Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1250 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Electronic Arts
• Released on: 2007-10-12
• Rating: Universal, suitable for all
• Platform: Windows Vista

Customer Reviews

Feels like a railway - NOT a simulation
As veterans of various earlier train simulators (Eisenbahn, Microsoft Train Simulator & TrainZ), both my son & I have found Rail Simulator very clearly ahead of the rest.

The game installed & ran immediately without problem on a fairly low-spec XP desktop. It IS a realistic simulator as well as a game, so some careful driving is required - but not to any unreasonable or awkward extent.

The quality of both graphics and sound offers very significant improvements over the other simulators. This looks close to being a railway video, rather than a PC game. Both landscapes and rolling stock have a high degree of convincing realism, rather than the "cartoon" character of the earlier simulators. The trackwork, whilst being finely detailed, has convincing slight irregularities and mucky patches. Buildings and landscapes (e.g. fields) likewise. Rolling stock is convincingly weathered and extra instances of the same item (e.g. the Black Five loco) are not carbon copies but subtely varied as well as being differently numbered. Carriage interior views are similarly good and realitically peopled as well.

The overall "driving" experience is enjoyably convincing - to the extent that the player feels immersed in the simulated railway and inclined to remain so.

Route modelling, though not quite as easy as TrainZ is none-the-less an inviting - and more rewarding - activity in its own right. A good inventory of resources and materials seems to have been included - so there is plenty of scope to construct your routes and to make them varied and interesting.

Train Simulator It Is NOT!! But it IS enjoyable!!
Having been a avid fan of the Microsoft Train Simulator, I was very pleased to hear that Kuju were designing a new Train Simulation program. After a very long wait and regular checking of the website, my pre-ordered version hit my doorstep today (Saturday).

Having installed it and in keeping with most EA products, you have to keep the DVD installed to play the simulator. I'm not a fan of this process as one scratch on the DVD, and you're stuffed!! Still, I stuck with it and have spent most of the day getting the grips with it.

The first point I would like to make is if you are a regular user of MSTS, Rail Simulator takes a little getting used to. Accelerating/Braking is the biggest issue. In MSTS you use D to accelarate and A to decelerate/brake depending upon the engine. In Rail Simulator they are reversed which takes some remembering. I haven't checked to see if you can change this in the options. However, graphically it is excellent and way beyond anything MSTS is capable of. All the routes are very detailed and, contray to other reviews, I haven't experienced any issues at all regarding the quality of the package and certainly would not consider it a beta version. Admitedly, there are only 3-4 scenario for each route (4 of them) so there isn't alot to keep you occupied. This will no doubt improve when they release the add-on development tools promised and the user community gets to work on it.

Overall, this is a very enjoyable piece of software, which has been developed with the user community in mind. Given the success of MSTS, I hope this simulator gets the support it richly deserves.

rail sim fan
having seen the two reviews on here i would say that all the game needs is a little getting used to,i think the engines are really the best i have seen in any train sim game and i owe microsoft train sim and trainz,i also enjoy the add on which was released for rail sim ,the routes are also spot on ,far better than what microsoft can produce so yes this game will get five gold stars and all i can say is to the company that made this game please produce more add ons.