I have to agree with much that has been said. I thought the SU-25 was kind of bad--you can't even change your eye position and the cockpit is definitely low fidelity. But I understood that it was really meant just to be more of preview type of plane anyway. I got on Youtube and spent a signifigant amount of time watching videos, read their forums, etc, and quickly realized that there was much more to this than the Su-25 exhibits. I've concluded that to judge DCS by the Frogfoot was a bit like judging FSX by the stock 737-800. The 3 payware planes currently available are the combat-capable equivalent of the best of the best payware in FSX, from what I can tell.

 

A primary concern of mine was whether I could get the same kind of functionality out of DCS as I could out of an FSX loaded up with 3rd party utilities such as Ezdok, Accufeel, FSUIPC and the like. I have found that DCS is more than acceptable on this front as well, although I admit that I had to spend a little time on their forums in a couple of instances to understand how to make it so.

 

The combat aspect of DCS was something I wasn't so interested in, but on the flip side, if I'm interested in airplanes and their systems, I want them to be fully functional. Even if you aren't a fan of military simulations (which I'm not particularly) I must admit it is pretty cool to see these modern fire control and weapons systems being simulated at the level they are on a desktop PC...like the little eye piece that flips down in front of your "eye" in the KA-50 and moves around with your TrackIR to select targets.("Trust the Force, Luke") That kind of stuff just has an immersion factor that is hard to describe.

I'm sure I'd enjoy DCS. Yet I live and fly in Rocky Mountain country of the western US. I'd never be content enough to limit myself to specific scenery areas. In my book, scenery rates right up there with flight dynamics. However, Ive been a devoted P-51 fan for the last 52 years.......ever since my grandmother bought me that "invisible" P-51D model when I was 10 years of age. Didn't hurt, that a friend owned a 1944 P-51D either...

 

L.Adamson

 

Larry, in your case I'd recommend the A2A p51d Civil. You will get the best p51d simulation available for FSX and still "feel at home" with the scenery and other interesting features found in teh MSFS platform, and..., regarding that other platform we both know about - forget... a p51d there will allways be a PITA with the big torque bug BTB :-)

DCS P-51 is the best feeling of being there in terms of aerodynamics I have ever experienced in a Computer Sim! You feel overwhelmed first, the aircraft is lights years ahead of you, but you start getting the hang of it, and then you feel wonderful, it's all there, it takes a lot of Trim, everytime, to get it to fly straight, not an easy task!

 

One can dream of the day they release a Module for a General Aviation Plane, that would make people go crazy...

One can dream of the day they release a Module for a General Aviation Plane, that would make people go crazy...

 

Alec, with DCS World being opened to 3pds, I believe this will happen, probably first by the introduction of aircraft which serve both the military and civil markets, such as those used for logistics, carrying troops, etc... A B200, an Hercules or one of the CASA aircraft, more helicopters, a Cessna BirDog :-), but also, why not, a StarLifter, a C5 :-) Well...

 

You have exactly pointed out one of the reasons I really have taken my hat off for this sim. It takes time to get the feel, but once you start really finding yourself acquainted to the controls of the p51d, it is soooo rewarding :-)

 

Yesterday due to a bug (yes, DCS World has bugs too :-) which repeated itself after having caused a few minor problems a few days ago, I lost my x52pro settings again :-(... I discovered a way to avoid a new occurence while the ED team does not release a fix, but, I didn't remember the precious settings I had in my joystick axis regarding saturation, non-linearity, etc... Well, I was in a rush to get going again and used the default settings for all axis, with linear throw... In the beginning, after having installed and started to use DCS p51d a month ago, I would not even leave the ground during the takeoff run, specially if I forgot to properly set the rudder trim, but now, I can perfectly takeoff, even under heavy configurations, with crosswinds, etc... and get back to the base after a few "aerobatics" around Batumi's buildings :-)

 

The BlackShark is a dream to handle and manage as well, and a nightmare if you think of all the systems being accurately replicated in the sim, and the A10 is yet another one that will take me months to learn how to use properly!

 

Ah! I have finally won two fights on the "Instant Action" p51d x p51d on SIMULATOR mode, after reading an interesting text about air combat techniques in the real p51d ;-)