Are you prepared to give yourself over to the 'SIMULATOR'? (Train Simulator (PC))

Member Name: Nolly

Product:	Train Simulator (PC)
Date:	13/01/02 (317 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: graphics are great, a brilliant idea, scope to expand it for yourself

Disadvantages: need a reasonably powerful pc to run it properly

Question- How can you tell when a train spotter reaches orgasm?

Answer- He drops his notebook and binoculars.

That puerile little aside is the sort of thing that I would have said up until a few months ago. However, something that happened to me over the intervening weeks has caused me to re-assess my cynicism. I have become an ardent 'Train-Simmer'. Now this does not mean that I boil on the East Coast Mainline (is it possible to boil on an English train? I heard that when it's cold Connex put a candle in each carriage, and when it's -15 degrees they even light it!).

I have been given a copy of Microsoft's Train Simulator, and I have, quite simply become addicted.

To start with I had better give you the minimum spec it will accept:


Pentium II 266
4MB 3D Hardware accelerator
Win 95/98/Me
32MB Ram
500 MB Hard Disk space

Now this is the bare minimum. I have a Duron 750 and it works well. You can toggle in the program between better speed or better graphics. The really important thing is hard disk space. The full install takes up 1.8 GB! And I will return to this later!

Now the one thing that I had better say is that this is not a game. It is a fully-fledged simulator. It is a complex process in learning how to drive a train (at least that is what I tell myself as I continually break speed limits and crash into buffers!)

The programme features 6 routes:
Marias Pass (Rocky Mountains)
Northeast Corridor (Washington DC to Philadelphia)
Tokyo - Hakone (Japan)
Hisatsu Line (Japan)
Innsbruck - St Anton (Austria)
Settle - Carlisle (UK)

Each of the routes features tutorials and different pre-defined activities with varying lengths and levels of difficulty. The locomotives range from the most modern of US electric trains to the world-famous Orient Express and The Flying Scotsman.

There are numerous camera views, and even a vi
ew from the carriage, where you can sit and watch the world go by. All in all, it is a truly amazing experience and has a lot to recommend it. But I haven't even got to the best bit yet.

SO WHAT'S THE BEST BIT, NOLLY?

Funny you should ask, because I was just about to get to that.

The program contains editors. You can make up your own activities with the routes provided, and you can even make up new locomotives. I personally am building a new route based in the South of England and based on realistic detail. Someone has built a route from London to Doncaster, and someone is even plannign the Trans-Siberian Railway, apparently, all the way (in real-time this will take a week to complete!)

However this not a practice for novices, as it is very complicated, and requires a lot of patience I'm going grey at the problems I have had), and there is no technical support from Microsoft for this aspect (understandable because they are letting you dabble around with their product).

However there are many websites where people are uploading their work to share with others. Some charge an annual fee to allow unlimited downloads, which is fair I think. But there is a real community developing, that could soon rival other online communities in terms of communication and co-operation. I have downloaded many trains and routes, and now also have, among my collection, the Mallard and Ivor the Engine, as well as many other modern and not so modern trains.

However this will take up a lot of disk space. My train sim file takes up 3GB on the computer, but please don't tell my wife because she will not like it!

All in all, a brilliant package and even more scope for the advanced user.

Summary: