I did note with some interest that there is an “Oculus Mode” option in the key-bindings – I will have to pull my DK1 Rift off the shelf and give it a try. Functional if not beautiful, the important parts of the ICE 3 cockpit are clickable, which would be even nicer if TS2015 supported a head-tracking solution like Track IR. Many of the TS2015 train interiors that I’ve seen are done quite well – the ICE 2, for example, is of much higher quality.
The ICE 3’s cockpit is not the most visually stunning of the Train Simulator offerings, so you won’t see many more screenshots of it here, but this is not typical.
#TRAINZ SIMULATOR 15 DRIVER#
If the driver fails to respond to the light, an audible alert is sounded “ Zifa! Zifa!“, followed shortly after by an irrevocable engagement of the train’s emergency brake system and complete loss of the driver’s ability to maintain eye contact with anyone in the engine driver’s common room for at least a month. When the Sifa light the dash pops on, the driver has a few seconds to press an acknowledgement switch which resets the light for another 30 seconds. First, I engage the Sicherheitsfahrschaltung, or “Sifa” system, which is a deadman’s safety switch for the train. Patiently – I SAID PATIENTLY – waiting for the signal to change, I take the time to configure my ICE 3 controls. Very frustrating, especially in a sim that is rightfully renown for being the king of DLC – why are we paying all this money for partial development and mediocre quality control? The rain effect is decent and required the use of wipers to see the signals. I’ve played more than a few missions where it was impossible to succeed the first try through – you had to play, fail, figure out why you failed, and then remember the next time you played the scenario. This often leads to confusion and destroys any immersion, disrupting the experience.
#TRAINZ SIMULATOR 15 DRIVERS#
A relative veteran of the game, I quickly note that my first task starts at my current location: I have to load passengers here at the Dusseldorf station, a fact the briefing neglected to inform me.Īlthough TS2015 has in-game overlays, task lists, and other hints to help train drivers figure out where to go next and what to do when they get there, I feel too many mission designers bank on this convenience and fail to properly brush up their briefings or text messages to the driver. This mission starts me off at a red signal – not the most complicated of starting positions, but it’s sure more interesting than the plethora of missions that start at green lights with no challenge at all. Mission briefings are typically short and sweet in TS2015. This will be a “fast” service, with a single stop in-between, a service the ICE 3 is quite literally made for. The mission today is to take a load of Swedish soccerfootball fans from Köln (Cologne) to Dusseldorf to watch their team play England in the World Cup. More so than any other simulation product I know of, Train Simulator 2015 can nickel and dime you to death if you’re not careful about your purchases, but I bought the “German Collection” of DLC off Steam for a decent price which included my ICE 3, the ICE 2, the BR232, and the Munich-Augsburg and Cologne-Dusseldorf routes. Today I’m driving an ICE 3 from the Deutsche-Bahn ICE 3 EMU Add-On DLC in the World Cup ICE mission from the Cologne-Dusseldorf route. Chilling at the church: an ICE 3 at the station near the Cologne Cathedral.
There are five different versions of the main high-speed train on these lines: the ICE 1, ICE 2, ICE 3, ICE T, and ICE TD, connecting locations in Germany, Austria, Belgium, France, Denmark, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. The Intercity-Express (ICE) is a system of high-speed trains that connect locations in Europe. Train Simulator 2015’s Inter-City Express is fun high-speed adventure with an interface complex enough to keep you on your toes. Train simulations get an unfair rap when it comes to system-level complexity.