Train Sim World 7 is the latest annual entry from Dovetail Games, arriving with three new core routes, a substantial graphics overhaul and a handful of genuinely new features. It fully releases September 15, with Deluxe and Ultimate buyers already playing.
Our verdict: Train Sim World 7 delivers authentic railway simulation that appeals to both casual players seeking zen-like relaxation and hardcore enthusiasts chasing mastery. It’s the best-looking and best-received TSW in years, and it’s still fighting the same optimisation problems the series has always had.
The Three Routes Are a Strong Selection
Miami and Fort Lauderdale. Tri-Rail BL36PH, F40PH and Rotem cars, plus CSX freight and the Dura-Max Rock Hopper.
Yorkshire, and a network rather than a line. Northern BR Class 331, LNER Azuma, Class 66 and the Rylstone quarry.
Bavaria, long-distance and regional. DB BR 440, BR 442 and the BR 193 Vectron.
Included even in the free edition, with five trains and the core rolling stock.
Performance Is Still the Problem
The New Features, and Where They Wobble
One specific, reproducible bug worth flagging because a player documented it properly. Freight Hauler’s pathfinding sometimes routes you the wrong way — it appears to pick the nearest track to the destination rather than respecting the correct direction of travel on parallel lines, and when it does, the signals never turn green.
The workaround: click your train on the map, clear the course, manually plot a route that puts you on the correct track for your direction, then set a fresh course to where you actually wanted to go. Annoying, but it unsticks you.
The Editions Need Explaining
This is where TSW7 asks the most of buyers, and the pricing structure deserves laying out plainly.
| Edition | Price | What You Get |
|---|---|---|
| Free Starter | Free | Training Center, 5 trains, core UK/US/German rolling stock. A genuine free entry point, not a demo. |
| Standard | $49.99 | All three new routes, 12 trains, 2 wagons. This is the actual game. |
| Deluxe | $79.99 | Standard plus 3 more trains — Northern BR Class 333, DB BR 412 ICE 4, Tri-Rail GP49H-3 — and five days’ early access. |
| Ultimate | $129.99 | Deluxe plus 3 additional routes and 16 more trains, drawn from TSW Compatible back-catalogue content. |
Two things to understand. First, $30 buys you three locomotives going from Standard to Deluxe. Second, the Ultimate tier’s extra content is “TSW Compatible” — Dovetail’s own term for material released for previous entries, which they note may be unchanged from its original release and may not use all newer core features.
There are also 159 DLC items already listed against the game. A player’s advice is worth repeating verbatim: buy anything above Standard on sale, and buy DLC on sale, citing one route add-on at around £33 at full price.
Things to Know Going In
The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly
| The Good | The Bad | The Ugly |
|---|---|---|
| The Lighting Overhaul Is a Genuine LeapA new lighting system, an Epic tier above Ultra, DX12, DLSS 4.5 with DLAA and FSR 4 with frame generation. Players who’ve complained about every previous entry are calling this one a real step up, and one said the Leeds branch looked like real life. | Live Weather Changes Too AbruptlyReal-time location-specific weather is a lovely idea, but players report clear skies turning to thunder in about two seconds. The feature needs smoothing, not scrapping. | 25 FPS on the Best Route in the GameOptimisation complaints appear in nearly every review, including the positive ones. The flagship Airedale & Wharfedale network is where players report the worst drops — the new lighting is the headline feature and its cost is the headline complaint. |
| Airedale & Wharfedale Is a Network, Not a LineMultiple branches and junctions rather than another A-to-B run, which directly answers the genre’s biggest longevity problem. Long-time UK players are noticeably pleased, and the German and US routes converted people who normally skip them. | The AI Guard Forgets Its JobGuards opening and closing doors is a real realism gain for driver-guard operations — when it works. Players report it intermittently failing to do anything at all. | Freight Hauler’s Pathfinding Sends You the Wrong WayIt appears to pick the nearest track to the destination rather than the correct direction of travel, and when it does the signals never clear. There’s a manual workaround, but it’s a shame on the game’s most interesting new mode. |
| Safety Systems On By DefaultAWS, PZB and the rest can now be active from the moment you step into the cab, as they would be taking over a real train — or left off if you want a relaxing run. A small option that veterans specifically praised. | Distant Scenery and Passengers Lag BehindLOD work described as “a bit naff at times,” and no meaningful improvement to passenger models. The cabs are extremely detailed; the middle distance and the people are where the budget clearly didn’t go. | $129.99 at the Top, and 159 DLC ItemsThirty dollars separates Standard from Deluxe for three locomotives, and Ultimate’s extra content is back-catalogue “TSW Compatible” material that may not use newer features. Players advise buying anything above Standard on sale — one route add-on runs around £33 alone. |
| A Free Edition That Isn’t a DemoThe Free Starter Edition ships the Training Center, five trains and core rolling stock for nothing — which doubles as the ideal way to test performance on your own machine before committing a penny. | Still Buggy, and Everyone Expects ItOne reviewer called the bug count “a DTG classic” and moved on. That resignation is its own kind of criticism, and it’s been earned over several releases. | The Annual Release Question Hasn’t Gone AwayEven positive reviewers are asking Dovetail to stop shipping yearly. TSW7 is the strongest argument yet that more time produces a better game — which is also an argument against the schedule that produced it. |
The Verdict
Train Sim World 7 is the entry where Dovetail’s harshest long-term critics started conceding. That’s genuinely notable for a series whose annual cadence had turned its own community sceptical, and it’s earned: the lighting overhaul is a real leap, the sound design is meaningfully better, the route selection is the strongest in years, and Airedale & Wharfedale being a branching network rather than another straight line is exactly the structural change the format needed.
The new features are good ideas at varying stages of completion. Freight Hauler is the most exciting thing here and players immediately want it everywhere — but its pathfinding will occasionally strand you. Live weather is charming and far too abrupt. The AI guard is a realism win that sometimes forgets to show up.
And then there’s the thing that’s always there. Performance remains the series’ unsolved problem, and this year it’s sharpened by the fact that the best-looking TSW ever made is also the one asking most of your hardware. Dropping to 25 FPS on the route everyone agrees is the highlight is a hard thing to look past, and it’s why this sits at Mixed while individual reviews read like recommendations.
The honest read: install the Free Starter Edition first. It costs nothing, it uses the same engine, and it will tell you in twenty minutes whether TSW7 runs acceptably on your machine — which is the only question that actually matters here. If it does, Standard at $49.99 is the edition to buy; the jump to Deluxe is thirty dollars for three locomotives, and Ultimate is largely repackaged back catalogue. Wait for a sale on anything above Standard, and wait for a sale on DLC full stop.
This is a pre-launch verdict, and Dovetail have a patch window before the 15th. If the optimisation pass lands, this becomes an easy recommendation. If it doesn’t, TSW7 will be remembered as the best TSW nobody could run properly — which would be a genuine shame, because the rest of it is the best work they’ve done in years.
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