Here are my conlusions on the Ariane 737-900.There will be comparison against PMDG as this seems at the moment to be on every ones mind.Panel:In this case the VC,as this is the only panel in Ariane.PMDG-Super clear and crisp textures.No problem reading everything,and with the latest patch/update with the 800/900,as good as everything can be clicked in the VC.Minus for the "flat"overhead panel that does not contain any 3D buttons or dials.PMDG has done many tunings towards the FPS issue with the VC,and you can tell this by the look.Unfortunatly for me this one falls through on the night textures,not good enough for me,and there lacks textures on several panels in my installation.(Bug?)PMDG har done a marvelous job on the patching towards FPS,and this bird is no hog on the system.High scores on FPS in the VC.Plus for the tuning which has lead to a very good FPS score.Minus for the fact that the overall quality has been reduced due to FPS hog.Ariane-A fully interactiv cockpit.Meaning every system simulated in this bird,is functioning and clickable in the VC.This is obvious,as there are no 2D panel.However,this is done in a great matter.And every button,dial,etc works smoothly and flawlessly when using them.Big minus for the blurry textures,as this make it unreadable for some.This is however no problem for those familiar with the panel.Ariane has posted a patch,and when last in contact with them,they had discovered that there where some problems with certain graphic cards whick could make this blurriness,rather intolerable.This will be fixed.Big plus for the night lightning.Ariane has stated that they will make the lightning system per boeing spec.It's pretty close if you ask me.FPS scores are good on this one,and users with low end system should have no problem flying it.Sound:PMDG-Good sound package.The ambient sound in 2D panel was fixed in the latest 800/900 update/package.And you now have it in VC as well.Nice one there PMDG.Engine sound is very convincing,but seems a little tame at some points.Especially the 600/700,which produces indeed some noise when running at takeoff power.(Related to the cockpit of course.)Plus for the good spoiler sound and the intolerable trim sound.(This one actually sound like this.Terrible:))Minus for some badly looped sounds.Ariane-Very nice indeed.This sound package brings truly out the roam of a turbine engine.Ariane team has done an excellent work on this package.The sound may to many seem unmixed and rather raw in its content.I personally love this.Other may disagree of course.Plus for some very decent soundfiles.Minus.Not sure there any.Model and flight characteristics:PMDG-Some nice visuals here.Textures are as VC,super clear and crisp.Not much more to say.Model is a well known topic.Some claim PMDG's the most correct,some claim Ariane.My mouth is shut.I dont care to much about it,as i do my flying from the flight deck.But briefly,i think most things are modeled in the PMDG.Characteristics of the air file from PMDG is good.I love flying this bird mostly in 2D panel,with my eyes staring at the PFD and ND,so the way the aircraft act towards roll,yaw and pitch movement sometime is neglected from side.But now and then i fly it in VC,just to see how the bird behaves,hand flying it.There are some issues i cant put my finger on,and i dont know for sure what it is.But i feel there have been put much effort from PMDG in making the aircraft fly well in autopilot,and that there may have been some neglection regarding hand flying it.Plus for the great way the aircraft fly on the autopilot,especially ILS approach.Minus for the fact that there are some issues at this point towards flying this bird by hand.Arian-Well known in the community for making good air files and splendid models,they do not fail at this one either.As with the PMDG,what is most correct,must be for each to deside.There are many things implemented here,including opening of the cargo doors and contrails from the outboard flap.To much to be mentioned here,but we can name the most important.This bird flies like a dream by hand,thumbs up for that.Also Ariane has invented the "newton logic".Read more of it on their home site.But briefly that means mathematic calculations which means the more heavy the aircraft is loaded,the more "lag" there will be .This is very noticable during taxi and starting of taxi,and the best part,it works.Many producers claim they have this implemented,but none of them succeed in the way Ariane has done here.Outstanding.Others are icing on windows,vibrations due to spoiler deployment(this one is cool),and the well known thump-thump-thump vibrations caused by centerline taxi lights and their attachments.Plus for the many nice and "new" groundbreaking features of this aircraft,and the fact that it flies very well.Minus for some blurry textures on the outside model as well.Systems and functionality:PMDG-Superior against most addon,the effort put in by PMDG here is priceless.There are so many things to "play" with or "fiddle" with here,that if you are a hardcore simmer or a playfull gamer,there are much to do and much to dig into.PMDG has recieved awards for this bird,and none can claim them.The system functionality is outstanding,and will not be surpassed in years to come im sure of.I could go on and on forever.But none words are needed.The fact that the IRS are not modeled,cant even be taken as an argument towards this.Try to play with the FMC for a half hours,and you'll soon find out you have been sitting there for hours.Plus for the fact that PMDG made this.Minus...are you kidding me.Tell me some if you can find it?Ariane-Sorry to say,Ariane cant match this.Not today,and my hint is not for a good while.This aint ariane's strongest point,and there will be needed several patches before they will reach this standard.They cant be blamed for it,simply because PMDG has set a standard to high for most producers to reach.That said.Ariane has most of the systems simulated,and the FMC is working pretty good as well.Their navdata seems to be a little incomplete at the moment,but i hope this will be fixed soon.We cant have of both worlds i think,and the selling point of ariane does not lie here.For me,its good enought to have decent working FMC which can track the route,an autopilot which can fly the aircraft during cruise,and the rest of it...well darned,im gonna fly myself of course!Plus for that IRS is implemented.Minus for the incomplete navdata.This are my sayings so far.Feedback is wanted,as long as they are in a serious matter and related to the topic.

Surprisingly I can live with this as it seems objective. As I have stated in other threads, I will support ANY developer who truly wish to produce for us a realistic as possible sim. I ask one thing from Ariane and one thing only, it is this, that they remove any comments on their web page directed towards PMDG because this is not needed, their aircraft will and can speak for itself and with them showing that they care about their current and potential customers by patching it, is a step in the right direction. If they show the community that they have really changed their tune then so will many others including myself will reciprocate common curtusy. The ball is in their court. Best Wishes,[h4]Randy J. Smith[/h4][h3]P M D G's 747-400[/h3][h4]coming to a runway near you[/h4][/font color]Caution! Not a real pilot, but do play one on TV ;-)AMD 64 3200+ | ASUS KV8 DELUXE | GFORCE 5700 ULTRA @535/1000 | Maxtor 6Y080M0 SATA 80 GIG | 512 DDR 400 | Windows Xp Pro | Windows Xp Pro 64 |

What exactly are you talking about regarding handflying the PMDG? Your complaint is very vauge - what specific facet of handflying do you feel is incorrect in the PMDG? The handflying characteristics are one thing I never even had to bring up during testing as I think Vangelis did an awesome job on it - you can even use the CWS mode, which I don't believe the Ariane has...

wow, nice review !!I haven't seen a product that came out without the need for a patch.In opposit to some other developers of non-737 aircrafts, Ariane is working on a patch and not giving up ;)my 2 cents.Cheers

Sure your right about the CWS,should have mentioned it during the review.Sorry about that.I love that one also.Reminds me of the TCS in the Dash8,which is indeed very cool.As mentioned in the review,exactly what it is im not sure of.This is mainly compared towards the ariane,and should be taken more or less of a subjectiv opinion.However i could try to describe it,but in fear of being incomplete or incorrect about it,it will only lead to unneeded heat towards this specific.I've tried to be objectiv,as much as i could,but the fact that this will be compared up against ariane i feel their aircraft has more of a "feel" to it regarding hand flying.

Yes you are right about that Martin. What I hope is that this type of thread puts some water on the bond fire that many of us have built these last few months. It's time we stop the my sim Vs your sim mentality and get back to the whole reason we came together in the first place, to enjoy and share our love for flight simming. I hope to hold my tongue in the future concerning others who might desire to start another war of sims and I hope you too will share in my desire to be civil and peaceful towards one another. I believe Avsim will appreceate this too ;-)Best Wishes,[h4]Randy J. Smith[/h4][h3]P M D G's 747-400[/h3][h4]coming to a runway near you[/h4][/font color]Caution! Not a real pilot, but do play one on TV ;-)AMD 64 3200+ | ASUS KV8 DELUXE | GFORCE 5700 ULTRA @535/1000 | Maxtor 6Y080M0 SATA 80 GIG | 512 DDR 400 | Windows Xp Pro | Windows Xp Pro 64 |

Great to see you guys 'kiss and make up'.If only P.T. would do the same and send a copy to Tom so that a full unbiased review of his product AS A STAND-ALONE ON IT'S OWN MERITS and NOT a PMDG comparison could finally be done. At the same time, he could open his own product forum which Tom has offered to host........(Not that there's anything wrong with Svein's opinions!)Toni.

That would be nice.But until anyone does a full standalone review of the product we'll just have try and stay serious,and make up our own opinions.No offend taken by the way.As said,tried to stay as objectiv as possible.But people seem to wanna compare those,and i find it fully understandable.Note should be taken though,that these are to different products with many different pro and cons.I love them both,and fly them both:)

Svein,Well done on your review. Thanks for taking the time to write it in an objective and constructive way. This is the type of helpful feedback that helps everyone thinking of buying one or both of these products.regards,Mark.

Thank you very much for the detailed information Svein. One thing I would like to mention about Ariane NG is that the refresh rate of the AI and ND are terrible. It makes it real hard to hand fly the plane IMC, or try shooting an approach.I dont have that problem with the PMDG bird, so I wont attribute this to my system.Thanks againHappy Flying :)John

Good point there!Yes thats true,the refresh is not good.You can use the popup windows,and resize them ,but this will hurt fps.Just to mention,this is a problem in the PMDG also.Adjust refresh,and you'll soon find that the FPS friendly VC turn into something not so friendly:)I guess this is a fact we can evade,it these two aircrafts anyhow.I think refresh is acceptable though.

Svein...Just wanted to say I think your review is a good example of a professional approach to the subject. I hope more with both products follow suit.-John

x( It's almost like all one has to do is acknowledge the PMDG FMC is good and everyone's ready to kiss and hug... I personally don't agree with this review on many points. I've already said as much as I care to say about this issue between these two developers so I'll make this short and sweet.First off there is no way one can sell me on the fact that a single aircraft with one livery costing nearly $100 is better than a package containing much more for less money (guys we have nearly the whole NG family here minus the BBJ, 600/700/800/900). All the eye candy Ariane supporters champion can easily be added to the PMDG model if enough people ask for it. Heck, the Ariane model doesn't even have a virtual cabin. You guys blow that off like it's nothing but I can tell as someone who's working on this freeware Gulfstream project, every little thing should be appreciated because it's work to bring that piece to the table. It's worth consideration and respect when comparing it to any model.The comment about hand flying the PMDG model is a joke. I'm not going to say anything else about that topic for fear of insulting someone's intelligence. There are a whole lot more points here that don

Many thanks for your review. The one thing that interests me most at the moment is, if it is true that you can install the Ariane 737 only ONCE and then have to pay 10 (I don

I couldn't agree with you more Dillion. That's the one thing missing in this review.......the price of both products, vs. what you get for that price. I have to admit though, that anyone who's willing to plunk down $95 on one model certainly is not someone who would bother with what he's getting for the price. Like I've said before, to each his own. I hope, the Ariane NG brings the same level of pleasure to its owners that the PMDG NG brought and continues to bring to me.