About South London 2:
I’ve driven this route twice, and the furthest I got was just north of Leighton Buzzard before I finally gave up on it. This route had so much potential, with 113 miles between the capital and second city of the United Kingdom, and six pieces of rolling stock. That was a nice direction to be going in, but it fell short because of poor quality assets and the terrible use of them in the actual route itself. Here’s some glaring problems with the route.
- London Euston is far too much concrete and feels very rushed. They didn’t even do a low quality model of the concourse or anything. They just had a black void in all platform ramps. The platform area itself isn’t too bad, but it’s not great. 2) The speed limit out of Euston in real life is 25mph, but in game it’s 15mph at least until you’ve cleared the platform. At that point, a few of the speed limits are incorrectly placed or just straight up incorrect as a whole. 3) The sidings west of the Park Street tunnel were originally part of a depot, which are now being replaced by new building work for HS2. But in game they are depicted as just a bunch of sidings that have no purpose in the game. 4) Camden Junction is decently laid out, but the Watford DC line tunnels are wrongly shaped. They have a circular tube entrance in real life unlike the box one in game. This in itself is just one of many infrastructure inaccuracies. 5) Primrose Hill tunnels are the wrong design, much so that the asset themselves look like three pieced together to give the appearance of a tunnel entrance. This goes for both sides of the tunnels which are much more distinctive on the east side. 6) On my first drive I noticed that the overhead lines between posts are missing between Willesden Junction and just north of Harlesden. This is a very serious oversight that should’ve been noticeable on the first test run but evidently wasn’t. 7) From that point on the route was decent, especially the station models, but then came Linslade Tunnel. The tight single bore on the down fast which trains tightly fit through was a wide double track tunnel with a single track running through. 8) Throughout the whole route, several assets are wrong and sometimes even clip through the train and the tracks. Some are recycled from old routes and have been utilised incorrectly such as Northchurch and Linslade Tunnels. 9) The buffer stops at London Euston and other line ends are all wooden when, as a modern high-speed line in the UK, they should be the standard red steel ones. Why this was overlooked, I have no idea, but it ruins the authenticity. 10) Finally, one of the defining pieces of West Coast Main Line infrastructure is the unique EPS speed boards that you don’t find elsewhere in the UK. Unfortunately, DTG have recycled old speed signs and omitted these specialised boards. In short, this route was made in the modern day period and should’ve been done with modern day standards. But instead this route was half-arsed to use old assets that don’t fit and ruin the authenticity of the route as well as some incorrect line speeds, and it honestly feels like this route was made in the older days of Train Simulator. It seems like all the effort went into getting the outdated London Midland license for the Class 350 on this route, and the Avanti West Coast license which is used on the updated Class 390 model that has some of the most horrible default sounds in TS and needs the Armstrong Powerhouse sound pack just to even be playable. There is a freeware version of this route available, and despite it’s own inherent limitations is able to capture the route just as well with accurate speed limits and buffer stops. Small things like that. And while it’s not perfect, it is relatively good for a route. More than that, it also has the Northampton Loop, a seriously missed opportunity for this product. I mean it’s a freeware product that holds up against an official payware product, so make of that what you will. But in short, this route is a poorly made recreation of one of the most anticipated and requested routes of Train Simulator, and that is a darn shame, cause the station models are well done, and the overhead lines are done properly too, and it’s got a good abundance of trains. But really, there is nothing new you can get from this route you can’t get elsewhere, and that is the whole problem. It’s absolutely wasted potential, and Dovetail Games really need to up their game after this one. TLDR; Route’s crap, uses old assets in most places, has some inaccurate line speeds and infrastructure, nothing substantial with the rolling stock available, and it really doesn’t do justice to the iconic West Coast Main Line and the original London and Birmingham Railway. It’s strengths pale in comparison to it’s weaknesses, and I’ll certainly not be buying from DTG again without serious vetting and seeing others show off the products.
