Have to disagree with the OP a touch.

 

I literally grew up flying at low levels in seaplanes all around the PNW of the USA and when you get P3D dialed in to some smooth flying, I find the distance views of scenery on the horizon and the way the atmosphere renders (with REX & ASN of course) to be fantastic.

 

It can be truly thrilling to just tool around and enjoy the views.  I know the area extremely well and they did a very nice job of making it feel real.

 

Is it perfect?  Gosh no.  In fact the dawn/dusk lighting engine is better in X-Plane - And I do enjoy XP.....but the clouds are ridiculous performance hogs that don't even look right - And there are no seasons and not even close to enough textures sets to match different regions

 

The "plausible world" that Austin went for, to me, completely undercuts one of the main points of sim enjoyment for me...looking out the window.

 

I am an IFR rated pilot also in real life, and I enjoy that aspect of things - But even in XP, it ruins it for me if the "picture" out the window isn't right - Be it on breaking out of a layer on approach or climbing out.

 

Flying is never *just* about the instruments, at least to me.

 

If XP had anywhere near the 3rd party Dev attention of FSX/P3D I think it possibly would have lapped the others by now....but it doesn't -- So I am hoping LM can really take the P3D engine to the next level!

 

Flying is not a glamorous hobby where you spend the entire flight looking at scenery

 

....but flight simulation can easily be that.

I fly to lift into the air...and feel free,...it is food for the Soul. I have all the instruments I could want on my motorcycles...

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In this case I am a very happy (and very proud) nerd.

I just get confused when so many people are primarily concerned about frame rates, stutters while flying a commercial jet VFR near big cities, and smooth running systems and I ask myself if these people are truly trying to simulate flight, or computer nerds; just attempting to do the graphically impossible. I've run FSX perfectly fine for the last 6 years as a simulator, doing many approaches, familiarizing myself with IFR & VFR corridors, waypoints, NAVAIDS, SIDS, STARS, approaches, and had very little issues with my 6 year old rig "running FSX"

For me, flight simming is being able to experience what flying a small aircraft is like. For this to be immersive, the sounds, flight model, and graphics have to be as realistic as possible. And the virtual world is a big part of that. The reason that I only fly small aircraft is because I have no interest in flying a big, automated aircraft, where you spend most of your time punching in a bunch of numbers to navigate. I do occasionally create and fly IFR flight plans, but most of my flights are VFR . . . and the 'V' stands for VISUAL (which is the eye-candy).

 

The beauty of a true flightsim is that it is open-ended enough for different uses to use it very differently. If you love flying with you head in the instruments, that's fine . . . but I prefer to have my head out the window.

Good topic....

I see FS as a away to learn and experience something I may never get to see or experience in real life. I have been in love with aviation my whole life. Starting from when I was a little boy staring at planes flying over my backyard on approach into SFO. Finally, getting the opportunity to work with a major airline in a field of work that still gives me goose bumps. My dream is to open a FS company which has a Fixed Base Trainer (737, 787, 777 747). hmmm pretty sure that's not called work lol....  

 

FS gives me/us the opportunity of flying places we may never get to visit in real life. We are able to simulate and experience the conditions pilots may face. On the other hand, FS is an amazing tool to stimulate and encourage learning about geography, weather, math, computers, networking, following procedures, and most of all interact with this community (though sometimes a little harsh, lol). Come on people PMDG will release their products when its ready and no a minute before LMAO.... FS really needs better marketing to energize our youth into a field of work that most people just dream about. I hope the recent purchase of Flight will brighten our future.  

 

Having the ability to walk in someone else shoes (pilots) helps us understand some of the difficulties and benefits pilots may be faced with. How many of us pump up the simulation rate when flying. Not something the real world pilots gets to enjoy. That gives me a little taste of the whole crew rest issue. Remember, I said little taste...! I know there are a ton of factors in regards to crew rest just a small and maybe not best example. My opinion they have the best office in the world with the best views.

I treat FS with great care I try to learn about every aircraft and read as much of the manuals as time allows. I try to fly (as real as it gets) with in our allowed parameters. It gives me much pleasure being able to plan and execute a flight down to the numbers.  There are areas I would love to see improved and this list is long.... My feelings someone just give us the most accurate flight dynamics possible, realistic world, weather, traffic, and leave the aircraft to 3rd party developers. I want to see, taste and feel what its like sitting up front while in the comforts of my home.

 

Alright have to board a flight now.... will check back a FL360....!

Have a great day/night and I hope there is a bright future for our hobby....! (Sorry for rambling out loud I wanted to respond before I board)

Flight simulation for me is whatever I imagine it to be. Period.

 

Granted, advances in graphics rendering has provided a much richer canvas for my imagination, but I have a very powerful imagination that is perfectly capable of filling in whatever the program cannot provide. :dirol:

I used to fly with a private licence and stopped in 1998.....Flight Sim has improved since then to the point where I get enough from it so I don't have to pay $255/hr to rent a Cessna any more, and I get to fly anywhere in the world with a great variety of aircraft.

 

In other words FSX is fine, just fine...  B)

First of all, IT IS NOT A GAME! The sim to me means "escape" and true therapy.  I own a business and it is very successful....and because of that....very stressful.   I fly just about every day after work, and for several hours on weekends.  For me, it is necessary to have the proper equipment to really enjoy the sim without overly tweaking it.  So, I do.   I love all the new addons that make this hobby so realistic.  The new Cherokee right now is my favorite, but I'm sure it will be replaced with something else real soon.  the real weather programs like NEXT, and the scenery from ORBX are icing on the cake.  Textures from REX contribute so much to the realism.

 

So, I guess the sim for me is a real world that exists on my computer and in my mind.  It's absolutely wonderful....especially with forums like AVSIM where you can share your flights and your feelings.

 

Stan

First of all, IT IS NOT A GAME! The sim to me means "escape" and true therapy.  I own a business and it is very successful....and because of that....very stressful.   I fly just about every day after work, and for several hours on weekends.  For me, it is necessary to have the proper equipment to really enjoy the sim without overly tweaking it.  So, I do.   I love all the new addons that make this hobby so realistic.  The new Cherokee right now is my favorite, but I'm sure it will be replaced with something else real soon.  the real weather programs like NEXT, and the scenery from ORBX are icing on the cake.  Textures from REX contribute so much to the realism.

 

So, I guess the sim for me is a real world that exists on my computer and in my mind.  It's absolutely wonderful....especially with forums like AVSIM where you can share your flights and your feelings.

 

Stan

I agree with your every word,

 

Mitch

Interesting thread. I agree with most of the posters here that simming is what ever you want it to be.... anything from a full procedural flight in something like a PMDG aircraft, where it might take more than an hour to get to actually fly; to putting an aircraft on AP and pretend to be a passenger with a good wing-view. And anything in between.

 

I particularly agree with Stan (above)... while I don't own a business, I am in financial planning (budgeting) for a local government in CO and often spend many hours "after 5" and on weekends creating financial models- when I get home all find simming to be the ultimate in relaxation- I start up the sim with the engine running on the runway of anywhere I choose, and just fly around, in the 1 hour I have before it's time to go to bed so that I can wake up and do it all again the next day.

 

I'm also a RW instrument pilot, and when time permits (which is getting more rare as the years go by ), I enjoy setting up a "real" instrument flight, with real charts (Jepp if I'm "flying" in my region) and some IMC weather.

 

It's true that sitting in front of a 2D screen in a computer chair about a foot in front of us is not flying, I don;t think that any of us have that allusion. We're all using sophisticated software to simulate something that we like (or would like) to do in RL. But I have trouble with the OP's comments that insinuate that we're all playing with toys and obsessed with frame-rates while he/she is flying airliners around the world...

 

And one of the best things about simming is communities like this one where we can all interact.

 

Thanks, Bruce.

It all depends on the aircraft I'm flying and the time I have available.

 

When I'm flying a tubeliner, I lean toward serious, but even then I follow abbreviated checklists and procedures of my own creation and omit steps that have no real consequence in the simulator.  I am not and will never be a real pilot, so I see no harm in doing this.  Yes, it's not "as real as it gets" but it is as "real as I want it to be."  Once a leisure activity gets as complicated as my job, it's no longer a leisure activity to me.

 

When I'm doing GA flying, I lean toward casual.  I often start the sim with the plane at the end of the runway, hit CTRL+E and take off.  I just fly around and [gasp] enjoy the scenery for as long as I have the time.  For that reason, I do have most of the Orbx scenery offerings in areas where I like to fly.  

 

I'm definitely not a tweaker.  Hate it.  I spend the time necessary to get the best performance I can within the limitations of my hardware, then I leave the config files alone.  I don't obsess over frame rates, nor do I burn time searching for some obscure holy grail combination of graphics parameters I know I'll never find.  I fly tubeliners with autogen at low and GA with autogen at normal with little air and ground traffic and that's fine for me.

 

Most of all, I enjoy the learning opportunities that this hobby brings to the table.  In no way would I match my "skills" against those of a real pilot or aviation expert, but I've gained a working knowledge of aerodynamics, navigation and flight planning.  It's also fun to virtually visit a new locale and then go online and learn about its people and culture.  I'd rather spend ten hours in the cockpit of a virtual airplane than five minutes watching television.

My apologies to the mods for posting in the wrong spot; this forum can be a little buggy on my tablet sometimes.

 

I hope I didn't come across harsh or dictating on my OP; that wasn't my intent. I just encourage anyone who hasn't yet to explore IFR and be amazed how well this platform does it and the satisfaction it brings to pop under the lowest of clouds and see the runway threshold in front of you. That never gets old to me and its not too often you get to fly such approaches IRL, as the weather is always either too good, or so bad you cannot fly in it to begin with.

 

It just seems like a lot of newbies get pushed into the mentality of "You must have X system with X processor and X framerates to enjoy the sim" and with every new processor and vcard there are hundreds of new posts. I never found anymore of the initial crippling issues back since the faster duo cores came out, as long as I wasn't pushing the limits. Don't get me wrong, I love the eye candy as well as anyone else. Shadows, cloud rendering and cockpits are amazing these days.

 

I agree with the guys who mention they like flying the smaller planes. My favorites are the older turboprops with the simple old fashioned steam guages and Analog HSI's. Flying VOR radials/approaches and practicing holding without the GPS is a fun challenge and a good way to stay sharp should the Garmin ever fail.

@ 47driver:

 

+1