After reading most of the posts in this forum over the past few days I decided to add my two cents. I’m not really a newcomer I just haven’t been around for several years. I stopped simming about the time that FSX was released. Moved from a PC to a Mac and the only sim available for the Mac was XP which just didn’t do it for me. I have almost all of the civilian flight sims starting with FS4 up thru FS9. The FU series, Pro Pilot, Fly and XP. I even tried Flight Gear. Almost all of my simming has been with small GA aircraft usually the 172. I currently have XP9 installed on my iMac but I don’t fly much, spend most of my time using the Overlay Editor to add buildings and objects to airports. So with the background out of the way here is my take on MS Flight. Call it whatever you want, game or simulator, I call it fun. I have Windows 7 64 bit installed on my Mac and when I saw that it was a free download I deleted several old games to make room for it and downloaded and installed it. I’m not thrilled that it required a Windows live account but that’s the way games are going. Windows live is a mess but I don’t need to go there much so I can live with it. After about an hour of playing around with it I went back on line and purchased the scenery pack and the Maule. I was hooked. This is without a doubt the best GA Sim I have ever seen. Performance is outstanding on my IMac which is not a real gaming machine. The airplanes and the scenery are everything I could ask for and more. Yes there are lots of things missing but they are all things that I never used much anyway. I like to take off and fly from point to point. Get up in the air, trim the aircraft and sit back and watch the scenery, land somewhere without crashing and call it a good flight. It’s like fishing, you are really goofing off but it looks like you are doing something. I’m looking forward to many hours of relaxation with this baby. I may be part of the group the MS is trying to target. The only problem I have had so far is that I find it very difficult to trim but I have a work a around. I use the mouse. It almost works like an auto pilot if there is no wind. I also wish they had used a different instructor. One with a sexy voice. But you can’t have everything. I know there are a lot of people here who are very serious about their hobby and are disappointed with Flight but I think there are also a lot of people out there like me who just want to pretend that they are flying an airplane, get up above the clouds for a while and relax and that is what Flight is all about. No need to spend hours or days setting it up and tweaking it. Just jump in the plane and fly.

I saw the title to your thread, and my answer is YES! Flight is a sim that is a game - because sims are serious stuff, games are fun, and this is serious fun!You don't like the rough voiced female that instructs in the Stearman? lolI need to look at other posts - I think Arwen explained how the mouse can be used as trim - I'm having the same concern about not being able to dial it in just right to maintain altitude with a fixed power setting.

I set trim to the "up" and "down" arrows.It works nice, as 1 tap is equal to 1deg of trim.Of course it seems many times like the VS pointer stops either just above,or just below level flight. :Waiting:

Edited March 3, 201214 yr by raul2

 

I need to look at other posts - I think Arwen explained how the mouse can be used as trim - I'm having the same concern about not being able to dial it in just right to maintain altitude with a fixed power setting.

See here as well for adjusting the trim on the stick.http://forum.avsim.net/topic/364166-tweaking-trim-control-sensitivity/

 

I really like flight, but for now I think its a game, great game.Why?Its not enough to have just nice flight models to call something simulator. Right now, we dont have proper map, ATC, loadsheet, failures due improper usage, flight manuals, flight planer, weather conditions, gyro drift meteo office. So what are we simulating right now?There is potential for flight to grow into something much more serious, but for now, its just a potential.

Edited March 3, 201214 yr by g_precentralis

So what are we simulating right now?

GA? Amongst others. Doing an IFR ILS landing in dense fog isn't arcade or a game to me: it's pure sim. No gamer will easily get that done.You can't say MS Flight is not a sim because it doesn't simulate everything we are used to see in a flight sim. You may call it a limited sim or whatever, but WHAT it does, it does very well and very 'simmy'. Saying it's a game because right now only a few GA's are simulated, isn't correct imho.

I fly GA, and I know how much time I spend for preparation, and what documentation I need :) Its not just sit and go.

I am sure my post will raise an eyebrow or two, as I know there are many very serious flight simmers, that tend to get offended when their favorite simulator is referred to as a game.But seriously gang, at the end of the day when all is said and done, we are all doing one thing here, and that is sharing a love of playing video games on the computer. That really is , what we do. Yes, you drill down to the members of these great forums here at Avsim, and we are a bunch of gamers that love playing with flight simulators. Some simulate more than others.FSX simulates flight, in much detail, much more than Flight in it's present introductory incarnation. But Flight still simulates, well, flight. And seems to do so, fairly well. It does not , at least of yet, simulate far beyond just the basics of Flight, whereas a product like FSX simulates much more, like ATX, flight planning, navigation, all those airports and all that scenery. Perhaps Flight , someday will - no one really knows at this point.But at the top of this chain, when you go back up it, it all breaks down from the " video game " category.I consider myself, to be I guess what I would call a medium level hard core flight simmer. I absolutely love FSX, and love all the detail I can get into with it, along with all the detail many add-ons add to the product. I also have DCS Black Shark on my computer, quite the study sim there believe me. I enjoy the heck out of IL2 as I love WWII combat sims. EECH as well, and used to run many of the flight sims produced by Andy Hollis and the Skunkworks team - loved them.But to answer the OP, Flight at the top is a video game, but also a simulator in that category, that simulates the act of flying. Pretty dang well I think, and it also provides me so far, a lot of fun doing so, and I look forward to what may be coming for it down the pike. I will also continue to fly and log many hours, in my FSX install, and get great enjoyment from that as well.All of the above are only my expressed opinions and how I view, what I do - and not intended to offend anyone in any manner!! :Just Kidding:

Right now, we dont have proper map, ATC, loadsheet, failures due improper usage, flight manuals, flight planer, weather conditions, gyro drift meteo office. So what are we simulating right now?

I agree that Flight needs ATC (along with flight planning, and ATIS), and Real World Weather. But a few of the features you are stating that Flight does not have is actually in Flight already.Flight has a loadsheet, when you refuel. It is a VERY basic loadsheet, but it is there. In some of the cargo missions you have to reduce your fuel amount to get your load below the maximum. What Flight Manuals come with FSX? And Flight does have checklists (which are done much better than in FSX, in my opinion).Flight also has weather conditions (basic settings), in the form of 10 different weather themes.

I fly GA, and I know how much time I spend for preparation, and what documentation I need :) Its not just sit and go.

Does that make it less of a sim? The fact that it doesn't simulate you doing the mass & balance, checking the aircraft documents, making a navigation log? It's a flight simulator and as mentioned above, it simulates the flight part quite well.

If looking to who does what and how - than the next best thing to simulate flying is xplanethere is a good reason if xplane is FAA Certified and all the rest are not.http://www.x-plane.com/pro/certified/

Edited March 3, 201214 yr by arsenal82

If looking to who does what and how - than the next best thing to simulate flying is xplanethere is a good reason if xplane is FAA Certified and all the rest are not.

Xplane itself is not FAA certified. A software package can't be certified on its own. The version you can buy for use at home is missing features too. It IS true however that a special version of Xplane is available which can be used in an environment that can be FAA certified: it's the combination of specific hardware and a specific software version that can be certified. But when you are using Xplane at home, you are NOT using a FAA Certified simulator...!!!And btw FSX in its reincarnation called Prepar3D is used for official simulators too and hence (although I didn't check) it is FAA certified too.Of course MS Flight will not be used in a FAA certfiable situation anytime soon...

Edited March 3, 201214 yr by J van E

from xplane site:However, the software available for about $80 at X-Plane.com is almost identical what is found in the $500,000 full-motion FAA-certified platforms.

I agree that Flight needs ATC (along with flight planning, and ATIS), and Real World Weather. But a few of the features you are stating that Flight does not have is actually in Flight already.Flight has a loadsheet, when you refuel. It is a VERY basic loadsheet, but it is there. In some of the cargo missions you have to reduce your fuel amount to get your load below the maximum. What Flight Manuals come with FSX? And Flight does have checklists (which are done much better than in FSX, in my opinion).Flight also has weather conditions (basic settings), in the form of 10 different weather themes.

Yes, but does different CG affect flight model? TOW is not only variable in loadsheet. Weather themes are nice (beside ugly fair weather one), but as I said before, we do not know what exactly is simulated in that atmosphere. Checklists are great, I think that interactive system can be used for much more than just checklists. For example flight training.In FSX you have great learning center, in FS2004 too and in FS2002 you have PDF book.

If looking to who does what and how - than the next best thing to simulate flying is xplanethere is a good reason if xplane is FAA Certified and all the rest are not.

I think it really doesn't matter is it certified or not. btw XP is great sim.

from xplane site:However, the software available for about $80 at X-Plane.com is almost identical what is found in the $500,000 full-motion FAA-certified platforms.

Yes, almost. But my main point was that you can not say that "xplane is FAA Certified" because that's simply not true. It might give people the idea that when they install Xplane on their PC, they will be flying an FAA certified simulator. A piece of software can't be FAA certified, period.