DF200 727 Dream

[Guest Ashleigh Davidson]

aha, good old Excel Airways, glad to see nothings changed. first and last time had us cooked on a 737 everything loaded only to be told we getting off and going on the aircraft parked next to us, that had "problems"...!When finally it was time for off, Lord knows how many hours later, we were told midflight we might not be able to land in Menorca as the airport closes after a certain time at night, thankfully we did arrive in time, after a full speed descent, scariest thing I've ever experienced.727, sure nice plane but the outside view sounds ? Whats happened to the ground shaking roar on take off I remember of the old Dan air 72's? Is there a workround or alternatate ?RegardsAsh

[Guest DavidJE]

That's a shame about AVSIM not wanting to review the plane, certainly their loss as I'm another one that thinks it's one of the greatest releases ever for Flightsim. DF727 and the RFP742 are the only two planes I fly on a regular basis.Personally I think the DF727 is superior to the RFP742 and would love to see DF release a 742 in the future. Regards,David

[jfri 42]

>Personally I think the DF727 is superior to the RFP742 and>would love to see DF release a 742 in the future. >Could you elaborate on that? Why is DF727 better than RFP742. I ask because I have DF727 and I have got the impression that RFP is similar to DF727 and very good product which I have considering to buy.

[moss1 11]

"Seriously, 15 bloody hours in a sardine can that had almost all toilets in such a mess that most were taped shut by the time we arrived!"Hey Paul, Couldn't they have purged the contents somehow? If you were sitting on the ground, there was no excuse. I sure hope the air circulation system was functioning properly? Especially a 767! It really makes you think when an airline will spend millions for the fleet and can't even maintain the toilets! Sorry it was such a bad experience for you. You need a nice relaxing flight in your Dreamfleet 727.:-) Best regards, Jeff

[Guest DavidJE]

>>Personally I think the DF727 is superior to the RFP742 and>>would love to see DF release a 742 in the future. >>>>Could you elaborate on that? Why is DF727 better than RFP742.>I ask because I have DF727 and I have got the impression that>RFP is similar to DF727 and very good product which I have>considering to buy. Don't get me wrong the RFP742 is a very good product and I still enjoy it and probably will untill someone releases a better 742 or I move to a heavy with a glass cockpit.I just think the RFP is a little over advertised and over hyped as far as the realism and complexity goes. You can certainly click your way through the many switches but there are a good percentage which are dummy switches or that do something but aren't connected to the next step or process. You can request external power and wait 10 mins for that to come online or just flick straight to the APU startup from the batteries. Plus things like Pressurisation isn't modeled at all. I can have the RFP rolling from cold and dark in half the time of the DF727. The fuel panel takes a couple flights to get your head around and is very well modeled along with the autopilot,frats,autolanding and of course the overall flight dynamics etc are all very good.But then you have the panel graphics themselves which look very dated imho. And unfortunetly will remain that way since RFP742 is considered complete and there won't be any further developments for it. The RFP742 is an excellent product, it's just that the goal line has shifted with more recent releases.Regards,David

[Guest jgreth123]

I have yet to purchase this aircraft for only 1 reason. The Virtual Cockpit.I have the TrackIR 3 Pro w/ Vector. I fly ONLY from the Virtual Cockpit, and when gauges aren't relatively smooth, it takes away from the experience.I currently spend a lot of time in:Airliners:PMDG 737-600/700/800/900Level-D Simulations 767-300PMDG 747-400 ( my favorite so far )General Aviation:Dreamfleet Baron 58 - Reality XPDreamfleet Baron 58 - LiteDreamfleet Bonanza A36Carenado Cessna 182 II SkyhawkFlight1 Cessna 172RFlight1 Cessna 152Bill Lyon's Quad City UltralightRealAir Simulations Siai-Marchetti SF.260RealAir Simulations Supermarine Spitfire Mk XIV [ mostly just for fun ]Planes I have that just don't get much flight time:I have the Ready for Pushback 747-200, but 2 issues - 1) VC gauges not smooth at all ( very very choppy, unfliable almost ) and 2) I can't use the INS from the VC ( not so much about input, but moreso the display, as INS is used for distances and such )I have about every Carenado plane, love them too, but the gauges are pretty choppy.I have Captain Sim 727 ( aka Flying Refrigerator w/ rockets -- Need I say more? ). VC is horrid.I have the Captain Sim 707 - ....... no comment.I have the Flight1 Cessna 441 / Piper Meridian... nice but very very dated.Lots more and I'm just tired of typing :(To make a long story short, if the VC was ever re-done, I'd be the first in line to purchase it, as I have their Baron and A36, and they are both extremely fun to fly!

[Paul Golding 92]

Interesting post, but I'm wondering when I've seen a forum post claiming the 727 VC has gauges that are to choppy too effectively use?Maybe you could point me to one?http://www.dreamfleet2000.com/gfx/images/F...BANNER_PAUL.jpg

[Guest jgreth123]

I'm sorry if I came across the wrong way Paul.In no way was I trying to say that the 727 isn't an outstanding aicraft. I adore the rest of the Dreamfleet products as I've mentioned previously. I've personally spoken to quite a number of close friends in the FS community, many of which are real-life pilots, and a lot of which use the same type of setup as me. The difference being, they don't mind 2-D panels. They told me it was usable, but not very smooth... older panel design [ IE going over 2 virtual cockpit settings in panel.cfg, not using any gauges in model itself, etc ]. They flew it mainly from 2D. This coming from friends whom all prefer VC to 2D any day.Anyhow, I did not mean to sound rude, I was merely pointing out that sources I trust say that it's not up to _my_ smoothness standards. That's all. And from that, I can't afford to go buying a payware plane that I will just turn around and shelve soon thereafter.I have heard MAGNIFICANT things about it otherwise.

[Guest DavidJE]

I've always thought the DF727 VC is one of the best in the business for jets, hate to think what landing the PMDG 744 from the VC at KJFK would be like on my machine fps wise. I think the whole VC experience is over hyped and fairly unusable. I don't care for being able to pan my head around (unless in a combat sim or helicopters) I prefer sharper instrument graphics that 2D gives. Untill that's achieved it's about as usefull as the simulated seats and tv screens in economy class. Which I've always wondered why on earth do developers spend time on creating such CPU sucking useless graphics.I'd rather have the choice of switching VC off and enjoy a few more fps. Thankfully this is also a option of the DF727. :-)Regards,David

[Glynn 405]

hellofrom your post i detect another simmer who has not tried TrackIR ?if you had then you would not look at another 2D panel.

[Guest DavidJE]

I have used it in online combat sims and find it's great but that's because I'm spending 90% of my time looking around for badguys. Rather then in MSFS I'm spending 90% of my time aviating,navigating,communicating. Also I find it overly expensive, especially if your only going to use it for MSFS. Good if you do allot of VFR and like looking around, but I can't see it's use in a 747, other then during takeoffs and landings maybe.Regards,David

[Guest jgreth123]

Not to de-rail this, but...The purpose is to give you the feeling of actually being inside the cockpit, as opposed to the 2D/flat feeling.To each their own, oh and btw, the gauges in the PMDG 747 VC are very crisp and easy to read. They have the best virtual cockpit for an airliner I have yet to see, and for any decent hardware, the FPS impact is negligable.Did you happen to use the vector expansion? The ability to slide my head to the right and look up, putting my view just under the pneumatic panel, is just great. I can read the smallest details in the VC without a problem.As I said though, it's not for everyone :)

[Guest jgreth123]

>I've always thought the DF727 VC is one of the best in the>business for jets, hate to think what landing the PMDG 744>from the VC at KJFK would be like on my machine fps wise. I>think the whole VC experience is over hyped and fairly>unusable. I don't care for being able to pan my head around>(unless in a combat sim or helicopters) I prefer sharper>instrument graphics that 2D gives. Untill that's achieved it's>about as usefull as the simulated seats and tv screens in>economy class. Which I've always wondered why on earth do>developers spend time on creating such CPU sucking useless>graphics.>>I'd rather have the choice of switching VC off and enjoy a few>more fps. Thankfully this is also a option of the DF727. :-)>>>Regards,>David>Buy me a copy of the DF727 and I'll give an honest, objective, non-biased review of it for you. I just can't see spending the money due to my friends' suggestions.

[Guest DavidJE]

>>Buy me a copy of the DF727 and I'll give an honest, objective,>non-biased review of it for you. I just can't see spending>the money due to my friends' suggestions. Right. :-lolRegards,David

[Guest jgreth123]

Heh.Yep. :)