PC Games

Published on October 25th, 2025 | by Daniel

Train Sim World 6 PC Review!

Have you ever wondered what it would be like at the helm of a train, how different it is from a car or bus? Do you have a fascination with different kinds of transport or a thirst for knowledge about how it works? If so then Train Sim World might be one of the many simulation games for you.

I couldn’t tell you when my fascination for trains came about because I honestly don’t remember. And perhaps it’s less of a fascination about trains and more about the desire to know how a lot of different things work. I often find myself watching documentaries or shows like “How it’s made” or “Megastructures” because I genuinely love finding out how certain thing are made and maintained, and how they benefit our daily lives. Especially the services we take for granted now, that, at one point in our past, never existed.

In recent years, that fascination with trains has only gotten stronger. There’s something about the shapes, sizes and mechanics of trains that just seem so interesting to me. So much that I’m even looking into becoming a train driver myself! So what better way to get a modicum of experience to see what it feels like to be a train driver, than Train Sim World 6?

I’ll break the game down into it’s core components as I try to explain each on as best I can. But before that, story, or well, the lack of it. As one might expect with a simulation game, there is no story. You’re a new hire train driver and that’s about it, you’re thrown into the training centre to learn the basics, and before long, you’re out driving various trains on various routes around the few parts of the world Dovetail Games could get a licence for. I say before long, but realistically, doing all the basics in the tutorial took me a whole hour of playing before I was able to start doing my own thing!

I didn’t really check to see if I could skip after the initial basics, but I ended up staying for the entire set of basic training modules. And since this if my first in depth simulation game like this, I felt it was probably a good idea to do so. And thankfully it did pay off, because there is a lot of things to learn about driving trains. I honestly have a lot more respect for train drivers around the world because hot diggity dog, it was overwhelming at first. Though after a few basic training modules, I was starting to get a little bored and frustrated with just how much was part of the basic training. And that’s not all either, ever after I completed the basics, I found even more modules specific to different trains and noped out of there faster than light. I applaud all the effort the team has gone to for each individual train, but there’s no way I or anyone else, is sitting through hours of tutorial on a video game with little or no rewards except maybe to most diehard enthusiasts. A very easy fix could have been the Gran Turismo method, you could start the game with one of each “category” of train and after completing set modules, you could then buy or win other trains/routes as you learned. This would create an incentive to play the harder tutorials and earn various rewards, perhaps those rewards are new trains/routes like I mentioned, or perhaps they could reward some dev created liveries or something.

Though, once you get into the game proper and throw yourself into a route, the game really begins to shine. Now, let’s talk about some of the modes and features mentioned above, just scan your ticket here and step aboard this train!

Gameplay

Train Driver

The first and most obvious mode is stepping into the shoes of a train driver, well of course it is, that’s the name of the game now isn’t it?

There are at least initially, three kinds of trains to choose from, conventional passenger trains; these vary from standard commuter type trains found in most inner cities, to bullet trains. Steam trains; old fashioned coal powered steam trains for a more classic feel and a very different method of driving. And Shunters; commonly used as freight or maintenance trains.

As the driver, your task is fairly simple and straight forward, drive to your objectives and complete tasks along your route. From passenger pickup and drop off, to freight delivery. You’re able to choose from existing routes in the real world, and the real trains that drive those routes. In the real world, most outside tasks would be handled by rail workers, station staff, and control officers etc. But in Train Sim World, to give you a taste of what some of the real tasks involving train operation are, the player is given the ability to experience these events first hand!

Some of these events include train faults, speed restrictions, operating track line switches, etc. All of which occur in the real world, it’s very interested getting to learn all the various tasks that goes into making this public service run as smoothly as possible and it gives me a small degree of understanding and sympathy for some of our public services, because it’s far from an easy job.

Train Conductor

The other major game mode you can play was introduced in Train Sim World 5 and carried over to its newest iteration. In this mode, you step into the shoes of a train conductor, checking tickets, conducting other train operations, practicing safe operation of the train and keeping passengers safe. It’s a contrasting difference from actually driving the train but I found that it isn’t quite as entertaining as being the one controlling the train. I guess that stems from a love of driving myself, I very much prefer to drive myself, rather than being a passenger. Probably why I don’t like public transport services other than trains haha.

I appreciate the attention to detail they’ve gone to and it really does feel like being a real train conductor, even if you don’t see too many of these guys around these days.

I would have liked the conductor role to have more responsibilities apart from checking tickets and operating doors though. Of course it does do more than that, but the other tasks are so small and mundane they almost don’t really make much of an impression. I would really have loved if they played a role in luggage management or something else, but hopefully they add to this in future.

Other features

Before I talk about graphics and audio, I’d like to go over a few of the other features in a bit more detail here.

Free Roam

Free Roam continues as a staple and allows you to freely move around, spawn trains, try them out and test out all the features of the game in a controlled way, separate from any routes or driving modes. This is a great way for new players to engage with the game and learn the mechanics of specific trains, after taking on some of the basic modules in the training centre.

Training Centre

That brings me neatly to the Training Centre itself. Here you can find modules a plenty; from the aforementioned basics, to the in depth instruction on various different models of trains. But that’s no all, you can learn all about how to manage specific types of faults, control routes and learn how to swap tracks at junctions, and many other nifty tips about all aspects of the game!

Timetables, Rail Journeys and Scenarios

This is probably the meat of the game or where you’ll spend most of your game time. Pick your train of choice, pick from available routes or timetables and set off on your journey. Or perhaps you want to try different scenarios in Rail Journeys? Take a pre-determined route and complete various tasks along the way. Perhaps your a station director? Or maybe the marketing team needs you to take some amazing photos of your train at set locations along your route. These little scenarios offer different experiences than your run of the mil timetables.

Creators Hub

Probably the most important other feature is the creators hub, here you can create, edit and share liveries for any and all trains you have in your collection. It’s a really cool feature because you can see what other players have created and all of them have such amazing creativity. From a livery to support those in Ukraine still fighting their war, to special liveries, like this one I found with a gaming motif style. It really makes me feel like I’m back in Japan with their special themed trains. A great way to bring a slash of colour to the game.

Passive Features

Some passive features that I found interesting; station announcements, a new addition to this game is that there are now vocal announcements at each station you pull up to on your route. Perhaps it’s a timetable route and the station announcer comes over the PA to inform patrons of the route and destinations just like a real announcer would at any real train station. These announcements occur in the trains too, the all too well known phrases will come over the internal PA as you approach and depart the many stations on your route. Yes, you know the words “This is a service to X destination” or “The next station is X”, the attention to detail here is incredible and yes, this does include the languages of the countries you’re currently driving in. It really gives the sense of being in that country.

And lastly, I wanted to mention the random events and train faults. Yes, these exist and they’re about as annoying as you might expect. From signal lights failing and taking a long time to change, to speed limit changes because of rail works, or even faults in your train. Some simple, like maybe your wipers fail, some more serious that require you to stop the train and make repairs on the spot. These chance how you and the game reacts in real time, if you have to pull over to fix a fault, signal lights behind your trail will tell others to stop and junctions might be changed to send trains around you if possible.

Nothing has provided such realism for trains and train operations as Train Sim World 6.

Graphics and Audio

I’ve linked these two categories together, because unfortunately, there’s not a great deal that can be said about either that warrants their separation. Both graphics and audio are a bit of a hit and miss for me, maybe I have too high a standard or maybe I just don’t like games with so much detail in very specific places while others get so little love and attention. Lets go over my feelings on graphics first.

Trains, stations, depots and railways are simply immaculate. The detail in train cockpits alone, puts every other game in similar categories to shame. Every single train in the game has the model fully fleshed out, driver controls exactly where they would be on the real models in the driver’s compartments. Carriages are a little more basic but everything is exactly how I imagine the real models would look like. Stations too, although I’ve never seen all the stations I’ve been to in this game in real live, everything has a real feel to it. They remind me of stations here in my home state, electric overhead signs displaying the route, eta, destination etc, the painted safety markings on the platform, light posts, ticket facilities, you name it, it all looks amazing.

But sadly, that’s kinda where the game put all of it’s focus, rightly so of course, but naturally as a result, it left the environment around it, to suffer a little bit. The game hasa very short LOD distance, even from the camera view inside the driver compartment, you can see the environment loading in just a few feet in front of the train. I know this was probably design to reduce load on consoles and budget PCs, but I have a beast of a computer and even running the game on ultra, the surrounding environment looked a decade old at least. I’ve seen games older than that with better graphics in the background. Things like roads not having painted markings, cars while tyres that look completely stationary despite the vehicle being entirely in motion, background structures have texture pop and fade.

All of these things subtract from what should be a beautiful game. Some of my fondest memories are when I used to take scenic rail routes over my years growing up, I really felt like this game had the potential to remind me of those feelings, even achieve them in a sense. But alas, I was left mildly disappointed.

Audio too, was incredibly lacklustre. The only music is in the menus. Literally, one track across all various menu options, it became very repetitive, very quickly. So much so that I often found myself rushing to start a new route just to avoid a repeat of the same track after it finished playing less than a minute ago. And while the ambient sounds are interesting, they’re mostly the same across the board. You don’t get many different voice announcers for station, routes etc, the sound of grinding tracks and brakes are mostly the same between all surfaces, weather conditions etc,. I think the only truly unique sound effects were the differences in each trains’ method of motion.

There’s so little to like about the audio, that I’m already done talking about it. One improvement could be more environmental sound effects. I’d love to hear the wind rushing by whenever I open the window of the drivers’ compartment. I’d love to her the faint crashing of waves against the shore as I blast down the coast line just meters away, maybe a passing train could give me a honk and it passes by like real drivers acknowledging other drivers on their route. Just some food for thought.

Conclusion

Train Sim World is an experience, on one hand it’s unparalleled detail in train, station, rail design is an amazing feat. But at the cost of leaving the world around it feeling a little flat, leaves me with a taste in my mouth that I’m not sure if I love it or hate it. And with zero character in it’s menus, everything feels matter of factual or clinical. If that’s the mood it was going for, then it gets a gold star. But games like Gran Turismo boast the best of both worlds. Incredible accuracy when it comes to cars and race tracks, but it’s able to present such a beautiful, vibrant world with a soundtrack that just gets you in the mood to drive. I feel like Dovetail missed a perfect opportunity to make something incredible, instead they made something with no soul, but incredibly detailed in specific areas.

I will admit, jumping into a route or timetable is a lot of fun, but when most routes are thirty minutes or more, I just don’t have the time to get lost in something that doesn’t have a soul.

Game Details

Game Genre – Simulation
Developers – Dovetail Games
Publishers – Dovetail Games
Rating – General
Year of Release – 2025
Platforms – PC (Steam)
Mode(s) of Play – Single player

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About the Author

Daniel Hi I'm Dan! 33 and Non-Binary. When I'm not writing reviews. I like to get deeply immersed in the lore of an mmo or rpg, cruise the forest or coastal roads of Victoria, watch anime, read manga, build model kits and do a bit of sketching on the side.