I have been flying the PMDG 737NG for about half a year and really enjoy it. It seems to me though that the plane is quite "heavy on the controls". What I mean is that you have to move the joystick a lot to make the plane bank (or pitch). I can understand that it should not feel like a Cessna but compared to e.g. the LevelD 767 for FSX it is still quite heavy. And that leads to my question:Is the reason for this that the 737NG is a FS2004 aircraft and the flight model of FS2004 limits the way the aircraft is controlled? Or is the reason that I haven't been very successful in setting up my joystick for FS2004?Of course I cannot say that one way or the other is more "realistic" as I have never flown a real 737 (or any other aircraft for that sake either!) What I can say though is that the feel of the 767 for FSX and a number of other FSX add-on aircraft is somehow "smoother" and nicer to fly.Has anyone noticed the same thing?Regards,Per Isacson

I have been flying the PMDG 737NG for about half a year and really enjoy it. It seems to me though that the plane is quite "heavy on the controls". What I mean is that you have to move the joystick a lot to make the plane bank (or pitch). I can understand that it should not feel like a Cessna but compared to e.g. the LevelD 767 for FSX it is still quite heavy. And that leads to my question:Is the reason for this that the 737NG is a FS2004 aircraft and the flight model of FS2004 limits the way the aircraft is controlled? Or is the reason that I haven't been very successful in setting up my joystick for FS2004?Of course I cannot say that one way or the other is more "realistic" as I have never flown a real 737 (or any other aircraft for that sake either!) What I can say though is that the feel of the 767 for FSX and a number of other FSX add-on aircraft is somehow "smoother" and nicer to fly.Has anyone noticed the same thing?Regards,Per Isacson

Try pulling up the EICAS screen that shows surface deflection and make sure your getting full movement with your current stick settings. If you are getting full deflection then are you using any custom settings?

Try pulling up the EICAS screen that shows surface deflection and make sure your getting full movement with your current stick settings. If you are getting full deflection then are you using any custom settings?

Thanks for the tip. I'm afraid it didn't really solve the problem though. Clearly, the surface deflection indicators show that when I push the joystick fully to one side, the indicator reaches the limit on the lower EICAS. I don't think I'm using any custom settings except some joystick assignements, e.g. one button for gear up, another one for flaps down. The realism settings are fully right on general and almost to the right on P-factor and Gyro (although this shouldn't have any impact on a jet).It still feels a little like I'm flying in syrup compared to what I'm used to from FSX..

Do you have any large commercial aircraft time? Not sure what you are comparing against.

Do you have any large commercial aircraft time? Not sure what you are comparing against.

Like I stated in my original post:

Of course I cannot say that one way or the other is more "realistic" as I have never flown a real 737 (or any other aircraft for that sake either!) What I can say though is that the feel of the 767 for FSX and a number of other FSX add-on aircraft is somehow "smoother" and nicer to fly.

I am in no way implying that the behaviour of the PMDG 737 is not as realistic as any other MSFS addon aircraft. As I have never flown any kind of aircraft for real I am in no position to comment on that. What I say is that the feeling flying this aircraft in the simulator is different from the LevelD 767 for FSX. And that the difference is that I have to pull the joystick harder to make it bank or pitch.My question is primarily whether other people have made the same observation or if it's just me. If it's just me it's probably something in my setup (either of FS2004 or FSX) that is not working the way it should. I guess everybody who attempts to fly these kind of planes in the simulator are interested in getting as close to reality as possible within the limitations posed by a 24" computer screen and a plastic joystick as compared to 100,000+ lbs of heavy metal. When I notice such a difference between two aircraft and/or the two simulators FS2004/FSX I'm interested in finding out which behaviour would be the more "realistic" - or if it's just two different ways of simulating the behaviour of an aircraft; each way with its own pros and cons.Regards,Per

I've only been visiting the forum for a few years but no, comments regarding how it 'handles' are pretty rare. There's a pretty loose correlation between MSFS and real airplanes, but I believe PMDG uses actual line pilots during development and testing and puts forth effort to make it as real as the platform allows. I know they did for the MD11 and JS41, and I know there are 737 pilots that visit here on occasion. I think the 737NG handles about as lightly to the touch as the C-414 I am used to, and found that a little surprising.

If you troll enough airline forums ( :( ) you will find many 767 pilots talking about how light it feels on the controls. Having never flown either the 73' or 76', I can't comment further.

I've only been visiting the forum for a few years but no, comments regarding how it 'handles' are pretty rare. There's a pretty loose correlation between MSFS and real airplanes, but I believe PMDG uses actual line pilots during development and testing and puts forth effort to make it as real as the platform allows. I know they did for the MD11 and JS41, and I know there are 737 pilots that visit here on occasion. I think the 737NG handles about as lightly to the touch as the C-414 I am used to, and found that a little surprising.

If you troll enough airline forums ( :( ) you will find many 767 pilots talking about how light it feels on the controls. Having never flown either the 73' or 76', I can't comment further.

That's more or less the answers I was looking for. I fully understand that there are limits to how close you can simulate the touch and feel of a real airplane in MSFS. What confused me was that the PMDG 737 and the LevelD 767 were so different. Probably the heavier feel in the 737 gives a better clue to what it's like controlling a real passenger jet. Thanks Dan and Joseph for your comments!Regards,Per

If you troll enough airline forums ( ) you will find many 767 pilots talking about how light it feels on the controls. Having never flown either the 73' or 76', I can't comment further.

Hmmm.. after reading your post a bit more carefully I now see that it's the real 767 and not the simulation you are talking about. If these differences between the real 737 and 767 made it all the way inte the simulation it's even more interesting!