I'm presently in a flight over the Trans-Canada Highway, eastbound, and two hours out from Vancouver, flying at 2,500 just off of the highway below me. I would welcome FS 11 with open arms (or someone who would step up to the plate with their own betterment...) when it comes, BUT...I could also stay with FSX if that was the final version. With a computer platform that delivers fast and clear graphics, FSX is stunning! As I come around each bend of the highway below me...the mountains frame me into the valleys as they reveal themselves...with SUCH BELIEVABILTY. Such believability! I know that this is a computer program designed to SIMULATE the real world...but there are times as I fly over a mountain swell, and once more spot my visual navigational reference (the highway below with traffic)...that I find myself holding my breath...or letting it out slowly...just RELISHING the absolutely BEAUTIFUL graphics FSX is capable of. With GEXnhanced, combined with UTX USA/CANADA, and GEX Europe with its UTX Europe compliment....there are years upon years of scenery...well..the world to fly over at VFR and just so enjoy the beauty of it. Not repeated graphics over and over, tiled in that truly makes a feel of a computer GAME...no...but software that tries as best (and with success!) as able to simulate real-world terrain at any x/y coordinate of the living world. FSX delivers that, that FS9 and earlier renditions can't even begin to come along side of.... FS9 is for FPS performance. FSX is for immersing simulation of the world as you fly above it!What a wonderful thing...and I am so grateful that we now have this sim...being powered by technology that can bring this wonderment out. We will always welcome greater fps, greater technological performance....but with a high-end i7 based system, that world and performance is at a level that can be seen by constant, average 30 fps and beyond. Wonderful...simply, simply wonderful!Back to that mountain valley...and the sheer pleasure of this hobby as it stands on Dec 1/2009!Cheers,Mitch'er

Sounds great :)After being a die-hard FS9-er I am really enjoying FSX now, and for me the crowning glory of the sim is the OrbX sceneries for Australia that are simply stunning, especially when complemented by the freeware AusX package. Because I spend so much time away from home I am compelled to use a laptop, so my specs are very modest, but I can still get a beautiful looking sim with perfectly flyable framerates. The only thing I can't do on FSX is fly heavies out of detailed airport sceneries with lots of AI, and for that type of flying I have just reinstalled FS9. I'd dearly love to have a high end i7 system, but it would simply sit idle at home for at least 8 months every year whilst I was away working on a ship somewhere.

I agree totally. The overclocked i7 is the chip FSX was waiting for. Even at the other end of the scale, heavy jets into Kennedy full AI in the 30's. :(

The overclocked i7 is the chip FSX was waiting for.

Yay! Two years after release of FSX!! lol.

Yay! Two years after release of FSX!! lol.

Yep but that is with all FS versions even FS9 which now shines on current hardwarebut back then it was the same story, even after two years of release :( Cheers,Andr

Yep but that is with all FS versions even FS9 which now shines on current hardwarebut back then it was the same story, even after two years of release Cheers,Andr

If Sesquashtoo's 'high' is anything to go by, then in just two years FSX is already "there"...and Sesquashtoo still has Orbx's FTX scenery to look forward to. That scenery is sure to put a further 'wow' into his current 'wow'. Sort of like eyes rolling backwards and falling backwards of your chair while still firmly holding the joystick...Think you can handle it Sesquashtoo ? :(:) Terry

I fully agree :(Sesquashtoo, you haven't seen anything yet until you've tried the free FTX AU Blue Tasmania demo.You are in for a treat :(

Last week I was lucky and was able to order a ATI 5870. The card arrived today. All I can say is WOW. I used to have a 4870 X2 installed and got the normal tree shimmer/ building shimmer and such. That happens no more. UTX USA/CAN, GENX/USA/CAN/EUR look fantastic. Every roof and building is crisp. I am amazed. Even winter looks good now.I am getting some stutters but I need to play with the card settings and also the FSX.cfg. The 9.11 drivers are sweet.Ya, I paid 409.00 for the card but this card was the last link in my upgrade and was well worth the price.I am still playing with the adjustments and such but this card opened a whole different FSX world.

It's good to hear FSX is scaling well. I posted a question about its scalability in the hardware forum. I'm looking forward to a hardware upgrade in December 2010. No big hurry, as FSX is running acceptably (but not without compromises) for me on my current machine with FTX scenery.I still run FS9 as well. I like the super-smooth performance of FS9, and the incredible scenery and texture resolution of FSX.We've got a long road of FSX ahead of us. It's not like there's another sim coming along....

Aces took a lot of stick 3 years ago, but some knew it would scale into a "golden age" with the combination of tech catchup and stunning third party addons. And they certainly were right.

Aces took a lot of stick 3 years ago, but some knew it would scale into a "golden age" with the combination of tech catchup and stunning third party addons. And they certainly were right.

Absolutely. It is IN NO WAY a detrement to have a released version of simulation software not be able to run full-tilt on the current hardware. That simply implies no scaling, and no long service life, and of course there goes the 3rd party developers. I think releasing FS.x with at least one or two or three generations of hardware above it is clearly the best model. If one can't afford the latest hardware, at least it runs on lesser machinery. Noel

Absolutely. It is IN NO WAY a detrement to have a released version of simulation software not be able to run full-tilt on the current hardware. That simply implies no scaling, and no long service life, and of course there goes the 3rd party developers. I think releasing FS.x with at least one or two or three generations of hardware above it is clearly the best model. If one can't afford the latest hardware, at least it runs on lesser machinery. Noel

Especially since this appears to be the last version..Just wait till the 7 cm scenery starts showing up!

Absolutely. It is IN NO WAY a detrement to have a released version of simulation software not be able to run full-tilt on the current hardware. That simply implies no scaling, and no long service life, and of course there goes the 3rd party developers. I think releasing FS.x with at least one or two or three generations of hardware above it is clearly the best model. If one can't afford the latest hardware, at least it runs on lesser machinery.

It's a good argument today, but let's look at it in a historical context as well. Were it not for the closure of ACES, we'd be looking at the release of FS11 as soon as last year--more probably around this time or sometime in 2010.And where would that leave us ...? Hardware is just catching up, and now we've got a new version and all of the frustration and tweaking that implies. I have said in the past that this model of releasing something two years "ahead of its time", and then releasing a new version in 2-3 years (also ahead of its time), is inherently broken. So, yeah, we can be glad we've got a bit of headroom now, but I really don't think the general philosophy was customer-friendly or logical. This was a problem with FSX even more than with other versions, which is why there is still such a large FS9 community.Sadly, I also don't think that FSX will ever run nearly as well or look as good as we might have seen with a more modern engine behind FS11 or FS12. There was some definite rumblings from ACES about a fresh start and dumping backwards compatibility, which I applauded. I'm glad we have FSX, and the third-party developers are doing awesome stuff. But, I wish that ACES had that shot at the fresh start. It could have been awesome.

Consider the real consequence of not having any more PC based Flight Simulator ... How are we going to tell whether it's a GOOD computer?After all, from PC-1, way back in the early days of DOS, the 'standard' by which IBM - and others - established proper performance was whether it could run Flight Simulator!We're talking here about much more serious stuff that mere enjoyment of an "entertainment" product. Flight Simulator has been THE standard by which all computer hardware is measured!! Forget about fps, and all that technical jargon. The true test is - will it run FS?

Just wait till the 7 cm scenery starts showing up!

Already herehttp://www.flightsimstore.com/product_info...roducts_id=1046I'm now waiting for thre 1cm/pixel stuff, LOL.While I love FSX, I'm with Jimmy on wanting to see what ACES could have done with new more modern code.