“Microsoft Flight Sim 2018”

[era66 3]

Just curious what others think about this hypothetical question:  

If Microsoft did not abandon their flight sim project, how would Flight Simulation by Microsoft have evolved at the present time?

Is Prepar3D v4, or XP11, a likely representation of what Microsoft could have been now, with 64 bit technology . . or could they have produced something even better? . . . payware quality default planes, weather generator, default sceneries, ATC, etc. all in one package?  Hmm . . 

[jbcallender 53]

They would developed some less sophisticated, more "game-playing" and more appealing to a broader market.  They are about making a profit, after all.  With P3D, my feeling is that we are the incidental beneficiaries of the development of a product intended for government and large market training needs.  XP11 is a labor of love on the part of many, but also has a large market training base.

 

[SteveW 1,792]

If Microsoft had carried on developing FS in the same direction with the same intensity of progress I would have said it would be better than we have now. They developed FS without a restrictive budget and were involved first hand with the improvements to Direct X and also the way PCs and GPUs progressed to today.

[spilok 1,132]

"If.... if....if"

When Microsoft gave up on me, I gave up on them and went to the wonderful world of 64 bit simulation.   That would be P3d, now version 4.3.   Constant improvement.  That works for me and I will never understand the diehard FSX'ers who haven't gotten the message yet.

 

Stan

[John_Cillis 2,406]

On 4/8/2018 at 7:43 PM, jbcallender said:

They would developed some less sophisticated, more "game-playing" and more appealing to a broader market.  They are about making a profit, after all.  With P3D, my feeling is that we are the incidental beneficiaries of the development of a product intended for government and large market training needs.  XP11 is a labor of love on the part of many, but also has a large market training base.

 

Good call on both sims.  To appeal to a broader market, "shoot 'em up" aspects would have had to been implemented, or more heavy autogen, flight challenges and so on.  Most of us hard core simmers like to fly from Point A to Point B and be as immersed in the flight environment and cockpit as possible, with challenges like gusty crosswinds, turbulence, rain or night flying.  I always challenge myself with winds on my flights, but using a twist grip for rudder compromises the realism a bit vs. pedals.  But in real life I was taught to have a light touch on the pedals, the wings turn the plane, and I was taught to keep my eyes out the window more, and focused on the instruments less, habits I picked up from years of simming.  A motion sensitive, USB connected seat would have been a great idea if implemented with an advanced sim, so the turbulence could be felt, g's could be simulated, etc such as on Disney's "Soaring over California", a superb simulator.

John

[rtodepart 761]

MS would had still be the king on flight simulation if it was on till this day at full steam .....  IF anyone would of done a better job with their own software after MS closed down we would not had this topic on the forum ......

[rhumbaflappy 113]

This is the wrong forum again