It's actually something like a 2010 game. The screenshots are just the settings of the person who took them, check the games gallery for a better impression.

A lot of people use a third party shaders pack - it's very popular but I really don't like it as it does seem to make things cartoony imho.

Depends very much on who build the route. A route like Hausach - Konstanz is certainly not cartoon like. https://youtu.be/cQ2DNBNHp9I

The degree to which TS2020 will look realistic, especially the scenery, is to a great extent dependent on the level to which you set the graphics rendering in the settings menus. And that in turn is dependent on the computer, especially the CPU, the GPU and the hard disc. The "higher and faster" these are, the further to which you can elevate the graphics level and so the realism. I suspect that many of the complaints about the lack of realism are from those with limited computer power. Yes, it is just about that simple.

Well you would think when the devs took the pics of the new Fife expansion they would have had the graphics settings on max. And in the screenshots the graphics look pants IMO, really old standard. Like someone above says they look more like 2010 graphics. It's not the graphics settings though it looks like the quality of the textures they have used - really bad low res ones. The rust on the bridge for example looks really bad! And the gravel - no bump or displacement mapping at all lol. They look the same in the main game screenshots mind.

If I was to play a expensive train game like this one I would at least expect the graphics to be absolutely top notch, because that is one of the main selling points of the game, watching the scenery go by.

I've seen flight sims with much better graphics (Xplane and DCS for example) and they cover the whole world not just a single train route.

I used to own a version of this game years and years ago, probably a 1998 version or something lol, and the current graphics dont look much better than that really old game. Maybe this is why they have added all of these daft filters - to hide the fact the default graphics look so damn bad. Not impressed at all.

So don't buy an expensive crappy looking game? I love the entitlement. Good luck in life.

Well now that we all know what you think of a game you don't own, any chance you could stfu so that those of us who do enjoy it (bad scenery and all) can get on with it.
I was curious...do you visit many game forums for games you don't own just to whinge, or did we all strike lucky when you picked this one?

What's wrong with 'cartoony' anyway? I love a good Tom & Jerry cartoon!!

Glenn yo mean like this (a new route coming soon) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iISzVLXRis or https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3w8vsb

That has made my day, don't remember ever seeing that one. Shame they wouldn't be allowed to make stuff like that today - far too violent for the lefty snowflakes!

Originally posted by Nats:

Just looking at that latest Fife expansion and the graphics/rendering look pretty rubbish for a 2020 game. Doesn't look real at all.

What are you doing on the forum complaining about a game that you don't even own ??

Originally posted by axkramer:

I suspect that many of the complaints about the lack of realism are from those with limited computer power. Yes, it is just about that simple.

I can't disagree more. A decent setup sure makes a difference but even on best and most optimized graphic settings the game just isn't great to look at. You can see that it's only meant to be played from the cab view and only along the main route of a map.
Go set the game to its best graphic settings (if you can) and then look around using the free camera. Low quality textures and objects everywhere outside of a driver's view.

Originally posted by axkramer:

The degree to which TS2020 will look realistic, especially the scenery, is to a great extent dependent on the level to which you set the graphics rendering in the settings menus.

to an extent, yeah. But this is absolutely no excuse for a low quality game like this (graphic wise).