At last, a rail journey you can actually enjoy...
I’m unfamiliar with this place they call Train Sim World 3. I didn’t play either of the first two games and I’m only into trains as much as the next person who gives a passing smile to big, chugging machines going past them at high speeds.
So what is there here for me? A lot, it turns out. Within minutes, I was standing in front of not just any train but the one I use in my commutes to and from South London. The same livery. The same naff upholstery. The same iffy smells, almost.
The aim of the game is to take digital trains along real-life routes — the southeast corner of Britain, the dusty freightlines of California, the super-speeds of the German network — all from the driver’s chair. But, really, this is about the sound the passenger doors make when you shut them from your cabin, or the sight of rainfall streaming from your front window. It’s one of the purest simulations I’ve encountered.
It helps that Train Sim World 3 is beautiful. Not in the photorealistic, Call Of Duty sense, but in that the game knows how to paint big (and often threatening) skies above your head.
And it helps, too, that it is all so welcoming. Everything is, in a way, a tutorial — for different types of trains in different situations — until it lets go of your throttle hand and lets you choo-choo freely.
If you are a seasoned driver, or just a straightforward train nerd, you can add an extra star on to this review’s rating. As for me, I’m on my way to joining you. Just got to let off passengers at Rochester first.