Preliminary Review

[Heimi 91]

Hi all,

 

i thought about writing a review for a few days now. After 15 Hours flying time i try to do that.

Don`t get me wrong, i like that DTG is investing in the future of flight sim. But this product "DTG Flight School" is a fail in my eyes.

I try not bash it, but english is not my native language and the negative impressions weight more.

 

Short version:

 

DTGFS is just like a Mission Pack from a modified version of FSX (modified worse?) with ugly graphics and loads of bugs, and less features.

The aim to attract new people to Flight Sim will not happen with this. More likely that they are scared away now. The "Flight School" or flight training element doesn`t succeeded.

 

Here is why

 

Pro`s:

- Engine Sound

- Airport database updated? (at least for some airports)

 

Neutral`s:

- Iced Windshield ( but only during mission, couldn`t reproduce during free flight)

- Aircraft graphic - Not too bad but not what i expected. MS Flight aircraft -with Cockpits;) - were way better

- Flight Planner - not enough features for a decent flight planning. More or less only A to B selection.

 

Con`s:

- Controls configuration - Took me almost one hour, not beginner friendly, not even for "professionals". Too much commands, most of them didn`t even work, hard to configure. UI tricky.

- AWFUL scenery/objects and sky/cloud graphic (unless the aircraft itself) I won`t go into detail. It`s just not what to expect in 2016.

- Bugged "Training Lessons" - Different orders per voice/text. Little margin for errors. No good introduction. NOt suitable for real beginners into aviation. Aviation basics are not explained really.

- Cockpit not fully functionable

- Trim controls too coarse

- Missions - I love missions, but most of the DTGFS missions are very short,clumsy and (opposite of fanciful) + also bugged.

 

I cannot resist to compare it with MS Flight. Which was -in my eyes- the most advanced "out of the box" Flight Sim, despite the missing features and issues.

It had better graphics, better performance, better (if not the best) Flight model, great missions.

Yes you can get there with FSX or P3D with loads and expensive add-ons. But thats not the point.

 

I just hope that the full DTGFS Simulator later this year has nothing to do with DTGFligthSchool. Because they made everything wrong except the 64Bit DX11 portation. But even though you can`t see the advantages right now.

 

Maybe i will add some points later.

[mibmab 6]

While I tend to agree with most points you raise, it is worth considering that the price for Flight School is very low, less than for many FSX addons. So I'm not too disappointed in having spent the money.

I agree with you that the lesson are not suitable for absolute beginners as they do require a bit of background knowledge. The very basic "lessons" in MS Flight were IMHO much better in teaching the key basics of starting/landing and steering a plane.

 

Graphics wise I'm quite disappointed. While it looks much better than stock FSX (the least one would expect) the frame rate on my average system is very poor, with occasional longer delays. It seems the graphics engine is still depending heavily on raw CPU power. When I look around the cockpit, the plane graphics looks very nice, but the movement "breaks up" the graphics and the bottom part is drawn with a delay. MS Flight was way superiour in this respect in terms of smoothness even on modest systems - and as a 32 bit app.

[rtodepart 761]

As a RWP (real world pilot) with almost no time to write a review and only a few trys on a friends computer . all i can say is that DTG flight school its exactly what DTG has said so far ... I cant see myself or anyone else trying to do a review of this product as if it was advertised as a full sim ....  

 I WONDER HOW MANY TIMES THIS NEEDS TO BE SAID ... IS NOT A FULL SIM ...... again how many ?????.....

 

... 

[Slayer 190]

This isn't FSX or even Flight, it's something in between with It's own pros and cons.

 

To me it is an introduction to flight sims. It's not the most realistic but it never claims to be. I think some of the missions are entertaining and this is an entertainment product. . Take it for what it is.

 

It has to offer some challenge and fun to be worth 2 cents and I think it does ok there , especially for the  price.

 

I don't see any other companies stepping up to the plate to bring more people into this hobby. 

 

Tell me how many people on Steam would buy it if it was just 737 checklists, procedures and preflights, none. This isn't a charity you know right? They have to pay employees and make a profit to keep things going?

 

This community sometimes gets overzealous because a lot of us have been at it since computers came out and are always looking for a step up. Yet we always seem to forget what got us into this hobby in the first place. Hell FS was monochrome with lines and no textures yet you bought it and enjoyed it.

 

Take a deep breath and step back and see it for what it is and don't over analyze and nit pick it to death..

 

There has to be an in for new people or your beloved hobby will die..

[Heimi 91]

 

 

DTG flight school its exactly what DTG has said so far

 

 

 

To me it is an introduction to flight sims. It's not the most realistic but it never claims to be.

 

This what they said: " standalone experience to attract new players" and "teach people to fly a plane" ?

But it isn`t. Most people that are new to flight sims turn away from it because it`s just ugly and it`s all but not beginner friendly. Just talk to the people that tried it, and of course obviously you can see in the STEAM community what they think about it and what problems they are experiencing.

 

It`s a bit strange to me. The FlightSIm community here at AVSIM and elsewhere bashed MS Flight for what it was. But it was still better than Flight School now, and DTGFS is not bashed by the FlightSim community but everywhere else. I don`t get it.

And the goal for MS Flight was the same: Easy to use Flight Sim with "Flight Training" elemets to attract new players.

[torium 207]

The FlightSIm community here at AVSIM and elsewhere bashed MS Flight for what it was. But it was still better than Flight School now, and DTGFS is not bashed by the FlightSim community but everywhere else. I don`t get it.

 

"The FlightSIm community here at AVSIM" never gave MS Flight a chance to evolve. I hope the upcoming DTG Flight Simulator does not suffer the same treatment.

 

 

Most people that are new to flight sims turn away from it because it`s just ugly and it`s all but not beginner friendly.

 

Minecraft has poor graphics. Yet the game is very popular. Why?

Most people who complain about graphics - comparing with other existing flight simulators (FSX, P3D v3, XPX.....) - and then you are not a new player.

 

From Steam forum:

 

PiLLZ 26. mai @ 2:34am 

"Hello, I pre ordered this game, Im new to fligh sim and this game is fantastic, there is a lot to learn and to understand and things happen as you play, in the 3 hours of solo flight I had my speed indicator break, i had my climbing speed indicator break, and my last flight half way trough my flight my engine seems to have lost max thrust and at level flight was at 100 KPH (im sorry im not familiar with all the proper terminology but im learning) as soon as i touched down and throttled back my engine died out..."

 

Not a word about poor graphics. Why?

[Bobsk8 12,582]

This what they said: " standalone experience to attract new players" and "teach people to fly a plane" ?

But it isn`t. Most people that are new to flight sims turn away from it because it`s just ugly and it`s all but not beginner friendly. Just talk to the people that tried it, and of course obviously you can see in the STEAM community what they think about it and what problems they are experiencing.

 

It`s a bit strange to me. The FlightSIm community here at AVSIM and elsewhere bashed MS Flight for what it was. But it was still better than Flight School now, and DTGFS is not bashed by the FlightSim community but everywhere else. I don`t get it.

And the goal for MS Flight was the same: Easy to use Flight Sim with "Flight Training" elemets to attract new players.

 

 

I agree with you totally, and can clearly remember the constant bashing that MS Flight got from the simming community on this forum. Being a pilot in real life, the only sim that I have flown out of the box, that seemed to feel like a real aircraft, was MS Flight, and I was so disappointed when MS pulled the plug on it, that I stopped flying sims altogether until about a year ago when I got P3D. I finally got a chance to try Flight school on my grandson's computer, this past weekend, and compared to MS Flight, I think it is total garbage. It won't teach someone how to fly properly, it can't even come close to MS Flight, and is typical of Dovetail Games products which come with built in things that don't work correctly, and most likely never will. Then I read all the positive comments about Flight School, and I feel like I am living in a parallel universe. 

[rtodepart 761]

ok lets call CAE and have them put together some software for the flightsim community maybe they can keep some people happy . by the way this is who they are www.cae.com in case some are not familiar with CAE.

[dmarques69 316]

Unfortunately i have to agree with your review, i dint had high expectations about Flight School but this was way more disappointing that i would expected.

I really cant understand a company like Dovetails   ok, the aim was to attract new players to flightsim, but they have to expect that the first ones that would buy FS where long time flight simmers, tired of bugged games and years of tweaking and inventations trying to extract every FPS of the old timer FSX and all there "childs"...they are the owners of FSX steam edition right

 

3rd Dovetails game that i own and 3rd disappointment, not gonna happend the 4th time

[jcomm 5,890]

ok lets call CAE and have them put together some software for the flightsim community maybe they can keep some people happy . by the way this is who they are www.cae.com in case some are not familiar with CAE.

 

We don't have to go so high..

 

Two affordable options are:

 

- Aerowinx PSX for the 744

- Airlinetools Flightdeck A32x

[Paraffin 2,197]

From Steam forum:

 

PiLLZ 26. mai @ 2:34am 

"Hello, I pre ordered this game, Im new to fligh sim and this game is fantastic, there is a lot to learn and to understand and things happen as you play, in the 3 hours of solo flight I had my speed indicator break, i had my climbing speed indicator break, and my last flight half way trough my flight my engine seems to have lost max thrust and at level flight was at 100 KPH (im sorry im not familiar with all the proper terminology but im learning) as soon as i touched down and throttled back my engine died out..."

 

Not a word about poor graphics. Why?

 

Maybe because you cherry-picked one forum post?

 

Anyone who has been tracking the conversation over there on Steam has seen plenty of negative comments about the graphics quality. And it's not just comparisons with FSX/P3D/XPX either. Flight School is objectively ugly in color palette and cloud rendition, with blurry textures and scenery pop-in. DTG apparently thought that newcomers wouldn't mind something that looked 10 years old in return for the flight lessons, and that turned out to be a poor gamble.

 

Frankly, I'm not convinced that there is a large number of "newcomers who just want a simple, not-too-complicated introduction to flying" out there in the marketplace anyway. There are plenty of existing games where you can fly hang gliders and helicopters around, or even impersonate birds and hop on the backs of dragons for flying. The last Far Cry game even has a bit where you can turn into an owl and fly around for recon. Getting a taste of "flying" in modern games is easy. 

 

Civilian aviation isn't like that. It requires a strong enough threshold interest in planes that don't fire bullets or rockets. I think most people who manage to cross that threshold can handle a "real" flight sim like FSX or X-Plane. Sure, there may be a very small number of people out there who are intimidated and could use more of a helping hand, but I don't think it's a large enough market to support something like Flight School. Especially when the product actually isn't very user-friendly or attractive to look at.

 

Just my $.02 opinion. I'm still looking forward to seeing what DTG comes up with for full flight sim, where they must know by now that the expectations will be very different.

[pmb 5,137]

Amen to that, Paraffin.

 

Kind regards, Michael

[arsenal82 120]

There are quite few moaning that hardware is not working with flight school is not surpraising as to make sure compatibility you will have to test on each

Never mind. Just chuck your expensive controls in the bin

[torium 207]

Maybe because you cherry-picked one forum post?

 

You're absolutely right. I chose a newbie. (Not a hardcore expert).

 

 

Anyone who has been tracking the conversation over there on Steam has seen plenty of negative comments about the graphics quality.

 

You're right again. But who are always complaining?

 

I think we'll find the answer here:

 

but they have to expect that the first ones that would buy FS where long time flight simmers, tired of bugged games and years of tweaking and inventations trying to extract every FPS of the old timer FSX

And the message from Martin to us "long time flight simmers" has been quite clear:

 

"The first point I need to make clear is that DTG Flight School has been developed for entertainment only. It is not an educational tool or designed to teach people how to fly a real aircraft.

We wanted to create an experience which makes flight simming accessible to anyone who wants to try it. Doing this as a standalone release allows us to focus on tailoring the experience more at these players. DTG Flight School was never developed or intended for existing flight simmers.

DTG Flight School has not been developed for existing flight simmers.

 

To be blunt, if you already play flight sims then DTG Flight School is not for you."

[pmb 5,137]

Then the EULA should clearly state "Usage of this game is forbidden for anyone with prior experience in flight simulation". 

 

Kind regards, Michael