeal user

  Sep 18, 2020

  A truly awful route. Poor FPS, lots of horrible assets and missing assets. Clearly not tested prior to release. 1/10.
• gamedeal user

  Sep 18, 2020

  I had very high expectations for this route as it was is my local line but was seriously let down with the bad quality and rushed nature. It should have been delayed for better quality assurance. Would not recommend unless DTG fix the route
• gamedeal user

  Sep 18, 2020

  I've driven this route twice, and the furthest I got was just north of Leighton Buzzard before I finally gave up on it. This route had so much potential, with 113 miles between the capital and second city of the United Kingdom, and six pieces of rolling stock. That was a nice direction to be going in, but it fell short because of poor quality assets and the terrible use of them in the actual route itself. Here's some glaring problems with the route. 1) London Euston is far too much concrete and feels very rushed. They didn't even do a low quality model of the concourse or anything. They just had a black void in all platform ramps. The platform area itself isn't too bad, but it's not great. 2) The speed limit out of Euston in real life is 25mph, but in game it's 15mph at least until you've cleared the platform. At that point, a few of the speed limits are incorrectly placed or just straight up incorrect as a whole. 3) The sidings west of the Park Street tunnel were originally part of a depot, which are now being replaced by new building work for HS2. But in game they are depicted as just a bunch of sidings that have no purpose in the game. 4) Camden Junction is decently laid out, but the Watford DC line tunnels are wrongly shaped. They have a circular tube entrance in real life unlike the box one in game. This in itself is just one of many infrastructure inaccuracies. 5) Primrose Hill tunnels are the wrong design, much so that the asset themselves look like three pieced together to give the appearance of a tunnel entrance. This goes for both sides of the tunnels which are much more distinctive on the east side. 6) On my first drive I noticed that the overhead lines between posts are missing between Willesden Junction and just north of Harlesden. This is a very serious oversight that should've been noticeable on the first test run but evidently wasn't. 7) From that point on the route was decent, especially the station models, but then came Linslade Tunnel. The tight single bore on the down fast which trains tightly fit through was a wide double track tunnel with a single track running through. 8) Throughout the whole route, several assets are wrong and sometimes even clip through the train and the tracks. Some are recycled from old routes and have been utilised incorrectly such as Northchurch and Linslade Tunnels. 9) The buffer stops at London Euston and other line ends are all wooden when, as a modern high-speed line in the UK, they should be the standard red steel ones. Why this was overlooked, I have no idea, but it ruins the authenticity. 10) Finally, one of the defining pieces of West Coast Main Line infrastructure is the unique EPS speed boards that you don't find elsewhere in the UK. Unfortunately, DTG have recycled old speed signs and omitted these specialised boards. In short, this route was made in the modern day period and should've been done with modern day standards. But instead this route was half-arsed to use old assets that don't fit and ruin the authenticity of the route as well as some incorrect line speeds, and it honestly feels like this route was made in the older days of Train Simulator. It seems like all the effort went into getting the outdated London Midland license for the Class 350 on this route, and the Avanti West Coast license which is used on the updated Class 390 model that has some of the most horrible default sounds in TS and needs the Armstrong Powerhouse sound pack just to even be playable. There is a freeware version of this route available, and despite it's own inherent limitations is able to capture the route just as well with accurate speed limits and buffer stops. Small things like that. And while it's not perfect, it is relatively good for a route. More than that, it also has the Northampton Loop, a seriously missed opportunity for this product. I mean it's a freeware product that holds up against an official payware product, so make of that what you will. But in short, this route is a poorly made recreation of one of the most anticipated and requested routes of Train Simulator, and that is a darn shame, cause the station models are well done, and the overhead lines are done properly too, and it's got a good abundance of trains. But really, there is nothing new you can get from this route you can't get elsewhere, and that is the whole problem. It's absolutely wasted potential, and Dovetail Games really need to up their game after this one. TLDR; Route's crap, uses old assets in most places, has some inaccurate line speeds and infrastructure, nothing substantial with the rolling stock available, and it really doesn't do justice to the iconic West Coast Main Line and the original London and Birmingham Railway. It's strengths pale in comparison to it's weaknesses, and I'll certainly not be buying from DTG again without serious vetting and seeing others show off the products.
• gamedeal user

  Sep 18, 2020

  Unfortunately DTG have outdone themselves with this release. This is the poorest release in a long time and there have been some shocking efforts recently. I could honestly write several thousand words on how frustratingly bad this is but I've personally given up as they honestly don't seem to care what they put out anymore or care what the customer base wants. Watch Alan Thomson if you want a video explanation of some of the issues here... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97Q3adMkJUU This was a major release that a lot of people have wanted and its clearly rushed out to hit a deadline. Unfortunately DTG's business plan is to just get something out as soon as possible and then move on to the next one to maximise the revenue coming in. The best thing that could happen to the rail simulator genre is for someone to come in with a new sim that genuinely cares about quality instead of profit and really cares about producing a simulation and not an average game. The main issue is the FPS, I'm playing on a decent computer and getting 14-18 fps but when monitoring the load on the graphics card and the CPU they are around 15-25%. So the game is not taxing the GPU or the CPU at all and the RAM usage is around 8Gb of 16Gb installed but still we are getting horrendous FPS. Its virtually unplayable. Please do not support this rubbish anymore. I could go on and on but I can't be bothered, a bit like DTG can be bothered with what they put out anymore. To put the South of the West Coast Mainline out without the Northampton loop just highlights that they do not understand what the customer base wants or just won't put the extra resource in to do it. I appeal to the owners of DTG to come on and get this sorted, but honestly I don't think they care anymore. The most disappointing purchase in a long time.
• gamedeal user

  Sep 18, 2020

  The Freeware Version is better...
• gamedeal user

  Sep 20, 2020

  Well it has to be said here and whilst I am fair with my reviews. I am going to be candid on this one and unfortunately at this time. I cannot recommend this route and I will explain the reasons why and what killed it for me. The good bits about this add-on is that you do get five trains included (a new discovery for me) that is the Class 390 and Class 221 in Avanti West Coast of whom are a brand new passenger train operator that took over from Virgin Trains in 2019 I believe. There is a Class 377 in Southern livery, Class 378 in London Overground livery and a Class 66 in Freightliner Powerhaul livery that the latter will take care of the freight side of things. The assets are a mixed bag of good and bad things because there is the new routemaster and the old routemaster which are a nice touch and they give the feel of London to the London area of this map. Apart from a few floating buildings here and there and other minor things that should have been caught by quality control and should have been fixed before public release. Its not a deal breaker as I don't really look at buildings for too long as I am busy on looking where I am going but I cannot but notice that some buildings are the 2007/8 and the texture do look dated. New high resolution textures would modernise them up and bring in line with the newer higher quality assets that come with the route. The route itself has been made to a reasonable if not a good standard and like the fact that it is a long route that allows for express train scenarios that will more than an hour to do. The route itself can be enjoyed if it was not for the excessive lag which I will cover more in the next section. The bad bits. The thing that really killed the enjoyment for me was the fact that the route is very laggy in some areas and it is a let down and somewhat bizarre considering that my PC can handle more intensive games like GTA V etc with no issues. On this route. For the first time in a long time since the TGV Atlantic route from JustTrains. I have had to turn the graphics down to medium to low to get decent and playable FPS in this route and that is the killer for this add-on in my experience and I hope that DTG will fix this issue. This should NOT be happening for a brand new route that should be optimised for modern more economical gaming PC's that are available today. Its not as enjoyable playing it with Nintendo N64 graphics from 1996 just to have playable FPS. Another drawback upon further exploring this route is that the included scenarios are badly optimised and appeared to be poorly planned. From what comes with the route. There is no scenarios for the included Class 221 and the Class 378 trains and whilst I don't see a problem in making a scenario myself as I have experience with the scenario editor. But what about those that are new to TS2021 that have no experience with building scenarios and want to use the two aforementioned trains in a scenario "out of the box"? They can't and where does this leave them? Other notes which are worth a mention although it doesn't constitute to a deal breaker is that the Northampton is not included in this version of the payware route although the freeware version that is available does have the Northampton loop. DTG have missed out on some great potential freight related scenarios such as Daventry to Wembley as well as the potential for Birmingham to Northampton. Should they decide to include the Northampton loop in a future update along with some needed fixes for the current route to make it playable. That would add more value to this version of the route and allow for more variety in scenarios. Once this route has been fixed and most importantly becomes playable without the annoying lag. I have no problems in giving a positive review for this route because it does have a lot of potential but until then. This one is a no from me and I cannot recommend it in its current state. At the time of writing this review. DTG have acknowledge the issues and are working on a fix. Hopefully this will fix the lag and the quality issues mentioned perhaps this will influence more positive reviews.
• gamedeal user

  Sep 23, 2020

  OM Days, this is by far the worst DLC I have ever bought. I have a VR Spec, Liquid Cooled PC with ample memory so running games with over 120fps is no problem. This DLC runs at around 20fps and is very laggy. Coming out of Euston station the FPS is atrocious and between 10-15fps, so bad that at certain points, the oncoming train just appears instead of rolling towards me. Along this route of 133 miles, the scenery and textures are well below what I expect from this DEV and just outside Birmingham, the games crashes and informs me that I do not have enough memory ! I have dropped down the Graphics performance but to no avail. 4 times I have tried this route and each time it crashes. It seem to me that this has been rushed through and not tested. I surmise because the DEVS are pulling back on support for this game now that TS2 is out. For the price of £25 it certainly is not cheap and there are better versions in the Workshop. For now I would recommend only buying this if it is on offer. Come on DEVS, sort this mess out !!!