Hi: I'm shopping for a new joystick and was wondering how force feedback joysticks work with FS2002. Are they worth the extra cash? Many thanks.

Well, you'll DEFINITELY hear lots of different opinions. Do a search for force feedback and you'll find about 1000 threads on it :) I personally LOVE my MS Forcefeedback 2 joystick. I also have the CH Flightstick Pro yoke, and like it very well too. The force feedback is just so much more fun with CFS2, Janes F/A 18 and IL-2.

After a false start, I am learning to love my MS FFB2 stick. It works great. I just plugged it into the new P4 and it worked instantly. Forces are variable and sometimes unpredictable. It is somewhat thrilling than I thought it would be, but it works very well overall. There are some good takeoff and landing rumbles and forces, and some good forces in the air adjusting trim, etc. It is excellent with stalls and provides great stick shaker warning and it flops well in total stalls. I have not yet felt wind though.I was going to dump the stick after the first week and return to the yoke, but with time I am finding the FFB stick is more accurate than the CH equipment I have. I can nail approaches on the ILS or with VASI/PAPI almost perfectly.It does take practice since the stick rarely self-centers and that was an irritant at first. But as time goes on, it is less of an issue and I kinda like having to adjust the stick this way or that. I will say that my takeoffs are now amazingly good because of the LACK of self-centering, i.e., the nose generally remains pitched up with less fiddling with the trim. Although trim still matters....Hope this helps.JS

I tried a FF stick and believe me it did not have anything in common with the 'feel' of a real yoke in a real aircraft. The vibrations are good for one thing only .... XXXX rated.Michael J.

Just the feeling of the TRIM will worth the money, although the others advantages.There are a lot of real pilots using JS with Force Feedback, Eric Ernst (PIC767) is a good example.Regards,Jorge Niny

Hi there,even as a pro-FF-stick-man I have to say, that the 767PIC is a good example for the negative side of FF.Due to a wrong trim layout of 767PIC (depending the FF-stick) the trim-force (provided by the stick) is not in the correct center-prosition, even if the plane is trimmed out corrcetly during cruise.Maybe that's a Sidewinder FFB 1 thing. That's the stick I use.Regards, Watsi