The future is already here, VR! Of course, you don`t need to wear the glasses for the whole flight. With native VR on P3Dv4 and (hopefully soon) on XP11 it is (will be) possible to go back into 2D for long cruises and flight planning.

1 hour ago, HiFlyer said:

The upcoming Pimax 8k VR headset will offer a "Scent module".

No, I'm not kidding.

 

While flying the open cockpit Alabeo Waco I was wondering if I could a fan in front of me :)

It puts posts on twice for VR, one for the left eye and one for the right lol 

Haha, Chock. Good one.

Some good ideas here. I don't know the future of flight simming (or anything.) But, I know what I'd like to see someday; realistic ATC with dynamic or real-time based air traffic, better atmospheric (fluid dynamics) modeling and airsickness module!

The visuals are plenty good enough as they are. Yeah, they'll improve as computing power increases and changes are made to take advantage of existing computing power we have now. But, the real improvement, in my fevered mind, should be made to the missing pieces of the aviation experience.

It would be great to see real time traffic compiled from the internet similar to the real time weather we currently have, that way what we see spawning in the sim is using a server like FlightRadar24 to spawn the traffic and include the schedules and flight routes etc. Then the sim takes over with a better ATC system to manage traffic 

4 minutes ago, Matthew Kane said:

It would be great to see real time traffic compiled from the internet similar to the real time weather we currently have, 

But isn't this what PSXseecontraffic

https://www.avsim.com/forums/forum/819-psxseecontraffic-for-fsx-p3d/

already provides? 

Kind regards, Michael

 

 

Push on more eye (and ear) candy first and foremost, absolutely. Senses, that's the biggest single part of flight sim realism. Right after that comes the plausibility of flight models and of atmosphere (clouds, winds, turbulence, etc.), so improvements in those areas would be nice as well. All the rest is really just a side dish.

 

3 hours ago, pmb said:

But isn't this what PSXseecontraffic

https://www.avsim.com/forums/forum/819-psxseecontraffic-for-fsx-p3d/

already provides? 

Kind regards, Michael

 

 

Yes but better, it is the ATC part of things that falls short. Spawning traffic is one thing but it needs to integrate better with the users environment so the controllers are working in unison with everything

Chock,

I understand and agree with your points. This is what I would like to see happen in the future of personal flight simulation.

I know I'm in the minority as I run stock scenery and use DX10 preview in FSX. My only add-ons are related to weather and aircraft. Focusing on visual development offers very little for me as the stock scenery very accurately mimics reality in the US where I fly and permits me to pre/post fly actual flights with a very high degree of accuracy for practicing pilotage and other skills.

Yes there are deficiencies with textures when night flying in FSX and P3D and it is bothersome. I'm no fan of seeing puffy grey clouds everywhere on moonless nights. The visuals don't change the quality of the flight dynamics or the quality of the training by much. To put it another way, sure it doesn't look at all like you're there, but the quality of training is not compromised.

Any work on the dynamic atmosphere piece of the flight simulation would be truly revolutionary and dramatically improve the utility of the product in more phases of flight and with a greater variety of aircraft.

Don't get me wrong, the work done to improve shading, volumetric fogand other lighting effects is amazing and greatly appreciated.

VR is interesting and I'd like to see it grow. I did try out some VR during Flight Sim Con. That is a parallel development track that I would like to see. My greatest concern in the VR space remains the ability to precisely manipulate complex control systems without having to interface with physical controls. I was very impressed with the VR demo from X-Plane at the convention.

The future of Flight Sims, and everything else come to that, is already here Gentlemen - in the form of Virtual Reality.

As an Old Fart, I can quite readily understand the reluctance of many on here to accept the inevitability of that statement - but - one only has to look at the emergence of this astonishing new technology (that may or may not become a commonplace reality in my lifetime), to appreciate that the Genie is now well and truly out of the bottle. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTb7k9pCQTo

As a sexagenerian, who was an early adopter of FS on the Commodore64, I am simply astounded at what I now see through the low-res lenses of my VR Headset. Of course we all gripe about and bemoan the fact that we cannot possibly afford to upgrade our machines to meet the latest needs and requirements of future developments .... but those upgrades and advancements WILL happen, regardless of you and I, and there are countless future generations of Flight Simmers who will, no doubt, truly feel the ultimate "As Real As It Gets" Experience.

For my part, as a 'modern day' simmer, I will always feel regret that I will never experience what the future may hold - but - could the Wright Brothers ever have foreseen the likes of Avsim?

 

Short and sweet - and just my thoughts.