best train sim?
 

whats hte best train sim thats out there?
ive had a look at a few but not sure which one to get.
thanks
G

I've often wondered that myself.

do any other forum members have MS Train Simulator? and what do they think of it?

This subject has already been discussed to some extent in this thread:)

http://www.railwayforum.net/showthread.php?t=54

I have MSTS and 27 add-ons. I think the best are Severn Valley Railway, West somerset Railway, Cambrain Route and Great Eastern.
I also have:-
Berlin Stettin Route, GOOD
Black Forest Route, GOOD
Brighton - Portsmouth, GOOD
East Coast Express - Part 1, OK
East Coast Express - Part 2, OK
Engine Shed, FAIR
Fires & Wires, FAIR
Great British Diesel Locomotives, FAIR TO OK
Great British Steam Locomotives, OK
High Speed Trains, POOR
Japanese Routes, OK
L.N.E.R. Pacific's, FAIR
London - Brighton Express, GOOD
London - Brighton Add-pack, GOOD
LTV Erie Mining Co, FAIR
Maglev 2005 - Casino Express, RUBBISH
MSTS Activity Pack, FAIR
MSTS Round House, OK
Nene Valley Railway, GOOD
Pro train 2, GOOD
Pro Train, Austrian Experience, GOOD
Pro Train 3 - Stuttgart - Munich, GOOD
Scenic Railway, RUBBISH
Southern Region -Working -Basingstoke GOOD

I also have Trainz Railway Sim, GOOD. Virtual Railroad 2, FAIR. Create your own Model Railway, RUBBISH and the Hornby disc, OK
Because it would take a long time to load up the required MSTS, I have also got MSTS Shed, which keeps all the programs in store and lets you pick which one you want. It also allows you to make up your own trains and use any loco you want to apart from running an electric loco on non electric lines

i bought the Trainz sim. its quite good i like it, still tryin to get to grips with the controls when its on full manual mode tho, too many buttons lol

I have a train sim here. but I am unable to reload it. computer says there is a file missing. only need it reloading due to having formated the disc. I used to enjoy it. london to brighton, settle and carlisle, brighton to portsmouth ect. great fun. but no more. how can one loose a file off a disc???

H.M.Government can lose 25 million of them:D

Theoretically any file can be corrupted/lost if there is even slight damage to that part of the disc where it is stored. Because optical discs rely on differences of half a wavelength of laser light, they are quite vulnerable to physical damage which is so slight that it's not obvious to the human eye. :(

And if you're talking about floppy discs, then any outside magnetic influence can corrupt them without it being obvious. Hands up all those who've put a flopppy down near a loudspeaker at some time - I know I have :o

I have MSTS and would agree with Syd's surmmary above for the titles I share. Also downloaded a superb version of the Woodhead route from UKTrainsim.com and really love the London and South East add-on, but it seems to be very buggy.

Great Eastern is definitely my favourite though, as the line feels convincingly busy in the provided activities.

Has anyone tried the West Coast Express route yet? Heard very mixed reviews.

Got MSTS and most of the UK add on packs,not played it so much lately,partly because of a crack in the disc!!! Also partly due to the fact that i have Rail Simulator,personally i think this isn't yet the best sim,but next year i think is the year it catches up!! There are over 50 or 60 Class 47 skins numerous other add ons and more are in the pipeline!!!! Fantastic! Also i think it is more realistic than MSTS and definetly TRS,which i also have,but to be honest think its too 'Cartoony' in terms of colours and graphics etc....

Cheers,
Mark

As someone who used to work in the video game industry I'll give my 5c quickly that hopefully people can use as a good judge as to which to go for.

Rail Simulator is the best for graphical appearence, and with the new updates behaves realistically enough, but lacks new content at the moment, with around 4 loco add-ons including Class 66 and 158. Needs a relatively powerful computer.

MSTS has fairly poor graphics by todays standards but not the worst. It does however behave fairly realistically although, like Rail Simulator, it does not provide things such as TPWS so can lack realism. It does have almost every route, locomotive and stock you could ever dream of available for it by now though thanks to sites such as UKTrainSim (charge a small fee to download) or elseware for free.

The other simulators in general tend to be the worst graphically and have fair to moderate amounts of add-ons available (but not as many as MSTS) - however they generally provide the most realistic and difficult driving simulator, so IMO they cover a neiche market. I've not played every one though so I can't say that for certain of all of them and as such this is a bit of a blanket statemnet.

Either way my sim of choice right now is Rail Simulator.

There is a completely free train simulator called BVE, which stands for 'Boso View Express". Originally Japanese based it has become very popular and there are now many routes and trains from all over the World.

A good website for those interested is TrainSimCentral at

http://www.trainsimcentral.co.uk

There are three versions: the basic one is BVE2, more complex BVE4 and now an Open BVE for developers.

I run BVE2 on my computer, but it is limited to cabviews and forward movement. The signalling systems are however very realistic and the train simulation, speed, braking, acceleration, adhesion and so forth quite excellent.

i got to disagree with all of you 'kujus' 'rail simulator' is one of the best you can get with some amazing add ons you cant get on MS train sim,ive played both and would favour rail simulator
1:you can look round cab not just with no side-to-side views like in msts.
2: because msts has not crap but the graphics are not as good as rail simulator.
3:msts has no passengers at station on rail simulator it has passengers at the station and they move!.
4:msts does not open doors when you stop at he station rail simulator does and makes the beeping sound as it closes!.
5:msts graphics are not exactly good but rail sim has very very good graphics and the detail is unexplainelbul.
6:there are many more things i could go on about but i cant be arsed.
so the conclusion is in my review get rail sim!

Just adding my twopenn`orth. I got Railworks for the PC for my birthday, I`ve had MSTS for a while. In my opinion, the graphics in Railworks are superb, even though you need a decent video card to run the game. The steam locos especially are exceptionally realistic, plus the sounds are good too. There are already add-ons available at uktrainsim.com, and new stuff is being released too. I can see this one setting the standard for a while. Has anyone else on the forum got it yet, and what do you think of it?
Regards Mike.

I use MSTS, and while the ADLs aren't available for it (:p), it's still a great and easy to learn simulator.

I use msts too.
I like the look of railsimulator though.

We are now in 2010. What is the best up to date software?
Regards
27vet

The best train sim belongs to EWS but its a bit to big to nick :D :D :D.
ccmmick.

i have ms train sim works very well i have some nz add ons free where and very good one section is where i drove trains

hi
this is what i think after using these sims for many years ( and developing on them)
Trainz: not best graphics, not very real and best for playing trains not simulating them.
MSTS: not best graphics, rather simple, good addons, decent sim.
Railsim/Railworks: Best graphics, easy to use, great addons, great sims.
BVE: the most accurate game (used by london transport museum), free (even better), cab view only, the only sim to have full alarm systems.
Rail3D: rubbish graphics, decent sim, hard to use.

hope that helps

'Rail Simulator' is the most realistic of them all. I speak from personal reality experience.

Railworks is Class :cool:

What has Railworks got that rail Simulator hasn't?

Trainz is PANTS!!!
 

I HATE Trainz, in all its incarnations. Don't get me wrong, when I got Trainz 2006 (saw it cheap in Smiths) I thought it was 'ok', but I can't believe I've wasted my hand-earned dosh on both 2009 and 2010:EE. So full of bugs I'd have thought it was made by MS!!! More crashes than a stock-car race. Half the built-in scenarios and sessions don't work, the frame rate is slower than a 1950's TV and the realism is non-existant. I won't even go into the trying to create your own layouts! Oh, and half of the stuff you download off their 'Content Manager' is faulty and doesn't work.

On the other hand EA Rail Simulator - top banana!:D Lots of cheap or free downloadable content that works, descent graphics, and an all round better look and feel (IMHO).

Not got too far with BVE, but will report back once I've given it a good play!:D

Railworks 2010 is due for release in a few days time, free to those who have Railworks. Seems more of an update than anything radical.

Is railworks compatible with Windows 7 ?

Just want to know if it works wthout having to mess with the computer and security systems and all that,

I have MSTS from years back and its very tricky to get any add ons to work ( seen the discussion on rail download site, downloaded add-ons that then dont work without lots of work. Might find the time sometime. )

Yes it is compatible. I run Railworks on my Windows 7 64bit just fine

Hi Billy boy //I had the microsoft train sim and added "aerosoft" london to brighton
it has about 12 options only about 4 ever worked I e mailed them and they very helpful even sent me an e mail of new version
could not load it so i removed both now cannot load either of them ,,so now with train driving experence
as a Forest gate boy how could west han go down just before being given one of the best football stadiums in the world..naighty boys...

that should be "without train driving"

Yes it has been a sad season for the Hammers Ken. Never mind they will be back in the Premier division after next season. Cant keep a Hammerman down for long mate. they will rise again.

Although I am first and foremost a rail enthusiast I find that train simulators are poor quality compared with flight simulators which I prefer.

Try out trainsimulator 2012. Its much higher quality than any of my flight sims!