Schnellfahrstrecke Nürnberg - Ingolstadt Review: Is the Train Sim World Route Worth It?

The scenery is the thing nearly everyone agrees on. The most detailed Steam review calls it the best scenery on a German route in Train Sim World, with foliage that is more varied than the usual stock assets. A second Steam reviewer says the route has the best scenery of any modern high speed line in the game, and even two of the negative reviews open by praising it.

The reworked ICE 3 comes next:

• Sound. Steam reviewers single out the new traction motor and horn audio. On the Dovetail forum, players say the same about the sound from inside the cab.
• Depth. One Steam reviewer lists reworked physics, selectable brake modes, expanded cab screens and a set of faults in expert mode.
• Speed. Several Steam reviews, positive and negative, say running at 300 km/h is fun.

The quieter favourite is the regional train. The same detailed Steam review calls the cab car the most fun thing in the pack to drive, because of the manual control, the gradients and the extra station stops. A forum player describes the Allersberg express the same way: the changing gradients keep you busy holding speed. If a good soundtrack matters to you as much as it does to me, the ICE 3 audio is the strongest reason to look at this route.

The route is short for the price. A Steam reviewer points out that an ICE 3 service at 300 km/h is over within 20 to 25 minutes, and another calls it a short route with reused trains. The store page backs up the reason: 90 km at what it describes as 5 km a minute.

The rest of the list is about finish:

• The BR 101 is unchanged. Two Steam reviews say the included locomotive was left as it was, without the suspension physics or in-cab announcements the newer vehicles have.
• Performance divides people. One Steam reviewer reports dips below 30 fps and another reports four crashes to desktop on day one, while two positive Steam reviews call it well optimised. The forum thread is split the same way: one player asked for a refund over foliage that held them to 45 to 50 fps, and others report frame rates in line with similar routes.
• Empty platforms. Both Steam reviews and forum posts say Nürnberg Hbf has no passengers.
• Missing features. A Steam reviewer notes there is no Mastery and that Journey chapters are locked in order. Forum players raise both points too.
• Small visual faults. No rain on the cab car windscreen and foliage that pops in close to the track appear in both sources.
• Consoles. On the forum, Xbox Series X and PS5 players report blurry textures.

Some of this has been patched. The Train Sim World Wiki records updates on August 24 and September 23, 2026 that fixed wobbling coach wheels, floating scenery and the platinum medal that Steam reviewers said could not be earned in one scenario. All ten English Steam reviews we read were written in the first ten days after release, before the second patch.

One more thing to know before buying: extra timetable layers are sold separately. The store page lists ICE-T, ICE 1, freight and Nürnberg S-Bahn services that only appear if you own other add-ons, and a Steam reviewer calls the base timetable thin without them.

Buy it if you want the fastest German running in Train Sim World and care most about the ICE 3. The store page calls this the fastest German route in the game to date, and the reworked train is what reviewers praise most consistently. It also suits players who already own other German add-ons, since a Steam reviewer says the area around Nürnberg comes alive with every layer active.

Skip it, or wait for a sale, if you want long sessions, a busy timetable from a single purchase, or a finished-feeling BR 101. Players on a console or a modest PC should read recent reviews first, given the blurry texture and frame rate reports. One Steam reviewer sums up the cautious view: not recommended unless you are a hardcore high speed fan.

For a 20 minute sprint with a good-sounding train, this is one I would pick. For a long, settled evening run, there are calmer choices in our best Train Sim World routes guide.

The closest alternative in our best routes table is Schnellfahrstrecke Köln - Aachen Remastered. It also includes an ICE 3M, its store page lists the line at up to 250 km/h, and it costs $29.99. Its most upvoted Steam reviews say the remaster changed little beyond the lighting, so it is the cheaper option, not the newer one.

Two other German routes come up in this route's own material. Bahnstrecke Leipzig - Dresden ships with Train Sim World 6 and supplies the ICE-T and freight layers here. Schnellfahrstrecke Kassel - Würzburg supplies the ICE 1 layer, and a Steam reviewer notes it is the only other route the improved ICE 3 layers onto.