Thanks for the link!James

I am in complete agreement with you here Michael.IMHO, if MS were to remove the GPS and more people actually tried to fly from somewhere to somewhere only using standard navaids (sans GPS), I believe many would find that extremely challenging. Throw in some real weather into the mix and you are in my world of flight simming.Cheers and thanks,Chris Porter:-outtaPerthWestern AustraliaMy "Around the World 4" flight pagehttp://members.iinet.net.au/~portercbp/fly...e%20World_4.htm

Long time... no see. How's everything Down Under? To an extent I also agree. There are plenty of challenges to be had within the sim as it stands. While I depend a lot on the GPS, I'm improving my radio navigation skills.... basically I'm a bit lazy when it comes to checking charts/maps, looking up navaids, frequencies and the like. :-roll But I've learned to fly the helicopters and that was NOT an easy thing to master! Also I'm starting to fly with Real Weather myself, and that is a hoot, especially when the weather isn't that great. I just finished a virtual job for Bush Flying Unlimited with 2 mi visibility and snow. I was flying just above treetop level so I could see where I was going! (I don't fly IFR.)But for those who long for hoops courses or airraces, those things can be implemented NOW by those who want to do so. I wouldn't expect (or particularly WANT) Microsoft to spend their R&D on such activities until other aspects of the sim have been improved or implemented, as the case may be. Take care, Chris .... give Max a pat for me.-Lindy :-wave :-rotor

Hiya Lindy,Looong time no hear. Whatchyadoing?Yup, I am having a ball on my "Around the world flight 4" (see the link below). It's giving my nav skills a real workout. Dead reckoning in a quartering wind in overcast conditions is unbelievably difficult and I have never been so happy as when I suddenly hear that beep, beep of the nav beacon that I didn't think I was going to hear before I ran into some mountain or another. The whole trip along the Kamchaka peninsula and Aleutian chain was done in pretty miserable conditions, mainly overcast and fortunately for the radio navaids and ILS or it was going to be a very short cold swim :-)Great to hear from you again, Max sends his best :-yellow1Cheers,Chris Porter:-outtaPerthWestern AustraliaMy "Around the World 4" flight pagehttp://members.iinet.net.au/~portercbp/fly...e%20World_4.htm

If you want canned games I guess that's ok. I'm sure a lot of what you're talking about could be done by interested 3rd party people. Frankly I find flying as is done in the real world enough of a challange for me. I really wouldn't want to see these things added as part of the basic MSFS package. There are enough "game" type flight sims out there as it is. In fact, I'd even go so far as to say that asking for this sort of thing just pushes MS further along the road to making MSFS just a game with realism and accuracy taking a back seat. I'll bet there are plenty of people within Microsoft that would love to see MSFS as an XBox product.TonyDigital-Flight

If you think that X Plane is catching up to MSFS in the visuals departmet you need to have your eyes examined......;-)They do have a great FM system though. In my view this is the area that the MSFS dev. team really needs to work on.TonyDigital-Flight

Yes, challenges are plentiful. This past weekend, flying LGA DCA BOS in the snow storm with 100 MPH winds, 100 ft. ceiling in swirling snow and 1/10 mile visabilities was "white knuckle" time in the sim...absolutely as real as it gets...whooped and hollared on touchdown...