Tram Simulator Urban Transit Review (Steam)

Tram Simulator Urban Transit is a game that offers a detailed and immersive tram-driving experience. With a download size of 12.41GB, the game features decent graphics and supports Steam achievements. The graphics settings are comprehensive, including resolution, display mode, Nvidia DLSS, resolution scale, v-sync, HDR, overall graphics preset, shadow quality, effects, foliage, post-processing, mirror, motion blur, and view distance. Advanced graphics settings include sharpening, 3rd person mode on foot, 1st person fov slider, 3rd person fov slider, triple monitor setup, and cockpit fov slider.

The game provides a character creator for body type, head, skin tone, hair, facial hair, hair color, and clothing. It supports controllers and allows remapping of controls for both the mouse/keyboard and the controller, including the Invert axis and sensitivity sliders for the mouse and controller. The game also supports Tobii and Track IR, and some wheels and other controls.

Driving physics can be set to realistic or simplified, and there’s an optional driving school to teach the basics of the game. The game world is fully 3D with 360-degree camera control. The cockpit shows marked buttons and nobs, and a mini-map is displayed on the dashboard and the Hud in general. When driving, you must adhere to speed limits and change the direction of the tramline. The game offers two views – third and first person – and has an old-school computer software interface.

The game features nice-looking locations and three difficulty levels – relaxation, simulation, and custom. There are three locations, with only one available initially. It is possible to get out and walk around in both third-person and first-person views. The game modes include sandbox, story, and career. You need to learn the procedure of indicating before and when leaving a stop, honking your horn accordingly, and doing general on-tram duties like checking tickets and using the ramps for disabled passengers.

The game world is living, so you have to be wary of crossings, etc. You can upgrade stops to increase Links and create more routes. It’s easy to create your routes by clicking stops in order, then you can edit or drive them. You earn money from driving passengers around and going to each stop. A rear-view mirror helps with passengers getting on and off. You can change the time and weather on the fly in a menu or set it to dynamic. Fast travel is available to all hubs around the map.

Cash is earned from missions and passengers and used to buy new trams. There are six trams to buy and drive, with highly detailed work on the trams. The game loop is satisfying once you get the hang of it. Trams are customizable from colors to decals and full tram wraps, and you can rename them. You can put advertisements on the tram to earn extra money and add a new layer of customization. You can do night routes which changes how much money you get etc. The story mode has a structured set of objectives to move forward.

However, the game has its issues and weird design choices. There’s a lot to take in and remember in terms of the controls and mechanics at play. Managing the speed of the tram is not as simple as it should be, and you’re constantly going up and down as a small hill or dip jacks it all up.  Following a route is not as clear as it should be, when there’s a congested amount of lines it can be hard to pick the right direction or even know the right direction. Some trams have a lot of buttons and switches in the cockpit that are nothing but showpieces. There’s no easy way to reset or quit a route. The tutorial is okay but very long and winding, missing out a few key bits here and there. It is weird what mechanics they have gone deep into and the ones they have kind of skimmed on. An example is they have loads of customization options but not a lot of in-tram interactions. Pop-up happens a lot regardless of settings. The AI traffic is a nightmare as they kamikaze into you or hit you whilst parked and the game still charges you. The game also connects and wants to link to your Epic account, which is not mentioned but heads up. Overall, Tram Simulator Urban Transit is a detailed and immersive game that offers a realistic tram-driving experience, but it also has its share of challenges and areas to make it more accessible and for me make it easier when you do accidentally mess up. its an alright experience overall but for me its not as refined as a train or truck simulator.