Over the next few years, IMO the flight sim market will be split three ways into:

 

1. XPlane for the PC

2. XPlane for Android

3. P3D for the PC

 

This will be a "good thing" because of increased choice and diversity but it will also be a "bad thing" because there will be no "industry standard" like there is presently with FSX.

 

I would venture to say that the industry standard for the pc will move to Prepar3d simply due to the availability and the commanality between FSX and Prepar3d addons. Its the same reasons that people stayed with FS9, their addons simply worked with FS9. To move to XPX and have the same level of addons costs a couple thousand and most addons are simply not available in XPX.

I am looking forward to P3D V2 in the same way that I would be looking forward to MSFS 11 or 12 if things had worked out differently. Let be honest a rose by another name! I have not purchased P3D V1.X because it is after all FSX V1.X. There are pros and cons but they are still essentially the same program.

 

My opinion is that its just a waiting game now. I plan to build a New top shelf PC for FS; i7 4770K, GTX 780 etc. around the end of 2013. If P3D V2 Comes along before then I will see how it runs on my i7 920, GTX580 etc. pc if I am happy with it I might not bother upgrading.

 

One thing is for sure if P3D V2 materializes and it meets out hopes and dreams, it will be the end of an era! FSX will become obscure. Microsoft will be out of the equation forever. 3PD's will release P3D Versions of there FSX addons. I.e. You will be able to buy the NGX for P3D and hopefully be able to buy a cheap patch if you already own it for FSX. Just an example!

 

And most of all it will hopefully be the end of the near decade of bechin and complaining about FSX's endless problems for the average user.

True - but it is not a valid reason not to purchase P3D.

I never said it was. As I've previously said I'm waiting for V2.0.

MS does not have a dog in this race, they don't care, so for someone to state they are asking questions, is pure speculation imho.  They only time they would ever question is if they were going to reenter the flight sim entertainment business and they won't do that. 

 

I am on P3D and will not be going back. I do however hope the P3D 2.0 will install well over my current p3d, with all addons functional.  Awaiting the imminent release of PMDGs 777.

 

Don't bet to much on that, I'm not in the know but there is what is call "Spirit of the contract".

 

Ask yourself why PMDG does not want to get onboard, seriously, is it because they don't like to make money?

...but there is what is call "Spirit of the contract".

There's also the "letter of the contract."

The UI is still awful and cumbersome to the point of stupidity (who designed this, honestly?). The default ATC system/window is a keyboard inducing smash-a-thon. There are control issues that were resolved ages ago in FSX, yet are still present in this current build, and it is still fraught with many of the same C2D and FE issues that plagued or plague FSX.

 

On the plus side though...

 

The default terrain is excellent. It equals or surpasses that of many of the payware addons akin Orbx and the like. The DD's and are excellent, no more blurries on various objects (negating cfg manipulation) and the GDR extends to what ever you have your settings set to. The frame-rates, while not drastically improved, certainly seem more stable and adept.

 

Still far too many quirks in it that keep P3D from becoming a truely immersive and hassle-free experience. I'm hoping they'll fix a lot of these issues in V2, especially the UI, but I doubt it. As a free-lance game developer, I am well aware of how costly it can be to redesign the UI.

In regards to the UI, there's always the fantastic Sim Launcher to get around not having a start screen, otherwise the menu's work exactly as they do in FSX.

As a free-lance game developer...

But Prepar3D isn't being developed as a game. Lockheed Martin is developing it primarily to support serious training by its commercial and military customers.

I am pretty sure any one out there hoping for an entertainment license with P3D is going to be let down.
LM is not an entertainment company like M$ Game Studios or LR.
Their main interest is to market a professional sim environment to businesses and governments in exchange for big contracts.
The entertainment market is chump change for them. We are mainly beta testers and a way for companies like Orbx and PMDG to port their FSX products over to a professional platform and further capitalize on their efforts.

Edit: Bump what Gerry said. I must have posted at the same time as him.

 

 

It equals or surpasses that of many of the payware addons akin Orbx and the like

 

Totally disagree ^_^ If I tought so I wouldn't have bothered installing Orbx scenery on my P3D install...

It isn't THIS good to have only one "industry standard", see what happened with the Windows "industry standard" - a lot of malware, viruses etc.

 

Apart from that, P3D might be the next FSX, but the next FLIGHT simulator will be XP10. As long as P3D lacks a lot of essential features (the same ones like FSX) and development is so slow (nothing new since months and also no release date for P3D V2 yet), for me there's no chance to switch to P3D.

The irony here is thick.

 

The very reason XPX isn't mainstream and won't be is because it lacks a lot of essential features.

Don't bet to much on that, I'm not in the know but there is what is call "Spirit of the contract".

 

Ask yourself why PMDG does not want to get onboard, seriously, is it because they don't like to make money?

Probably because they want to charge out the butt for commercial versions of their products at some point instead of allowing pros to load up the NGX for training purposes for $60. I'm going to guess that's why they don't allow the NGX to be ported right now until the direction is clear.

 

Ask yourself why Orbx, Carenado, and many others are fully on board? Is it because they are dumb?

 

Furthermore, LM is one of the biggest, most well funded companies in the world. The idea that a bunch of forum jockies understand their internal legal matters better then they do is ludicrous. They know what they are doing.

 

But Prepar3D isn't being developed as a game. Lockheed Martin is developing it primarily to support serious training by its commercial and military customers.

So was Eagle Dynamics DCS:A-10C and BlackShark. Both were primarily built and primarily profitted from military contracts. The civilian versions are both awesome though.

 

A lot of Arma's past development was bolstered by VBS contracts with the military. Bohemia probably doesn't survive without them (now they could but not years ago).

 

This isn't new in simming nor is it a bad thing. Microsoft themselves probably made much more money off of commercial ESP sales then FSX.

 

If there's cash to be had, LM will take advantage of it like any other company.

Didn't PMDG (or Rob R. at least) state that P3D is for the commercial sector and that is not something PMDG will be interested in?

 

I think it was in the Flight For Tony video/webcast.

 

Probably because they want to charge out the butt for commercial versions of their products at some point instead of allowing pros to load up the NGX for training purposes for $60. I'm going to guess that's why they don't allow the NGX to be ported right now until the direction is clear.

 

Ask yourself why Orbx, Carenado, and many others are fully on board? Is it because they are dumb?

 

Furthermore, LM is one of the biggest, most well funded companies in the world. The idea that a bunch of forum jockies understand their internal legal matters better then they do is ludicrous. They know what they are doing.

 

 

 

 Why? Because after all the talking and investments Orbx made in MS with Flight by giving MS ideas (and on the top of a lot of their add on) Flight went down the drain, it was suppose to be big $$$ for Orbx (like some other 3PD also), I'll spare you the details on the bad blood between some players, so what was left for them.....yeah you got.... LM.

 

So why is it then that out of the blue Orbx made some big announcements here at Avsim about them been in partnership with LM after Flight crashed,...right again....for the money, I can't blame them for doing so as they want to sell their products, they know that FSX is "kinda" dead and they needed an exit door after the Flight saga. 

 

Is it also a coincidence that LM change their licensing and adjusted them so many time...why...to accommodate us...yeah right...they changed their licensing to make sure that they will not be responsible if a simmer is using their license for other purposes that the one described in it, will LM track down simmers not using their licenses as they should....of course not...and that's the beauty of it, that is also how some 3PD involve in this can keep selling their add on to you.

 

I don't think that PMDG and Flight1 lawyers are jockies....about asking them?

It isn't THIS good to have only one "industry standard", see what happened with the Windows "industry standard" - a lot of malware, viruses etc.

 

Apart from that, P3D might be the next FSX, but the next FLIGHT simulator will be XP10. As long as P3D lacks a lot of essential features (the same ones like FSX) and development is so slow (nothing new since months and also no release date for P3D V2 yet), for me there's no chance to switch to P3D.

I agree that over the next few years, XP10 will become dominant, but only if they put more emphasis on the Android version and bring it up to being on par with the Windows version. Else, P3D will eventually supplant FSX and both sim platforms (P3D and XP10) will probably equally share the market. The reason that I said that this could be a negative is that the beauty of flight simming is that it has been such fertile ground for both payware and freeware 3rd party developers.

 

You can already see the dichotomy emerging in the developer community. Most of the FSX developers are going with P3D (although not all) and a good chunk of developers are focusing on XP10. Then there is a significant group that are trying to develop for both sims. Unfortunately, the flight sim market is such a niche market that many smaller developers are going to have to choose sides.

Wow, I started an exciting topic! Great discussion. Look, I know there are loyal FSX fans (I love it to, however, no more MS support) and a lot of us are looking for a new supported flight sim and I do believe, with all that has been said, P3D is the best hope for a supported flight sim in the furture. If you go to the new P3D website it tells who all is on board so far. I realize P3D has some problems but look at FTX . It had problems when it first started as well. I will wait til V2 comes out then I will make the switch. I'm sure there will be a lot of tweaking at first just like FSX.