You know that clip from The Simpsons where Marge tries to get Bart to take a potato to school, and he asks her why she’s always trying to give him potatoes, so she says “I just think they’re neat”? Well that’s me with trains.
That’s the particular flavour of (probable) neurodiversion I’ve been gifted, and while I’m not interested in all the details of locomotive classes and the uber-nerdy stuff, I think it’s the best way to travel and find it chills me out, which is why I enjoy the TSW series, and Train Sim World 6 is no exception.
For some, calling them individual games can feel like a bit of a stretch. You’re essentially playing the same game each year but with new routes added (and old routes included), right down to playing the same tutorial each time. They pack each years’ instalment with so much included and additional content though that there’s a huge amount to get stuck into, depending how deep down the railway rabbit hole you want to go, and Dovetail is offering something you can’t really find anywhere else.
The tutorial is still the essential starting point for most people, including me who needs to reacclimatise to the game each time I play it. They’ve built a really robust training section, with a general tutorial that shows the ropes and teaches you transferable skills, then individual tutorials for each route that teach you the intricacies of each locomotive. Some things carry across, like always using the Master Key to turn on the dashboard, but some of the specifics change from train to train. The main thing is that everything is laid out differently in each driver’s seat which throws me every time I switch to a new route, so I always play the route tutorials to get a bit of a leg up.
Train Sim World 6 lets you get as deep as you want. For the people who want to get into the detail, there are options to customise livery, guided experiences on specific routes that offer scenarios, and even a (slightly bizarre) mode that lets you play as the train conductor. You can switch the HUD off and manually control every element of the train, opening doors, fiddling with lights and even lowering the sunshade to keep the glare off your face.
For me though, I’m happy just picking a line and a route and pootling along picking up silly little passengers in my silly little train, trying to get them to their silly little destinations. Last night I took a trip from Plymouth to Exeter St. David, with some pauses it took me the best part of 90 minutes and it was one of the most relaxing things I’ve done in a while. Between a busy job and an unhinged toddler, life can sometimes be stressful, so being able to switch off my brain and just enjoy the beautifully realised Devon countryside at 120mph is a moment of tranquillity that not many other games offer.
It’s not particularly taxing, it’s mainly a case of sticking to speed limits and making sure I pull into the station in the right spot, but that’s all I need. Most of the time is spent in third person or photo mode anyway, and for digital photographers there’s a lot to love about the photo mode. Not only do you get the usual settings you’d expect but you also get a full set of toggles for the environment. You can change the time of day, the month of the year and even fiddle with precipitation, temperature and half a dozen other things. If you love lining up the perfect shot then you’ll love this.
Outside of driving routes and taking part in guided experiences there’s also free roam which plonks you in a station and lets you explore up and down the rail network. The stations themselves are as faithfully recreated as the titular trains. I chose to go from Plymouth to Exeter as most of my family live near Plymouth, and the station is essentially a 1:1 replica, I was even able to send my mum a photo of the platform we use to take the train to her village in the arse-end of Cornwall. The platforms aren’t just for show either, there are little activities to take part in such as placing fire extinguishers or putting up posters. It’s busywork, essentially, but for people who want to spend more time on foot it provides a nice diversion.
It makes me a little sad sometimes that Microsoft will release a new Flight Simulator every five years and people will (rightly) fawn over the realism and visuals, but Dovetail does the same thing annually without the same level of recognition. The visuals in Train Sim World 6 are outstanding, and coupled with that excellent photo mode you can easily take photorealistic shots that are better than anything you’ll see in 99.9% of sims. Even people with no interest in these games (and let’s face it, I’m in the minority here) will comment on just how good the game looks. I actually took so many photos for this review that I’ve had to be selective with them to make sure I don’t overload it (maybe I’ll share them over on our X or Bluesky instead).
There are a few things I’m less keen on in Train Sim World 6 too. Despite the visuals being incredible for the trains and environments, they’ve still not quite nailed the people. Facially they look very dated, and the mish-mash of passenger designs can be a bit jarring too. I’m still not 100% sure how I feel about how the game relies on expansions to open up new content too. The game comes with three routes and a number of locomotives so there’s plenty to get stuck into in the base game, but longevity will come from opening up additional routes and those come at a cost. If you’ve got previous games then those routes will come across too, but otherwise you’re looking at several expensive trips to the TSW6 store.
Train Sim World 6 is an essential pick up for anyone remotely interested in transport sims and is as deep as you want it to be. If you want to switch the HUD off and do everything manually then you can live out your wildest train driver fantasies, or you may just want to unwind as you ride the rails and take photographs. Either way, Train Sim World 6 welcomes every type of enthusiast with open arms.
