A comment on the interiors of some aircraft where the cockpit is far from the quality of the exterior. By this I mean that several of the cockpits have decent 3d panels but the other interior elements are very simple gray shapes that are there to represent he cockpit but in a crude manner. In stark contrast there are some aircraft that are about as detailed on the inside as is possible. The range of attention to the cockpit is at both extremes.I ain't suicidal so I would not dare to show examples. I also fully appreciate the effort put into making an aircraft, both inside and out. I acknowledge the implied higher quality of payware versus free stuff. But to spend serious time on the panel and the exterior only to sacrifice the looks of the interior is not understandable. X-Plane is capable of outstanding visuals perhaps newly created aircraft will take more advantage of that.

A comment on the interiors of some aircraft where the cockpit is far from the quality of the exterior...

No argument here. This particularly applies to the 3-D (Virtual) cockpits where they are included. Sad to say some of the payware planes I own are let down badly in this respect. The panel itself looks great but the animated controls and the like look untextured and very poorly visualized. And no, Im not mentioning any names either, but sadly some of the aircraft that do spring to mind are among my favourites to actually fly :/At the other end of the spectrum (and yes I'm going to mention aircraft here) you have products like Heinz's Spitfire and ND Art and Technology's Hurricane which are simply superb visually (so long as you have a fairly recent computer) which proves what X-Plane is really capable of.Another thing I'd like to mention is that some of the included checklists leave a lot to be desired - I mean those for use with Snailpup's excellent 'Checklister' plugin. Basic errors abound such as the speed being given in mph but the checklist actually testing for knots. Sort of symptomatic of the lack of finishing detail that some content providers suffer from. Simple things that are easily fixed but annoying nonetheless.CheersSetanta

Another problem is the extremely awkward and limited view system that makes it pretty much impossible to appreciate a detailed VC in-flight anyway. Extremely slow pan-speeds, only 4-directional panning etc...Still find myself using the "flying dashboard" 2D view for most of my flights in X-Plane.

Many of the VC's are very "plain", but check out the MU-2 VC from x-scenery.com. It is quite nice! :)

Another problem is the extremely awkward and limited view system that makes it pretty much impossible to appreciate a detailed VC in-flight anyway. Extremely slow pan-speeds, only 4-directional panning etc...

Look for the advanced joystick settings tab, and select the "fast" options, e.g pan_left_fast instead of pan_left.

Look for the advanced joystick settings tab, and select the "fast" options, e.g pan_left_fast instead of pan_left.

Which is instead too fast...In genral the view system in X-Plane is just awkward compared to FS (which in itself was awkward compared to the Flight Unlimited series).

Another problem is the extremely awkward and limited view system that makes it pretty much impossible to appreciate a detailed VC in-flight anyway. Extremely slow pan-speeds, only 4-directional panning etc...Still find myself using the "flying dashboard" 2D view for most of my flights in X-Plane.

I use the mouse to look around the VC. Works great! In addition I use the arrow keys to move the "seat" position up/down/left/right. I believe TrackIR works too. Also, the IZICAM plugin lets you create custom viewpoints for each aircraft (inside the VC and outside too) http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?autoco...p;showfile=4657