What pitch/roll/yaw settings do you use for test-flying your designs? I have a Saitek Pro Yoke and still can't get the feel right for this sim. Great visuals and performance. Just can't get the aircraft (172/Cessna 510/PA28) to handle in a realistic manner. Help!

It depends on the circumstances. Are you talking about an aircraft you made yourself or someone elses 3rd party add on?If it's someone elses (which I'm assuming it is), you can't change the pitch/roll/yaw settings on your controller hardware You can only adjust the flight model itself. If it's an aircraft someone made in their spare time and uploaded it as freeware, you may have to deal with what you have. You could try contacting the author and seeing if they can fix it, but to fix that particular issue is a little bit difficult and requires in depth flight model work and knowledge. It's definitely possible to fix. Just not easy.

I use default control rates. I don't change (my settings for) the hardware control sensitivity or curves. that way my controls are the same as anyone would see in x-plane by default before they change their settings to suit their preference or perceptions. the aircraft data values are factual, airfoil, control surface size, deflection, etc. the default 172 is pretty, but doesn't have much in the way verifiable data in it, it's tweaked and various people over time trying to adjust it to what they think it should be. I can't say much about the default 172 for much beyond looking pretty. make sure to load the aircraft in x-plane the same way you would be familiar with in reality. in GA, that'll probably mean max fuel, forward CG (pilot or pilot+front_passenger only), and the payload weight amount for people and stuff. If you set the weight to what you're used to, then the aircraft is going to do as well as it was built to do. as far as your own controls. everyone knows that computer controls move less range than real aircraft controls. that makes for a bigger deflection for the same control movement compared to reality. some people reduce the aircraft control deflections, some phase them out so they're not available and some move the controls less distance or only the amount necessary for the desired result. be it in sim, or in reality, PIC is in control. the control sliders in x-plane, I'd say restore to default and see. Most people like boosting them out to maximum_reality, but that puts a lot of faith in Austin for what that means exactly. in that respect, any change off of baseline and you put your simulator experience in your own hands. maybe better, maybe worse. probably worse.

Thanks for the replies. Yes sorry I should have made it clear I was talking about the sliders in the settings menu for joystick/axis/centering. I've been making sure I have max gross weight on each model before I fly. Haven't tried tweaking the CG yet but that's next on the list. I have bought the lovely looking Cessna 510 which handles much better than the default aircraft - ie when you make a control deflection there does appear to be some natural resistance to it rather than handling like an RC model made of balsa wood. This is my only issue with x-plane at the moment. Visuals are excellent, airports look wonderful, night time LOOKS like night time. Terrain mesh looks realistic especially around coastlines. Performance so much smoother than FSX. I'll continue experimenting tonight! Regards Adam

I forgot to also say that it's great to see "ground effect" modelled to some degree in x-plane!? It seems to work particularly well with the default C172SP. A refreshing change from FSX.

right. in x-plane, weight and balance, there is the CG slider that if defined properly has a valid forward and aft limit so when you slide the cg slider it turns red when it goes out of legal limits. that's only true for aircraft that have that defined legitimately, otherwise people guess at a limit range or your guess is as good as mine as to how they might set the cg limits. the position cg is set for a plane as it's native cg, has to be somewhere in there, and each author is going to have their own method for where they put it and why. I have mine, it's a valid cg at max gross which is a smaller cg range than when light or partially loaded. lone pilot or pilot&front_pass is going to be forward loaded relative to that. so, basically, see the CG iimit range and put the slider forward loaded to emulate flying alone, aft loaded if you are full with cargo (aft of the pax compartment), etc. ground effect is great, i've explored it with my wig craft, the data is pretty amazing.

Great thanks for the info. Ground effect is the main reason I want to switch our flying club PC's to x-plane. It is way too easy to land in FSX.