I own both Radar Contact and ProFlight Emulator, but I must admit I've not used either since discovering VATSIM and IVAO. RC4 and PFE are better than the default FS ATC, but no canned ATC comes close to the experience you get from interacting with human beings.There is a learning curve, but no worse than learning how to use (and get around the limitations of) an ATC addon.

My view for a $40-$60 sim, our expectations for ATC are a bit unrealistic. It was never designed for the amount of traffic we throw at it with these AI packages, like WOAI, UT, or My Traffic etc.. We can't expect it to handle holding patterns, to calculate proper separation etc.. To do so would have increased development costs and affect performance even more with the additional calculations going on in the background. While the Hardcore FS simmer, may be willing to pay more for it, the casual simmer or gamer would not. Whether we like it or not MS needed both to make FS successful, and there are a lot more gamers than simmers. That being said, there are a couple of freeware addons that while not making ATC and AI handling completely realistic, has improved it significantly. Those are FSEditVoicePack and AISmooth. VoicePack has improved the phraseology of ATC while AISmooth prevents AI bunching causing go-arounds. I have very little problem with go a rounds since using it. So while it would be nice to get more realistic ATC, I can understand the limitations put on Aces to implement it.

My view for a $40-$60 sim, our expectations for ATC are a bit unrealistic. It was never designed for the amount of traffic we throw at it with these AI packages, like WOAI, UT, or My Traffic etc.. We can't expect it to handle holding patterns, to calculate proper separation etc.. To do so would have increased development costs and affect performance even more with the additional calculations going on in the background. While the Hardcore FS simmer, may be willing to pay more for it, the casual simmer or gamer would not. Whether we like it or not MS needed both to make FS successful, and there are a lot more gamers than simmers. That being said, there are a couple of freeware addons that while not making ATC and AI handling completely realistic, has improved it significantly. Those are FSEditVoicePack and AISmooth. VoicePack has improved the phraseology of ATC while AISmooth prevents AI bunching causing go-arounds. I have very little problem with go a rounds since using it. So while it would be nice to get more realistic ATC, I can understand the limitations put on Aces to implement it.

Didn't M$ say "As real as it gets!" Many simmers like myself are real pilots and whilst it is true that they are selling a game, their version of ATC is so unrealistic as to be a waste of programming effort. They had a chance with the release of FX. They missed it along with other problems with FX which is why it didn't sell. It was only a marginal improvement to FS9 therefore not worth the money of purchasing it and very expensive cutting edge computing power.Most fs9ers can with all the add ons get a better result.Vololiberista

Didn't M$ say "As real as it gets!" Many simmers like myself are real pilots and whilst it is true that they are selling a game, their version of ATC is so unrealistic as to be a waste of programming effort. They had a chance with the release of FX. They missed it along with other problems with FX which is why it didn't sell. It was only a marginal improvement to FS9 therefore not worth the money of purchasing it and very expensive cutting edge computing power.Most fs9ers can with all the add ons get a better result.Vololiberista

Ah, the "as real as it gets" card has been drawn :( I tend to disagree that the provided default ATC is somehow a "waste of programming effort". Even though I do understand why some would feel that way, I would not make such harsh statements.In fact, I think default ATC a fair general representation of thel US ATC system for a 40 dollar game. Also I think it is unrealistic to think that with every new version things should become "perfect" in all areas.ATC is extremely hard to program and simulate in a way that it would cater to all simmers. ATC procedures and phraseology differ region by region, country by country, airport by airport. Yes I'm also a real world pilot and I do know what ICAO recommends but there are differences and somebody will always come and say N

Hi, J.C.Make yourself a (free) gift and step into online flying.When you try VATSIM, I can guarantee you will rediscover your simming. :( Maybe not exactly what you were asking about.But that is the frank advice I'd have for you.

Agreed.