I kinda have to agree. Even though PotatoCommunter says “you won’t be banned for surfing” Some staff members bans you for surfing. The punch box thing in Newport is gonna be WAAAAAAAAAAAAY confusing for some of us. (And by the way, I have NOT surfed on a PTA train before, and I have not been banned from playing the PTA games)
OK, as someone who do not use Discord, this is a lot to take in. As a PTA player myself for nearly 2 years, I never knew a lot of this happening behind the scenes. But Ima be honest, pretty much the points made in this video is valid, and it is, for sure, rearing their ugly heads. When I first found PTA, I cannot find the rules anywhere, let alone in the main menu, and I had to figure it out myself. Although I was lucky enough that I managed to know some of the rules and not spring those traps, the toxic behavior in the public servers, combined with other controversial decisions within the community, not helping this is the aforementioned points in PTA have either been confirmed or alleged, is the reason why I use public servers rarely now. Though you can make the case with other PTA rail fanners who use private servers in an attempt to discourage or avoid the toxicity altogether. As for the other points mentioned in the video, I find it extremely ridiculous that a lot of this is behind my back, though I cannot explain it further as it would underscore how badly the community has gotten overtime. The other community that I know of for over 5-6 years, which revolves around the British Railway system, also took several bullets for having a toxic or controversial community, not helping is the staff themselves and, quite eerily, their toxic or otherwise controversial fanbase too like PTA. That being said, I am not looking forward to coming back too frequently cause I'm perusing my studies (I am a college student now), and plus, I have other interests or duties in my spare time anyway. I go to college, do some coursework, hanging out with friends/classmates, and have interests in climatology, meteorology, and other games besides PTA. Even if PTA's Newport releases, I do not really look forward to actually start playing it even after it releases for days due to my own life circumstances.
Was gonna make a comment on what I think about PTA but ENYC just took the words out of my mouth. Good video, and yea I agree with basically the whole damn video.
This is my take on how PTA is going: I think that PTA is on sort of a tightrope here. I feel that if Newport doesn't release, PTA will fall, as weve waited so long for the game i've actually forgotten when it was initially supposed to release. Along with that, i've seen a trend of updates not coming on in months of each other, and some bad decisions by the developers (like removing the W, wait did that even exist?) The community in the game is sometimes half-baked, other times not, for example the admin foamers. I think PTA has a long and prosperous future, ahead, but it just has to get the community together, release Newport, and make rules clearer to players not using the discord. Even if Newport releases, I think some people won't even notice it, because weve been waiting so long. But hey, the future awaits us, so lets see what the big guys at the top do with PTA. -itzKarmaYT
Who the heck knows when Newport will come out. By the time it does, we may be old or dead lol. Why did they remove the W and again? The community is really hit or miss... Newport will get a crap ton of players (I predict over 4k active), but it fall-off like PTA classic did when it re-released, but on a smaller scale.
To be honest, I've gotta agree with everything you've stated. I honestly think PTA is at a stand-still right now. Not only because Newport has been in development for over a whole year, but also because the community is...interesting, to say the least. As you stated, the admin foamers are insane, but also because there's nothing to play. Especially if you're on mobile. And since it doesn't look like Callaghan-Madison will be getting mobile support any time soon, and PCS Classic fell off so hard, it really makes it hard for people to enjoy PTA anymore. The PC players really don't have it any better in my opinion. The only thing is they get to play Callaghan. As for the (W) being removed, to my knowledge, the (W) is only removed on maps that are meant to be accurate to how the games are. On all other existing maps, the (W) is shown to exist. But, back to the games and the community, another problem is the way development updates are shown. With the new feature that allows you to add images and announcements in groups, I think it'd be wise to not only upload the images to the Discord server, and the UA-cam community page, but to the group announcements as well. This is why people take images from the discord server and upload them into those "pIcS oF pTa nEwPoRt 1337694202763" type videos. the reason being is: say, you can't find Potato's channel and you wanna see if there are any new images of Newport's development. Yes, I know these are considered "lazy", but just think. But, I think once Newport releases, the PTA community will quickly see a surge in new players. And once that happens, PTA will be greater than it's ever been. -MunipalsFanboyThing
@@EastCoastTransit I don't know why the express ceases to exist, but it does. It's not canon. I don't know why, but I think it's because of how confusing it seemed. During rush hours, 7 trains run express and 11 trains run local. During non peak hours, 11 runs express and 7 runs local. When I was younger and this was real, it sort of confused me. Rush hour service patterns always have ups and downs; it's inevitable. When Kennedy gets remade, all 11 trains will run local.
I agree with some or most I think, if PotatoCommuter (the owner of PTA) wants the games to be virtually more realistic, at least he could add the following: - Option for Conductor Mode for players (available on the 4 car trains in combined 2 car sets like the R160s - Focal point (while in first-person driving a train to access and click the small buttons, so the driving is kinda more real, like in Train Sim World. That's about it, cool video
as a superfan and the creator of the cherri ads + wraps, i just wanted to put in my two cents. 1. fleet assignments. i know you pointed that out in your video as well, but think about it this way: it would be kinda weird to see a bullet train running on a light rail system, right? 2. to quote potato here, "it's dangerous and illegal so we're not gonna support it by letting people simulate it willy nilly here". i think that makes sense. there isn't really any big reason to surf on lego trains, and if you really feel the urge to do it, why not do it somewhere else? - gonna need you to elaborate a bit more on the "unfair rolling stock selection" thing - some admins might be a bit rude, but they're usually pretty nice - i kinda agree with your point about nepotism - idk who told you that, but it isn't the case, at least not now. back then, you could boost to get sf, but that was YEARS ago. - i haven't seen anyone get muted for asking for an admin run 3. literally every transit game has a weird community. something about trains just attracts underages. loaf and ran did NOT quit because of the community, they left because they personal issues.acknowledgement 4. the "simple mode" thing sounds reasonable 5. yeah, i heavily disagree as well. both the pst-3 and the pst-5 had kinda aged poorly, and they needed a rebuild. it's also a bit repetitive to drive the same trains over and over again
I personally don’t like how they’re removing the PX1R, and replacing it with (some other train that I forgot the name of.) Anyways, nice video! Agree with all points discussed here.
Heres my 3 cents on this and everything. Every single transit game is evolving to become the same literal thing: *very realistic* Most games don't really make an effort to stand out from each other aside from routes or lines. Sure PTA has their own massive fleet of fictional trains however, the real-life existing trains in PTA or in any other game is literally just 1:1. It gets pretty boring seeing a "R68 (literally just 1:1 port of real life functions and features) next to a PST-4 (which stands out by style and design even though it has older scripting technology)."
The realism in the TC is due to time. As time goes on, people want their trains to look more realistic, but as they say... "Too much of a good thing can be a bad thing." And we definitely need more diverse transit games that represent different systems or fictional systems, (Without NYC subway trains).
I’ll be very honest I think it was a dumb decision to not add the R211 in 5th Ave lines because some people don’t own a PC and people have been wanting to drive the R211 mobile users can’t. Also the R211s are confirmed to be running on the (A) (C) (B) and (D) lines. Focusing on the (B) and (D) lines it’s just unfair for mobile users and makes the game less realistic.
Imo i kinda agree on the rules part, ive seen sm get kicked from the server (or banned i forgot) for putting a no ping emoji reaction on an announcement 😭
As a quote-unquote "professional PTA community hater", I might as well give some of my opinions here. - Fleet assignments should definitely be fixed. R27, R30, R211s really need to go to 5th Avenue since I believe they're the most fitting on that line. I don't agree that the R179 should be in Callaghan though. (in fact it shouldn't even have been a gamepass since it's just a normal ntt that has marginal differences from the r160) - Surfing should *absolutely* remain discouraged because not only it might (keyword - might) encourage people to do it in real life, it also ruins the gameplay of others, especially if one's trying to record a railfanning video. - I've always hated those overcomplicated rules ever since I was a developer, they really should simplify them before putting them in the games, the current ones are too fucked up for people to understand. - Roblox train games in general (regardless of what country it's based on) should not be "over-realistic", with the examples being unnecessary features that most players don't use, accelerations _really_ slow to the point where it makes you bored/lose your focus, yadda, yadda, yadda. Those unnecessary realism just takes the fun factor away. If you have to read a 500 page book, watch a 10 minute youtube tutorial, or join a whole fucking Discord server *just* to understand the train's controls, then your game is a piece of shit. Not everyone would want to do that. - For me, the PX-1R and KP-96 are just nothing but oddballs which don't fit anywhere. They're also poorly built compared to other trains, so they should be replaced with other PSTs so that the train lineup could be simplified. - Don't get your hopes up for free models from PTA, they're very overprotective of their assets to the point they'll scream at you for even using just a route bullet. (based on a true story)
At this point, I am not too keen on coming back to PTA than back then... Not because I hate them or anything, but I just don't think its worth taking huge risks of getting yourself falsely accused or banned from PTA for any unwarranted unwritten rules they'd made up, let alone myself having no Discord account. If anything, it just reminds me when another community had to take in several bullets for their controversial staff and fanbase, revolving around the British railway system. Even then, my time for playing games like PTA is closing as I am a college student myself, have other interests at my disposal, and have other alternative games to play or have fun watching, and ofc I have a life outside of gaming and the internet.
idk about the R30's and R27's going to 5th ave, but the R211's should be there! The R179's should maybe stay as a game pass since its the only 5 car train in 5th ave. You make a valid point on the surfing thing, but kids who really think that way need a reality check and a slap on the face. I've never seen dev rules for PTA, but the main rules for common people should at least be mentioned in-game, along with the consequences for breaking them. Over-realism is a huge problem for kids who don't exactly know how a train operates. Trained-drive games be like... I have my own thoughts on how the KP-96 and the PX-1R should be handled, but that's a topic for another time... I can kinda see why they may wanna be overprotective of their assets after seeing what happened to Joe's subway trials, but that's also another video for another time.
A problem with new PTA games is lag, it can get buggy and I am sure it’s in the list of things that PTA can not do anything about but I still feel like there should be some kind of solution right?
Tbh PTA is dying and theres so many other better MTA games or groups like MTAoR and Sunset Subway witch have realistic models. Also, if PTA doesn’t change their games are gonna suffer
MTAoR is not better, their games are super low quality and they milk kenzie for trains this is coming from someone who has no experience with MTAoR btw, just saying what ive seen and heard around.
@@TomyTabby2 Hey at Least Kenzie Knows how to make realistic good models. Look at PTAs Models there horrible and not a lot of detail is put into them. The models for PTA are just there to drive no care is put into them. Gets your facts straight.
Kenzie models 💀 I'm going to be honest, I have more of a negative view to those "realistic" models. I believe those trains are actually ripped from toolbox, and that's why I see them in many games. While they are a nice middle ground on realism and publicity, they are overused to the point that they are unoriginal and sometimes, even devalue games in my opinion. Being a developer for NYC Subway games, (not the ones you know), Kenzie models are very hard to scale up (proportional to character) to the 8 stud tracks more commonly used by trains before the 2020s. Sunset Subway might have "realistic" models, but that game in my view has so many problems, like the "R46 Not Found" bug, to the complications of playing the game, and well, the small size of the models. I do somewhat agree on the PTA is dying part; however, I believe a revival is in the works, "Newport", but that's only if it even comes out.
pta is becoming mta if you talk about happiness
"It isnt wrong but we just don't do it!"
It feels like years ago when I remember what show the quote came from...
T&F
I remember when they used to have meetings after school and they would pass out snacks but I guess things are different now.
LMFAOO
I kinda have to agree. Even though PotatoCommunter says “you won’t be banned for surfing” Some staff members bans you for surfing. The punch box thing in Newport is gonna be WAAAAAAAAAAAAY confusing for some of us.
(And by the way, I have NOT surfed on a PTA train before, and I have not been banned from playing the PTA games)
"please don't cancel us thank you"
OK, as someone who do not use Discord, this is a lot to take in. As a PTA player myself for nearly 2 years, I never knew a lot of this happening behind the scenes. But Ima be honest, pretty much the points made in this video is valid, and it is, for sure, rearing their ugly heads. When I first found PTA, I cannot find the rules anywhere, let alone in the main menu, and I had to figure it out myself. Although I was lucky enough that I managed to know some of the rules and not spring those traps, the toxic behavior in the public servers, combined with other controversial decisions within the community, not helping this is the aforementioned points in PTA have either been confirmed or alleged, is the reason why I use public servers rarely now. Though you can make the case with other PTA rail fanners who use private servers in an attempt to discourage or avoid the toxicity altogether.
As for the other points mentioned in the video, I find it extremely ridiculous that a lot of this is behind my back, though I cannot explain it further as it would underscore how badly the community has gotten overtime. The other community that I know of for over 5-6 years, which revolves around the British Railway system, also took several bullets for having a toxic or controversial community, not helping is the staff themselves and, quite eerily, their toxic or otherwise controversial fanbase too like PTA.
That being said, I am not looking forward to coming back too frequently cause I'm perusing my studies (I am a college student now), and plus, I have other interests or duties in my spare time anyway. I go to college, do some coursework, hanging out with friends/classmates, and have interests in climatology, meteorology, and other games besides PTA. Even if PTA's Newport releases, I do not really look forward to actually start playing it even after it releases for days due to my own life circumstances.
and pta nowadays is just boring
Was gonna make a comment on what I think about PTA but ENYC just took the words out of my mouth. Good video, and yea I agree with basically the whole damn video.
This is my take on how PTA is going:
I think that PTA is on sort of a tightrope here. I feel that if Newport doesn't release, PTA will fall, as weve waited so long for the game i've actually forgotten when it was initially supposed to release. Along with that, i've seen a trend of updates not coming on in months of each other, and some bad decisions by the developers (like removing the W, wait did that even exist?) The community in the game is sometimes half-baked, other times not, for example the admin foamers. I think PTA has a long and prosperous future, ahead, but it just has to get the community together, release Newport, and make rules clearer to players not using the discord.
Even if Newport releases, I think some people won't even notice it, because weve been waiting so long. But hey, the future awaits us, so lets see what the big guys at the top do with PTA.
-itzKarmaYT
Who the heck knows when Newport will come out. By the time it does, we may be old or dead lol.
Why did they remove the W and again?
The community is really hit or miss...
Newport will get a crap ton of players (I predict over 4k active), but it fall-off like PTA classic did when it re-released, but on a smaller scale.
To be honest, I've gotta agree with everything you've stated. I honestly think PTA is at a stand-still right now. Not only because Newport has been in development for over a whole year, but also because the community is...interesting, to say the least. As you stated, the admin foamers are insane, but also because there's nothing to play. Especially if you're on mobile. And since it doesn't look like Callaghan-Madison will be getting mobile support any time soon, and PCS Classic fell off so hard, it really makes it hard for people to enjoy PTA anymore. The PC players really don't have it any better in my opinion. The only thing is they get to play Callaghan. As for the (W) being removed, to my knowledge, the (W) is only removed on maps that are meant to be accurate to how the games are. On all other existing maps, the (W) is shown to exist. But, back to the games and the community, another problem is the way development updates are shown. With the new feature that allows you to add images and announcements in groups, I think it'd be wise to not only upload the images to the Discord server, and the UA-cam community page, but to the group announcements as well. This is why people take images from the discord server and upload them into those "pIcS oF pTa nEwPoRt 1337694202763" type videos. the reason being is: say, you can't find Potato's channel and you wanna see if there are any new images of Newport's development. Yes, I know these are considered "lazy", but just think. But, I think once Newport releases, the PTA community will quickly see a surge in new players. And once that happens, PTA will be greater than it's ever been.
-MunipalsFanboyThing
@@EastCoastTransit I don't know why the express ceases to exist, but it does. It's not canon. I don't know why, but I think it's because of how confusing it seemed. During rush hours, 7 trains run express and 11 trains run local. During non peak hours, 11 runs express and 7 runs local. When I was younger and this was real, it sort of confused me. Rush hour service patterns always have ups and downs; it's inevitable.
When Kennedy gets remade, all 11 trains will run local.
I agree with some or most I think, if PotatoCommuter (the owner of PTA) wants the games to be virtually more realistic, at least he could add the following:
- Option for Conductor Mode for players (available on the 4 car trains in combined 2 car sets like the R160s
- Focal point (while in first-person driving a train to access and click the small buttons, so the driving is kinda more real, like in Train Sim World.
That's about it, cool video
It being like TSW would break the point on PTA being too realistic.
@@EastCoastTransit No, it's just the 2 things listed above that should be added.
as a superfan and the creator of the cherri ads + wraps, i just wanted to put in my two cents.
1. fleet assignments. i know you pointed that out in your video as well, but think about it this way: it would be kinda weird to see a bullet train running on a light rail system, right?
2. to quote potato here, "it's dangerous and illegal so we're not gonna support it by letting people simulate it willy nilly here". i think that makes sense. there isn't really any big reason to surf on lego trains, and if you really feel the urge to do it, why not do it somewhere else?
- gonna need you to elaborate a bit more on the "unfair rolling stock selection" thing
- some admins might be a bit rude, but they're usually pretty nice
- i kinda agree with your point about nepotism
- idk who told you that, but it isn't the case, at least not now. back then, you could boost to get sf, but that was YEARS ago.
- i haven't seen anyone get muted for asking for an admin run
3. literally every transit game has a weird community. something about trains just attracts underages. loaf and ran did NOT quit because of the community, they left because they personal issues.acknowledgement
4. the "simple mode" thing sounds reasonable
5. yeah, i heavily disagree as well. both the pst-3 and the pst-5 had kinda aged poorly, and they needed a rebuild. it's also a bit repetitive to drive the same trains over and over again
I personally don’t like how they’re removing the PX1R, and replacing it with (some other train that I forgot the name of.) Anyways, nice video! Agree with all points discussed here.
Bro spoke facts and didn’t even think about trying to do it 💀
the PX1R is being replaced with the PST-2R.
Is the community controversial? Maybe. But is it heading downhill? I'm unsure.
Just rename the PX1R. It’s that simple
why are they even removing it in the first place, I get that the model is a little over 2 years old now but still
Agree with everything!
idk why they would cut the r62 from Newport for no reason I don't like this change and I also want the r62 back in Newport
Heres my 3 cents on this and everything.
Every single transit game is evolving to become the same literal thing: *very realistic*
Most games don't really make an effort to stand out from each other aside from routes or lines. Sure PTA has their own massive fleet of fictional trains however, the real-life existing trains in PTA or in any other game is literally just 1:1. It gets pretty boring seeing a "R68 (literally just 1:1 port of real life functions and features) next to a PST-4 (which stands out by style and design even though it has older scripting technology)."
The realism in the TC is due to time.
As time goes on, people want their trains to look more realistic, but as they say...
"Too much of a good thing can be a bad thing."
And we definitely need more diverse transit games that represent different systems or fictional systems, (Without NYC subway trains).
I’ll be very honest I think it was a dumb decision to not add the R211 in 5th Ave lines because some people don’t own a PC and people have been wanting to drive the R211 mobile users can’t. Also the R211s are confirmed to be running on the (A) (C) (B) and (D) lines. Focusing on the (B) and (D) lines it’s just unfair for mobile users and makes the game less realistic.
That's a very good point!
promise you if you talked about everything you brought up in the pta discord, you would've been either shitted on or probably banned off the spot LOOL
Ay you're not wrong lol
3:37 also not to mention that again, most of the people who ask for admin runs are literal children and can’t/shouldn’t be on discord
idk why there are so many foamer kids in the TC, but we gotta deal with it.
NICE!
Imo i kinda agree on the rules part, ive seen sm get kicked from the server (or banned i forgot) for putting a no ping emoji reaction on an announcement 😭
As a quote-unquote "professional PTA community hater", I might as well give some of my opinions here.
- Fleet assignments should definitely be fixed. R27, R30, R211s really need to go to 5th Avenue since I believe they're the most fitting on that line.
I don't agree that the R179 should be in Callaghan though. (in fact it shouldn't even have been a gamepass since it's just a normal ntt that has marginal differences from the r160)
- Surfing should *absolutely* remain discouraged because not only it might (keyword - might) encourage people to do it in real life, it also ruins the gameplay of others, especially if one's trying to record a railfanning video.
- I've always hated those overcomplicated rules ever since I was a developer, they really should simplify them before putting them in the games, the current ones are too fucked up for people to understand.
- Roblox train games in general (regardless of what country it's based on) should not be "over-realistic", with the examples being unnecessary features that most players don't use, accelerations _really_ slow to the point where it makes you bored/lose your focus, yadda, yadda, yadda. Those unnecessary realism just takes the fun factor away.
If you have to read a 500 page book, watch a 10 minute youtube tutorial, or join a whole fucking Discord server *just* to understand the train's controls, then your game is a piece of shit. Not everyone would want to do that.
- For me, the PX-1R and KP-96 are just nothing but oddballs which don't fit anywhere. They're also poorly built compared to other trains, so they should be replaced with other PSTs so that the train lineup could be simplified.
- Don't get your hopes up for free models from PTA, they're very overprotective of their assets to the point they'll scream at you for even using just a route bullet. (based on a true story)
At this point, I am not too keen on coming back to PTA than back then... Not because I hate them or anything, but I just don't think its worth taking huge risks of getting yourself falsely accused or banned from PTA for any unwarranted unwritten rules they'd made up, let alone myself having no Discord account. If anything, it just reminds me when another community had to take in several bullets for their controversial staff and fanbase, revolving around the British railway system. Even then, my time for playing games like PTA is closing as I am a college student myself, have other interests at my disposal, and have other alternative games to play or have fun watching, and ofc I have a life outside of gaming and the internet.
idk about the R30's and R27's going to 5th ave, but the R211's should be there! The R179's should maybe stay as a game pass since its the only 5 car train in 5th ave.
You make a valid point on the surfing thing, but kids who really think that way need a reality check and a slap on the face.
I've never seen dev rules for PTA, but the main rules for common people should at least be mentioned in-game, along with the consequences for breaking them.
Over-realism is a huge problem for kids who don't exactly know how a train operates.
Trained-drive games be like...
I have my own thoughts on how the KP-96 and the PX-1R should be handled, but that's a topic for another time...
I can kinda see why they may wanna be overprotective of their assets after seeing what happened to Joe's subway trials, but that's also another video for another time.
I agree with some things.
2:23 ill say it again lmao, Ive seen this happen, Nepotism is literally unfair to others and they dont give people a chance
Ummm. Correction: The R62's Still Run IRL On The 1,6 & 42nd Street Shuttle Line
Those are R62A type cars...
O true
The R62s can only be found on the (3) train
@@kingallstar6460sometimes the 2 and 4 during special runs or low stock
nooo i thought they ran on R188’s
A problem with new PTA games is lag, it can get buggy and I am sure it’s in the list of things that PTA can not do anything about but I still feel like there should be some kind of solution right?
I know about the punchbox well a little
That's good!
But we can't say the same for 60% of the TC.
Dont let pta happen like joes subway trials please no
PTA will never suffer a major leak because they will smite the heck outta you if you do leak their assets.
The art 62 still run on the Lexington Avenue. 6 train
All those facts could be true but idk
swag
1:35 forgot to censor again hope the third time u upload it is the last one
hope u fix it
I just noticed that goof
Also what do you mean by third time?
There is no third time
This is the final time I upload the SAME VIDEO
jej!!!
Yes
the only thing i see wrong with pta is SOME people and only SOME people (tell panther i said Hi)
Depending on who you meet and how you talk to them, your experience could be hit or miss
Can PTA be played in sandbox mode?!
That doesn't even exist in PTA...
@@EastCoastTransit that sucks
It’s good
I think assigning certain train types to certain lines is a bad creative move.
Cedrickaka go banned from PTA admin because of a 9 year old kid spreading misinformation
ngl PTA is just mad boring
3:08 LOL
Ik pta is boring now...
Not wrong...
why on the video caution?!
so people understand that I'm not trying to do anything bad.
@@EastCoastTransit IM PLAY PTA MY LOVED PTA GME ITS EKENDY
The games basically doesn’t even work anymore, Cant run my R11 without train cars and doors disappearing. I wasted my robux basically.
you have to do a video on MTAoR
real
Not many kids know/care about MTAoR, but they should be called out for what they do.
Including kenzie...
ok
ok
@@EastCoastTransit real
Second
Third
Tbh PTA is dying and theres so many other better MTA games or groups like MTAoR and Sunset Subway witch have realistic models. Also, if PTA doesn’t change their games are gonna suffer
MTAoR is not better, their games are super low quality and they milk kenzie for trains
this is coming from someone who has no experience with MTAoR btw, just saying what ive seen and heard around.
MTAoR may get a video of its own...
And I don't care if I lose my DDO rank either, it needs to happen at some point.
@@EastCoastTransit agreed 👍
@@TomyTabby2 Hey at Least Kenzie Knows how to make realistic good models. Look at PTAs Models there horrible and not a lot of detail is put into them. The models for PTA are just there to drive no care is put into them. Gets your facts straight.
Kenzie models 💀
I'm going to be honest, I have more of a negative view to those "realistic" models. I believe those trains are actually ripped from toolbox, and that's why I see them in many games. While they are a nice middle ground on realism and publicity, they are overused to the point that they are unoriginal and sometimes, even devalue games in my opinion.
Being a developer for NYC Subway games, (not the ones you know), Kenzie models are very hard to scale up (proportional to character) to the 8 stud tracks more commonly used by trains before the 2020s.
Sunset Subway might have "realistic" models, but that game in my view has so many problems, like the "R46 Not Found" bug, to the complications of playing the game, and well, the small size of the models.
I do somewhat agree on the PTA is dying part; however, I believe a revival is in the works, "Newport", but that's only if it even comes out.