Train Sim World 5: Cardiff City Network Review (PS5) – Cwtch’s On The Tracks

I’ve spent the best part of this week playing a whole lot of video games. One of those games include Train Sim World 5. Now, this isn’t a game I ever thought I’d be falling into and yet, I find myself intrigued and rather in love with its complexities. I’m gonna compare it to Madden, which is a comparison you’ll probably not see anywhere else. I compare the two purely because in Madden, I know nothing about the sport but the video game is good fun and tactical. I get to use my brain in a way I don’t with, say, FC 25.

With Train World Sim 5, I don’t know anything about trains. I’ve taken many a train in my life time to get around the country but I couldn’t tell you a lick about how they work. And yet, the video game of this exact mechanic is interesting, and you feel pretty damn good when you start and stop the train at the correct destinations and get into the flow of it all. There’s something about it that gives you that feeling only video games can give you. You feel accomplished, even if just for a moment. It’s a cool feeling and I never expected it to come from Train Sim World 5, of all things.

Still, what got me on Train Sim World 5 in the first place was content sent for review, and it grabbed my interest. I lived in Wales for seven years and I took the train damn near every single day, from the Rhondda valleys to Cardiff and back. To hear there was a game that simulated this exact trip made me stand up, I wanted to see how realistic it was. I wanted to see if they could recreate what I remember in my mind about that trip, and maybe I could just do it myself.

My deep seeded memories of these trips are primarily tons of people and not enough seats, plenty of rain, and life disappearing from view when you finally left Cardiff Queen Street and arrived in Cathays (the station you wanted if you were a Cardiff Uni student. There’s a Subway right next door – not represented in this game).

So upon booting it up I was disappointed to see my stop for my then hometown wasn’t included, but all three of the major Cardiff stations were naturally represented. Namely, Central, Queen Street and Cardiff Bay are all here and even include some iconic buildings in the background including the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff Central and the Millennium Centre in Cardiff Bay. Just don’t go too close.

It’s these cool moments that made me remember these trips fondly. Cardiff Central is beautifully replicated and looks fantastic, as does Cardiff Queen Street, even if it’s far more scaled down than Central. If you’re a native you’re going to recognise the layout of these stations immediately, and it’s fun to stroll around them virtually. They’re much quieter, which is nice.

The network in the game goes as far as Coryton one way and Penarth the other, so there’s plenty of towns near Cardiff represented here, and your train driving skills will get you to each place with ease. There are also nice touches such as discovering Welsh cakes at each station, collecting leeks and love spoons scattered on your journey. If you know you know.

My particular journey doesn’t go as far as I lived like I said, but does go as far as Radyr, which is cool. The beautiful greenery of the Welsh valleys is on full display, and certainly made me nostalgic for that period of my life when I’d see these locales daily and start to take them for granted. It’s great to see them again.

So then, the Cardiff City DLC adds yet another package to pick up for Train Sim World 5. The game has been supported incredibly well and this only exemplifies this.

And despite the sheer breadth of DLC available for this game, this is the very first Welsh line. Let’s hope it’s not the last, there’s plenty more wondrous places to see.

Read our review of Train Sim World 5: Thomas & Friends Visit The West Somerset Railway here.

Train Sim World 5: Cardiff City Network DLC is available now on PC via Steam and the Epic Game Store, PS5 (review platform) and Xbox Series S|X.

Developer: Dovetail Games
Publisher: Dovetail Games

Disclaimer: In order to complete this review, we were provided with a promotional copy of the game. For our full review policy, please go here.

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