Rail Simulator is in some ways very similar to MSTS and in some ways different.
The graphics and physics both of the world and the trains are *much* more realistic than MSTS, stations, passengers, and world details are very "realistic" (by no means like photo-realistic but certainly enjoyable).
Rail Driver isn't compatable last time I checked as the creators of that device where creating drivers for it or something, but it will happen eventually. I think the US version of "Rail Driver" does work.
I would suggest someone like you might not appreciate Rail Simulator until the Roll Update 2 and 3 are released since there are problems with signals and other railway operations that are to be addressed which someone who knows a lot about railways will pick up on (ie. signals default to green, front lights turn to red when the train is fully stopped and other bugs of that nature). They have fixed some of these issues in the first update but will be making more updates in the near future to address all the concerns.
It certainly has potential but was a rush release. For you, I'd hold off on buying it until these updates are resolved. Maybe this christmas it'd be worth the buy.
For people like me it's ideal cause "it looks pretty, lets you watch the trains go past and has a dummies mode"
