I've been thinking about how things continue to get better across FSX/P3D lately.  The better devs are adding some really nice stuff and I thought it'd be good to list what I like and see what others are thinking about.  Perhaps some of the devs might want to think about adding them to other airplanes and get a feel for what the community likes.  Here's my favorites...

• FDEs getting better.  A bird told me that we'll be seeing more improvements in the light aircraft.  Be nice to see better behaving turboprops and mixture fixes, right?  A2A's throttle handling on the C172 continues to impress me. 
• Saved state.  A2A did a great job of this on the C172.  Not just the wear and tear.  If you leave a switch turned on when you exit the sim, when you come back to the airplane, the switch is still on...the tanks have the same amount of fuel.  LOL.  Cracks me up but so realistic.
• Systems.  Continued improvements in GNS.  It keeps getting better.  Flight1, Milviz and, yes, Carenado are all doing some cool stuff.  Working fuses in the C172 and Q400 (pro).
• It's the little things...I hear the engine start on the Milviz KingAir is a feature all to itself.  The Q400 cabin announcements.
• VCs are just really nice.  RealAir with its vibrating needles is just so wow with this.  Others are doing their own innovation.  Carenado and it's scratched glass. 
• Using the PMDG standard for handling switches (thank you!)
• Women.  (There, I said it.)  One reason I like flying the A2A planes is that I can fly with my 'wife'.  Be nice to see some kids too!  Come on devs, get rid of that ugly guy sitting next to me and those empty back seats!

What's on your list of cool stuff?

 

Gregg

Some stuff I like:

 

The wet compass in the A2A J3 Cub. 

 

Heidi as an actual passenger in the J3 Cub, who responds to what you're doing. 

 

Heidi serving meals at appropriate times in the A2A B377 Stratocruiser.

 

From Microsoft Flight:  the passengers on the biplane tours, making comments on the landmarks you're passing over, even if it wasn't on the tour.  I wish we could have added the same kind of passenger to any flight in any aircraft, who simply commented on things they saw without having to "fly a tour."

 

More to follow.

 

Hook

Wear and tear is an awesome feature because it is feedback from the airplane on your flying skills.  You can use it as a measuring stick on how well you operate the plane.  

 

A2A and Realair with dynamic instruments make the airplane more 'alive'.  If you taxi one of the A2A birds with low fuel in the tanks, watch the fuel needles bounce around from the sloshing fuel.

 

Cheers

TJ

The Aerosoft Airbus X impressed me with the option ability of having the co-pilot physically doing the checklist or simply reading it to you.

I continue to be amazed by weather advancements, particularly ASN. With the planes being modeled to such detail nowadays - with realistic flight dynamics, turbulence, and icing effects - we've had one part of the equation, the planes, but lacked a complex environment to apply aerodynamic forces to those planes. With ASN the other part of the equation is there and suddenly you have a living breathing experience complete with wind shear, microbursts, turbulence, and canyon drafts. Factor in true precipitation radar now (specifically PMDG's nearly perfect implementation), great sounding ATIS, weather planning and real time FMC upload (also PMDG)... Things have gotten CRAZY realistic.

We have gone from this

 

 

 

To this

 

 

 

in a span of 24 years.  And payware aircraft today are far more detailed and accurate than the stock aircraft.  I am finding some downsides to the newer aircraft being offered today.  First, my computer is old and does not seem capable of handling the load placed on it by 2048x2048 textures, even though my texture max load is set at 1024.  Second, FSX is a 32-bit program and that really limits its potential.

 

 

Heidi as an actual passenger in the J3 Cub, who responds to what you're doing.



Heidi serving meals at appropriate times in the A2A B377 Stratocruiser.



From Microsoft Flight: the passengers on the biplane tours, making comments on the landmarks you're passing over, even if it wasn't on the tour. I wish we could have added the same kind of passenger to any flight in any aircraft, who simply commented on things they saw without having to "fly a tour."

 

That is cool.

 

 

 

A2A and Realair with dynamic instruments make the airplane more 'alive'. If you taxi one of the A2A birds with low fuel in the tanks, watch the fuel needles bounce around from the sloshing fuel.

 

I hadn't noticed the increased sloshing on the C172 but I haven't let the fuel get low enough, I think.  I'll check that out.  I use the RealAir FDE on the A2A C172 and the spin characteristics if you leave it in the stall are too realistic.  I used to fly a C152 in real life that did the same thing.  We had 5 of them but only one did it and you had to know both how to prevent it and how to get out of it if it happened.  (I hated that airplane.  LOL.)

 

 

 

The Aerosoft Airbus X impressed me with the option ability of having the co-pilot physically doing the checklist or simply reading it to you.

 

Nice feature for heavy metal.

 

 

 

With ASN the other part of the equation is there and suddenly you have a living breathing experience complete with wind shear, microbursts, turbulence, and canyon drafts.

 

I will only fly with ASN but I do think they've created even more opportunities for realism with that product.  Perhaps, more realistic thunderstorm turbulence...scary turbulence.  I got bumped around pretty good in small GA planes RW.  It can be rather sudden too...like the air slapped the airplane or it hit a bump.  It'd be nice to hear the airplanes rattle too (like from AccuFeel).  That would be pretty amazing and scary.  One thing I didn't mention is rain and icing effects on some airplanes (RealAir, Flight1 Mustang, PMDG J41, Q400).  

 

 

 

Second, FSX is a 32-bit program and that really limits its potential.

 

True.  More than anything, VAS is going to make them have to make a 64 bit version of P3D.  I wouldn't expect we'd see much performance improvement (at least at first) from a 64-bit version but the VAS is a big issue.  It does amaze me that PMDG and Majestic have modeled so much and still maintained decent framerates even compared to GA aircraft.