RealAir Simulations SF.260 - just got it - WOW

[wb5okj 26]

Howdy Shrink,I don't have the IR Tracker yet, however that is on the agenda next I hope, it seems like it would be a natural for the virtual cockpits. You move your head to pan the virtual cockpit. By moving your head a slight bit it will emulate the hatswitch control. The key here is learning to move just a bit and to hold your head steady on final approach. :) The tracker can be used to move your cursor instead of using the mouse among other things. That is, using your head as it were.I must say that the 3D glasses are really fun, not without problems though, the drivers have a tendency to drive one "round the bend sometimes. The drivers unfortunately are a bit cranky, especially if one is wont' to tweak a lot. ( I'm afraid that last sentece describes about 98% of us. After all flight sim is nothing more than a way to tweak your PC).I have had these glasses for over a year, I ordered them on Sept 10 last year. Go figure. The point is I have had well over a hundred dollars worth of fun with them. :DAlink to another 3D picture.http://members.cox.net/wb5okj/archerpanel2.jps

[Guest]

Hey, thanks! That's what I thought, but then I thought that you had to keep your eyes straight to look at the screen (unless you have 3 screens...), So that, on the whole, the thing becomes counter-intuitive instead (i.e you turn your head in one direction and you look the other way...) So I don't know. Think I'm gonna work IFR style instead.

[Guest gasebah]

Hi,I really can diminish your fears about it being counterintuitive. As a matter of fact it is simply done be exaggerating your head movement. If you move your head to the left 4 degrees the VC will move like 30 degrees. So you still look left to look left if you know what I mean. The only case where it seems unatural is when you actually turn your head to see what is behind the aircraft. In that case you will not turn your head but move your whole body to the left. That is sure unnatural, but you get used to it within a week or so. It is sure hard to explain if you have not used it. As a matter of fact trackIR adds amazingly to the realism especially on short final or when taxiing. I never ever fly without it anymore, and I never ever use the 2nd cockpit anymore (2 monitors + 7GoFlight units).Alex

[Guest]

HI Alex,Do you know whether you can adjust the resolution of the tracker so a 30 degree movement of the head might equal say 60 degrees virtual movement.30 degrees for 4 degrees sounds a bit excessive, but I suppose you get used to making subtle movements of the head. Yes?Best Regards,Rob Young

[Guest gasebah]

Hi Rob,yes. You actually can adjust the x and y axis speed separately which means nothing else than what you are asking, it is practically the angle multiplier rate. You can also adjust the amount of initial movement you have to make that it moves at all. Meaning you can adjust it in a way, that a little unwanted movement will not move your viewpoint.Having said that I will try to explain what makes it so different from your POV hat:1.First of all the TrackIR is a mouse not 8 buttons. Therefore the movement is totally smooth and not jumpy like with a POV head. That is provided that your computer is fast enough however.2. Now here comes the important thing: !situational awareness!.Let us assume you drive a car and are approaching a curve. Now what would you do? Keep your head straight and move the steering wheel until the street aligns with the car? No because that would be totally dangerous as you would never see what is in that bend , right?Also you would have no awareness whatsoever how good your steering action keeps you on the road and no anticipation as to when the curve ends. Finally your wife would think you are totally stoned or had the wrong pills this morning.3. What do you do instead. You keep your eyes outside the car and on the road watching the point where you actually want to be in the next second, permantently adjusting that point, and align the vehicle with the road, not the road with the vehicle. Well, exactly that is possible with trackIR. Because you permanently adjust your viewpoint with the movement.4. This is also the reason why this thing has a learning curve to go through. When you are simming you are used to align the scenery with the cockpit instead of doing vice versa like in real life.Trust me on this guys. Get it, you won't regret it. And it is especially great with the SF-260 because the super VC comes together with a huge field of view (or is it vision? sorry for my bad English). Actually it should be sold as a bundle.After this advertisment I expect a free pair of glasses from e-dimensional. :-)Alex

[Guest]

OK. Makes sense. Guess I'll go for it after all. If you have a minute can you give your specs?

[Guest gasebah]

Sure:MSI KT7-266 Pro2 RuAMD XP2100+512MB DDR RamGF4Ti4600Alex

[Guest]

HI Alex,Thanks very much for the heads-up (excuse pun!) on this piece of kit. Sounds very enhancing and certainly a lot better than constantly tweaking the POV to see in the direction of turns. I think you've pursuaded me to have a go.Best Regards,Rob

[Guest gasebah]

Alright guys. Let me know if you share my view when you tried it.Alex

[Guest Iain Spowart]

Rob,Going off at a slight tangent here... but is it possible in FS2002 to do something similar to EF2000, Flanker 2.5 etc and have the POV change automatically in turns? Instead of having to use the hat on the stick to 'look into a turn' could it be done automatically?It was always a feature of EF2000 that I really liked and FS2002 seemed to miss out in comparison.Iain Spowart,Scotland.

[Guest]

HI Ian,I don't know if this is possible or not. It's certainly very desirable. One thing I would also like to do is make the panning movement more fluid so there was a slight acceleration and deceleration rather than the somewhat fixed pan rate at present. The auto pan would have to be toggle-enabled so you weren't forced to use it. We're hoping that FS2004 might bring a whole suite of new features in this department, together with easier creation of switches and sound triggers. All this would enhance the realism factor. BTW, I don't know if you get this, but for me the gradual spot view, which used to be rather good in FS2000 is now unusable because it jerks around.Cheers,Rob

[LAdamson 240]

>BTW, I don't know if you get this, but for me the gradual >spot view, which used to be rather good in FS2000 is now >unusable because it jerks around. >Just wondering what the term "gradual" for spot view, means exactly. As to panning in spot view, FS2002 is working on my system the same as it did in FS2K-------------- except it seems FS2K panned fore and aft with my hat switch also. May have been my setup also.In fact, panning in the VC mode is smooth and fast enough, that I havn't gave much thought acceleration/deceleration. I do use the digital readouts (shift Z)for airspeed during landings, so I won't constantly have to pan back and forth in a turn such as base. I just figure that any type of panning won't be as fast as my eyes in real life. Would probably give me a headache anyway! :)L.Adamson

[LAdamson 240]

Changed my mind! Just after doing some more aeobatics and realizing that I tend to use the 2D cockpit for very quick glances over the wing tips, which I need to adjust to the horizon.............. I wouldn't mind a super fast pan to wing tip with a spring back function. BTW----- this plane does some really neat looking tail-slides from the spot (R/C) view with smoke, as well as controlling it in R/C mode to get the full effect and precision.L.Adamson

[Guest]

I just got this plane yesterday, and its the best one Ive got. I especially like to spin and how the smoke sys works. The handling is really relistic too. I recommend buying it.

[Guest]

Hmm... wonder if my 1.4, GF3, 512 will hold...