Was looking around the Steam VR store and saw that flight sims (Aerofly FS2 and X-Plane 11) were in the new and trending section.  I have always been interested in flight sims but never really got round to it ... I've been playing Elite Dangerous on and off for years with my X-55 Hotas and Oculus Rift and really enjoyed it.  So after seeing the ads in the steam trending charts I did some digging around and saw the post here on X-Plane 11 & FlyInside and realised that I forgot I had kickstarted FlyInside way back in 2015 ... I was an early backer too #28!

 

I am ready to dedicate some time to a flight sim but I don't know where to start and what is best.  I'm not bothered about getting results quickly, my enjoyment is taking the time to learn.  I'm looking for something realistic but also accessible for someone who is new and never flown at all in real life?  Perhaps the accessibility just comes down to which has the best community support (youtube videos etc) as I'll need a lot of direction to get started.  If you don't mind, if you happen to know any recommended youtube channels or playlists that would be appreciated.

 

What would you recommend for me with my Oculus Rift CV1 / Saitek X-55 combo?  Like I said, I backed the FlyInside kickstarter way back.  I've also got MS FSX (Steam edition) bought in the sales ages ago and never installed.  DCS is also free.  So could go for either of them.  Quite willing to pay for X-Plane 11 or Aerofly FS2 if its recommended/better.  

 

Thanks in advance!

I don't have VR, but AeroflyFS2 is generally considered the best implementation of VR in a flight sim (among the reasons, for the very high FPS and the clear images). It is easier to use, but less complex and more simplified in several aspects compared to FSX/P3D/X-Plane, but it's being actively developed and improved.

X-Plane has lower performance, but its developers are planning to improve its VR implementation, and it's expected to feature a native and significantly improved VR experience in the upcoming releases (so during the course of the next months). Keep in mind that you can evaluate X-Plane using its time limited demo (downloadable from its website, www.x-plane.com).

 

Aerofly FS2 is the best VR implementation - remember to set your Render Scale Factor to 1.5 or so in order to get clearest image. The other issue though is that it will use at least 67 gb of SDD/HDD storage just for the base release which includes most of the US Southwest. There are several new scenery areas to download as addons - most are free. I have all of it and it uses 144gb!

     You will really enjoy yourself - fly down in the Grand Canyon in an F-15 at 300 knots, do loops under the Golden Gate bridge, fly out of beautiful Aspen, CO, or land at Innsbruck, Austria at dusk. The IPACS forum is here: https://www.aerofly.com/community/forum/

Even if you haven't flown before, you can self teach - just stay faster than 60 knots in small airplanes and faster than 140 knots in airliners when you are in the air.

Best Wishes

Dave W.

 

P.S. Another great flight sim under development (Free flight in 4 photoreal areas and several training missions at this point - no campaigns) and on Steam is Combat Air Patrol 2 which allows you to fly the AV-8 Harrier - vertical takeoffs/landings off a carrier are challenging - that requires only 4.5gb for the download. 

If you like spaceship dog fighting in VR in Elite Dangerous, you might want to take a look at IL-2 Sturmovik: Battle of Stalingrad. Haven't tried it myself yet, but supposedly it has a decent flight model, decent VR implementation, and of course WWII bombers and fighters. And I suppose that a HOTAS like the X-55 will be pretty handy for flying those sort of aircraft.

It is really a little confusing right now as far as flight simming in VR goes.

Since you already bought Flyinside and FSX, you could start with that. At least to get the basics of Flight Simming.

If you really want to dive deeper, I would buy something else. FSX is basically dead and has multiple problems, including its infamous 32 Bit limitation.

I have been flying almost exclusively in VR for a year now and here is my take on the current available platforms:

• Aerofly FS2 - Best VR implementation, great performance and graphics. Everything else is lacking. No decent Planes, no weather, no online flying, no atc, etc. 
• XP 11 - Beautiful simulator, great physics and very good General Aviation and smaller planes. You could buy Flyinside for XP, but native VR is coming before the end of the year.
• P3D v4 - Somewhat dated graphics but with a very good native VR implementation. It also has the best aircraft addons in the market, including wonderful Mid and Long-Haul Jets (PMDG, FSLabs) and also Regional Turboprops (Majestic Q400).

It really depends on what you are looking for. If you are more of a GA kind of guy, start with FSX with very little investment and get XP11 once native VR is out. If you think you want to fly big jets, hard to recommend anything else other than P3D at this point