What do you want to see added to flight sims?

[mazelda 124]

Depending what happens with air hauler 2

I would like to see more maintenance functionality.A2A have gone part of the way there,but having more reprocutions for older aircraft or higher hours that impact on serviceability and how controls or engine wear will effect the day to day running

[Gregg_Seipp 565]

One more thing I'd like to see...a map of the airport to select where to park my airplane.  Guh.  A list of gates and GA parking spots is about useless.

 

I also agree about the ATC and will go a step further.  Enhance the ATC API to make it easier for devs.

[Paraffin 2,197]

All the current sim platforms could use better weather modeling. The one I fly (X-Plane) is a little behind add-ons available for FSX, but I think there is still huge room for improvement everywhere. I want big scary CB's with internal vertical airflow modeled, and then outflow shear at the base. Heavy rain under CB's. Better modeling of in-flight icing (X-Plane does this, but not very well). 

 

I think every current sim could also do a better job of modeling water colors in coastal areas, especially in the tropics. Use hydrometric data for shallowness and water clarity, so turquoise water colors don't have to be hand-painted in scenery in the Tropics, the Amazon River can be properly brown in color, etc.

 

As a mostly bush pilot in sims, I don't care much about how larger airports are modeled. I'd like to see more options for hazardous small strips. We already have terrain-contoured runways in X-Plane, but we could use more variety in surface quality like high grass, mowed grass, wet grass, dry grass, beach sand, etc. that would affect takeoff and landing. It would be great if every autogen or hand-placed tree within a certain distance of the runway were automatically set to hard collisions as a default behavior in the sim. That would make flying into some of these tiny strips more realistic and more challenging. 

 

The water interface for floatplanes and flying boats could also be a lot better. Aside from better hydrodynamics in the flight model, the water surface should be tied to realtime data for wind direction, intensity, and resulting wave height. It gets boring knowing you can land anywhere, including mid-ocean, because the water is always the same.

[Saucey12 38]

FSX is great is so many ways but anything can always be better.

 

What would you add to current flight sims to turn them into 'your' perfect sim?

 

I don't mean necessarily just an addon, I'm talking 'anything goes' type situation; functionality from the ground up.

 

Is a new graphic engine really going to make a big difference? IMO, not much really.

 

What I'd like to see is interaction and airport management. Get to the airport, find the briefing room, check the flight and weather info, chat with fellow workers, check the plane history logs, walk outside doing a true walkaround, be forced to do some actual repairs on a plane, control the baggage routine, get and position all the ground equipment, operate the meal truck lifts....things like this, besides just flying.

 

Almost like an RPG Pilot/Airport Career game but with excellent flying sim physics and handling.

wow man sounds like you wanna play airport !  I used to do all that for a living for about a decade.  Had to get out, too many changes, glory days were gone, instability in job security and pay, yada yada.  

 

I'd like to see more realistic faults (mechanical and instrumentation)

Better weather effects such as with ice and snow

As far as all the stuff you mentioned, I could go for that, as long as you had the ability to turn much of it "off" at times when you wanted to.

[LAdamson 240]

 

 

As a mostly bush pilot in sims, I don't care much about how larger airports are modeled. I'd like to see more options for hazardous small strips. We already have terrain-contoured runways in X-Plane, but we could use more variety in surface quality like high grass, mowed grass, wet grass, dry grass, beach sand, etc. that would affect takeoff and landing. It would be great if every autogen or hand-placed tree within a certain distance of the runway were automatically set to hard collisions as a default behavior in the sim. That would make flying into some of these tiny strips more realistic and more challenging. 
 

 

Once and a while, you'll just need to switch sims, for additional variety.  Orbx's Tapini airport addon for FSX/P3D has the best in terrain-contoured airstrips. Just one of those places where a lot of programming has gone into it, along with Holger mesh (required).  It's what mountain strips, combined with lots of elevation points, should be.  Quite frankly, a much better deal, than the majority of sloped runways in X-Plane.  Note: some sloped runways in X-Plane work (even if exaggerated) , some are impossible.  The Tapini scenery with a number of mountain slope airports is just plain fun. 

[Paraffin 2,197]

Once and a while, you'll just need to switch sims, for additional variety.  Orbx's Tapini airport addon for FSX/P3D has the best in terrain-contoured airstrips. Just one of those places where a lot of programming has gone into it, along with Holger mesh (required).  It's what mountain strips, combined with lots of elevation points, should be.  

 

Right, I'm familiar with handmade individual airports like that in FSX/P3D. Since this is a "blue sky wish list" thread, I'm basically looking for this kind of thing to be the default sim, based on whatever real-world data is available, so we don't always need handmade scenery to experience it.

 

Quite frankly, a much better deal, than the majority of sloped runways in X-Plane.  Note: some sloped runways in X-Plane work (even if exaggerated) , some are impossible.  

 

True, but it's improving all the time. Version 10.50 will let users keep "runways follow terrain contours" set ON all the time, and designers of individual airports can set an "always flatten" flag that overrides it. Or else not set the flag and let the runway follow the mesh, if the terrain data is good enough. That's a big improvement, especially considering the huge number of free user-added airports that are constantly being added to the sim.

 

The remaining problem is non-custom default runways where the underlying mesh is weird, but again, this is improving all the time as the data sources are updated and the terrain mesh resolution improves. For me, it beats having perfectly flat runways everywhere, which for bush strips is boring. When it's a default feature of the sim, it means you don't have to pay extra for these little jewel-box airstrips that are handmade and you have to buy separately as payware.  :wink:

[Lowflyer 97]

Good performance

[Lowflyer 97]

That exists already. Why I still use fs9.

 

Ok, make that "Good performance while not looking like **** ".

[Jimmy RFR 406]

Ok, make that "Good performance while not looking like **** ".

 

 

 

I'll take fs9's visual look over fsux and p3dud anyway.

 

I doubt the original intent of the thread was to bash.  EVERY existing platform has it's failings, depending on what your priorities are. If there was a perfect platform to fly in, we'd ALL be there.

[Matthew Kane 1,343]

Lots of great ideas. For me the biggest is ATC to feel more real rather then the limited capabilities and the very scripted feel It currently has. ATC has never been changed through various releases at this point

 

Would also like to see AI following SIDs and STARs in and out of airports and better separation between aircraft. Holding would be a great and/or annoying addition as well.

[LAdamson 240]

I'll take fs9's visual look over fsux and p3dud anyway.

 

Only fs9 and xplane seem to do the natural atmosphere correct. A shame LM took the same tacky fsux gimmicky look for their version of flight simulation.

Nah......

 

I beta tested FSX , and FS9 before it, and immediately preferred the look of FSX. No contest. 

[briansommers 74]

Piling up snow and snow drifts,

Snow melting and turns grass dirt areas into mud

A universal online world where all sims could play in. So if your in truck sim or train sim I want to be able to fly over you and see you in real time

 

The ability to do mp skydiving

[VeryBumpy 272]

Many good ideas or issues to salivate over in here.

 

Regardless of what Frooglesim thinks with how great or exciting the current sim landscape is, I have severe doubts a complete, full featured sim will ever get done in our lifetimes. The bean counters will always prevent this from happening IMO.

[rtodepart 761]

I would love to see some improvement on airport operations and ATC too ... wish in real life i had so many gates that were open like in FSX and no AC on the way waiting for a gate or to taxi out ...

 little things like this are some of the things i miss in FSX from real life but not many people care since you never had to experience this in real life . when i was flying fright must of the time the cargo ramps were open but commercial is a different story ....

[JNS 106]

 

 

I think sometimes, as hobbyists, we have this viewpoint that the extra work required to make a flight simulator look (and perform) at a top notch level makes it somehow an exclusive club, something to be proud of. "If you don't want to do the extra work, then you aren't deserving of it in the first place."

I disagree.

I want a modern platform that embraces easy installation, easy use, easy upgrading and easy modification. It needs to have the components available to make for successful and realistic flight simulation, but it also needs to let me spend the vast majority of my time simply flying. Anything less, and I want less and less to do with it.

 

+1