A question for PMDG about Future Platforms

[Paul Deemer 13]

I have seeen several Microsoft Flight Videos as well as Xplane 10. But none have impressed me more for potential than X-plane 10 has. When the time comes will PMDG be choosing the Platform that offers the most flexibility for their future projects? One of the great features of Xplane 10 is the ability to take full advantage of the CPU and GPU and they are even considering 64-bit in their first Service Pack. I do not think Microsoft Flight can compete with this.Check the 2 videos below. Incredible!

[Leffe 4]

Wow! a real 64-bit sim!....that´s looks promised./ Leffe

[ArjenVdv 190]

Wow, it's looks great indeed. Hard for PMDG to determine for which game they're gonna make airplanes. XPlane 10 seems awesome, but I don't like the scenery. I think MS Flight will have better scenery, and XPlane will have better simulation. But still I think I'll take MS Flight, because we've got PMDG and LevelD for the simulation.

[ZachLW 37]

If X-Plane were more accessible and a little less... I don't know what. I've tried it a couple times since 6.x all the way up to 9.6. I just can't get into it.

[RYR738 9]

It looks like what Microsoft Flight Simulator looked like about 10 years ago !!!Lockeed's P3D is the only thing that looks promising at the moment.Fred.

[Tabs 2,790]

We'll evaluate our options when we get to that fork in the road guys - we believe FSX still has quite a few years left in it...

[MMartinov 48]

Quite a few years indeed.We all have made significant (more or less) investments to make FSX look and feel better. As example, at the point where my FSX is now with all add-ons I am quite happy. I am looking forward to just add new high quality airports such as FSDT LAX. And PMDG planes...A new platform has to prove its qualities first and I believe with all improvemets the 10 years old FSX sets the bar really high.

[member111333 8]

If it will be really 64 bit after the first service pack, this will become the only true simulator. Good bye OOM's. Then we finally could use all of our RAM we bought.

[ronzie 21]

Never noticed that X-Plane uses ai traffic. That kind of reduces immersion in the sim environment.

[William J.S.S 173]

What are the performance differences between these two?Looks wise realistically? Is it more arcade like? Because some videos I have seen have not really convinced me at all that it can be as "serious" if you will, as FSX.Also, anyone with X-Plane now, can you point out functionality differences between it and FSX, meaning realism levels, A/C handling, weather, advanced functions like good FMCs and flight planning?Thanks...sorry it is kinda off topic, but always wondered the differences....

[ricky76 46]

I personally never used xplane before. I am and have always used MSFS (sub logic) since '86. I feel that FSX has some legs left, sure. Why can't MS or someone else just update the current FSX code so we can still use and enjoy the addons we have accumulated over the years in a more stable better performing sim.If Orbx, PMDG, Carenado will be compatible or portable, I will be more likely to stray from FSX. But, for now, I will just " love the one I'm with"I know that sounds a bit narrow minded, but the FS series has always been the go to sim for me over the years.

[papagoose 3]

Why can't MS or someone else just update the current FSX code so we can still use and enjoy the addons we have accumulated over the years in a more stable better performing sim.

I believe that is more or less exactly what Prepar3d is :) But after a point, it makes sense to rewrite the engine from the ground up to correct design errors that weren't originally apparent, or to take advantage of new technologies. This is why most companies periodically update their game engines and break backwards compatibility doing so. I find it telling that most versions of FS are fairly compatible with the previous version, this suggests that most of the updates to FS have been chipping at the edges so to speak (although I'm happy to be corrected on this!). As for FSX still having a few more years left on it, my (relatively uninformed) impression is that this is less about it being a good program, and more about market share and inertia- even if there are good alternatives now, it takes time to develop for them, and time for those products to penetrate the market to make addons financially viable. Leaving aside 64 bit, I think the biggest issue with FSX (that no amount of addons or tweaking can change) is that the engine under-utilizes graphics cards- there are some things that would only be addressed by redoing it from the ground up (like Microsoft Flight is, albeit with different design priorities)