I'm curious. Let's say that up to $200.00 for a FS addon aircraft was a marketable reality...that enough simmers could and would pay up to 200 bucks for an excellent jet or GA airplane. Would there be a marked difference from what we have now in the $25 to 40$ addons?John Franklin

"Would there be a marked difference from what we have now in the $25 to 40$ addons?"There better be!!Greg

This aircraft would have to be totally and completely realistic down to the very last detail, while significantly IMPROVING frame rates. It would also have to include some phenominal scenery to go along with it. And it would have to include a fully realistic panel (I mean a REAL panel, that would replace your joystick), as well as a 5 year money back guarantee, and they would have to send you a card on your birthday. Actually, some massive and exremely detailed, beautiful, and realistic scenery would probably have a better chance at being worth $200, at least in my opinion. But to be honest, I don't believe we will ever see any addons that will even approach the level of magnificense required to justify that price. Why, are you planning on making one? :) -Scott

JohnAs in any free market the price achievable will depend on what people are prepared to pay.Maybe if someone made an incredable addon for MSFS which was literally a flight simulator within a flight simulator and was amazing then there would be hard core simmers who would pay for it as they do for an expensibe Graphics card or piece of hardware.Would casual simmers pay that sort of money. No!Are some addons like the PMDG 737s fetching their true worth in man hours against the volumes sold? then again probably not and they are largely labours of love with pocket money to the developers.Peter

All FS aircraft "live" inisde FS2004 - it uses the existing flight dynamics engine of the original $40 game so there are limitations to what kind of features you can program into the panel and how realistic the flight modelling can get.For $200 however, I'd imagine the developer would create a whole new flight dynamics engine and just use FS2004 for the visuals :)

No because of limitations of the FS2004 engine. Perhaps for X-plane it would be possible to create an aircraft that is very similar to the real thing.for $200 I would as said rather get an own simulator based on just the specific airplane that

$200, already been done, not aircraft but scenery. the FS2002 UK VFR scenery for England and Wales came in 4 volumes, each volume was released for

True. There's also the Switzerland Pro scenery for about

For $200 it better be the flawless, seemless, and perfect in everyway. I don't mind tinkering here and there on the aircraft I spent a few bucks for, but for $200 there better be no mistakes and complete accuracy! And even then, I would probably not buy it. You have to draw the line somewhere between afforadability and quality.:D

You can

It's all about value.For $200 (or ~

>I'm curious. Let's say that up to $200.00 for a FS addon>aircraft was a marketable reality...that enough simmers could>and would pay up to 200 bucks for an excellent jet or GA>airplane. Would there be a marked difference from what we have>now in the $25 to 40$ addons?Tell me - is $100 bottle of wine 4 times better than a $25 bottle?Michael J.

The PS1 B744 simulation from AeroWinx was well over the $200 mark as I recall. I always thought Hardy Heinlin could have done much better with a price closer to $75. But there are many who paid ~$260 US for it, and that was 5-6 years ago.The Elite flight simulator software is even more expensive.I see a price/capability convergence in progress, however. When I bought PS1 and Elite (for a whopping $700 or so), MSFS (v4 I think)was nowhere near where it is today. I was leaving military staff duty and heading back to a cockpit, and needed to get my head back into the game after a few years away from flying. If I was in the same situation today, I could easily do the same with FS9 and a few of the better add-ons.As a result of this convergence, PS1 is essentially extinct, and Elite's price has dropped dramatically, although it's still quite pricey. I still use Elite because of its excellent post-flight debrief capabilities, and the ability to quickly "IC" myself (set initial conditions) to a base leg etc to rapidly fly multiple final approaches...and I can go back through an approach post-mortem and debrief myself with its good position/vector/configuration history track.RegardsBob ScottATP IMEL Gulfstream II-III-IV-V L-300Washington, DC

Depends on whether you are a wine connoisseur or just wanna get drunk. There is no potential of an FS Add-on that is worth $200 to me. It starts competing with actual airline flights at that price. And I can find lots to do with $200... not so much with 24.95.

On further reflection of my original question, in view of the above posts, more money would equate to a more sophisticated simulator to which more expensive add-ons could be applied. I would be willing to pay for a higher-end simulator. Some might recommend I buy a multi-million dollar simulator, airplane, go flying etc., etc., but I'm talking about desktop software, akin to MSFS. Addons, as good as they are, and I have a few which I enjoy immensely, are only as good as the best coding the simulator they populate offers. John FranklinVictorville, CA