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Alistair Logie

Recommendation on a non study-level Boeing for P3dv4?

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Apologies if this is the inappropriate forum for a question like this.

I'm looking for a good looking Boeing that isn't study level and that won't be too hard on my system (Sandybridge (I think) Core i5 oc'd to 4GHz, GTX 1050Ti, 16GB RAM, SSD for OS and P3d, Windows 10 x64). Something around the complexity level of the Aerosoft A318/319 Pro would probably be a good fit. 

I'm thinking 737, but would be happy to consider any 7x7 if you think it offers a good combination of performance/complexity/looks.

I'd prefer something with a relatively modern cockpit, rather than all steam gauges.

Thanks,

Alistair

 

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I don't have these ones, but apparently they are supposed to be decent. I don't know if anyone else who has used it can comment? 

 

http://www.flight1.com/products.asp?search=true&txtsearch=ifly744

http://www.flight1.com/products.asp?product=ifly737

I'm still trying to decide myself whether to get PMDG or this ones! 

 

Edited by djbully

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Captain Sim's P3Dv4 exclusive 757 seems to have a lot of positive feedback, probably borderline study level. But I suspect it will be quite heavy on the system, only having a GTX1050Ti is quite a limitation.

Edited by ckyliu

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First off the 'study level' thing really gets on my nerves to be quite honest. Whoever came up with that phrase should be taken out back and dealt with......:))

If it has to be a Boeing......

QW 787?

TfDi 717?

Ifly737?

To be honest I don't have any of them so I can't comment on performance. QW used to be focused on 'normal procedures' ops so I don't know how they are on the new QW787. I heard its a big step up product wise for them.

 

 

 

 

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Just now, ckyliu said:

Captain Sim's P3Dv4 exclusive 757 seems to have a lot of positive feedback

Thats a good call too

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Most mentioned are about the same.  Pricewise the Ifly 737 from Flight1 is a very good aircraft at a fair price.  I do not recommend the Captain Sim 757 as I own it but...

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The term 'study level' is a bit like 'how long is a piece of string', but rather than debating what is or is not 'study level', let's go with what fits the OP's main criteria: not too hard on the system, preferably a glass cockpit, and not requiring lengthy study in order to operate.

There's a clear choice here, and that's the iFly Boeing 737 NG. Although the simulation detail on the iFly is such that it can certainly be regarded as 'study level' in that it does simulate most of the systems of the real aeroplane, the 737 itself is an easy airliner to learn. The iFly version makes some choices which pip the PMDG 737 (it's nearest rival flight sim offering) to make it a better choice in this instance. Graphically, it's not quite as over the top as the PMDG offering, i.e. the fuselage uses textures rather than polygons to depict the cabin, the cockpit textures are a bit lower res, and the HGS is not collimated. None of which means it looks bad, just not quite as flashy as the PMDG bird and as a result, it runs a lot better on even modest PC systems. But even if you have a fast and fancy PC, that is still a plus point, as its low system overhead leaves room to run fancy sceneries and such, or to crank those graphic option sliders over to the right and tick a few more of the visual whistle and bell options without worrying about FPS.

But why the 737? Why not the 747 or the 757, 767, 777, or even the 787.... Well, the 737 NG is what might be regarded as the classic 'learner' airliner. Its FMC is very intuitive, as is its MCP and EFIS. It is easy to fly manually or simple and intuitive to control with MCP speed, altitude and heading controls if you want the autopilot to handle things. When you are familiar with its basic functions, it has LNAV and VNAV to allow you to fly it in a sophisticated manner via the FMC too. Unlike the rival Airbus A318, A319, A320 and A321, there are no complex and confusing modes on a B737's MCP, i.e. all of the autopilot controls pretty much do what their labels say they do, there are no confusing FBW modes and the autothrottle is simple to understand and unlike with an Airbus, provides clear visual feedback as to what it is doing. The radio systems are basic and functional and visually very clear, being not a million miles away from what is found in a Cessna, so most pilots already know exactly how to operate many of the 737's systems quite intuitively. 

Being literally the most popular airliner ever built - over 10,000 of them constructed to date and making up over a quarter of the entire world's commercial airliner fleet - there is no shortage of learning material available for the 737, in all kinds of forms from youtube videos to books, websites and such, this means that if study is not necessarily your thing, learning to operate the 737 is probably about as accessible and easy a task as learning any airliner could ever be.

As for the product itself, the iFly Boeing 737 represents extremely good value for money and is an excellent choice for a flight simmer. For 60 quid (79.95 USD), you get nine variants of the aeroplane (i.e. considerably less than a tenner for each variant), so that's pretty much every 737 NG you could wish for with the exception of the military Poseidon variant. There are many selectable choices for winglets, engines and avionics fits if one wishes to simulate a particular airline's options and there is a simple yet effective configuration tool. Being that you get everything from the diminutive 600 variant suited to short range fast turnarounds (we spin those from arrival to departure in 25 minutes in real life) to the much larger 900ER variant, which comes close to rivaling the 757's capacity, you've got a set of airliners which share cockpit commonality, but which are suited to all kinds of different flights, from short hops, to quite lengthy trips.

Last but not least, Flight1 (the place which sells it) has a returns policy whereby if it doesn't float your boat for whatever reason, you can return it for a refund, so you've quite literally got nothing to lose in giving it a whirl and your purchases remain freely downloadable and instalable for years, so there's no worries about losing the installation files either.

I have the iFly 737 NG, the PMDG one too, as well as the Ariane one, but there's a good reason why I choose to use the iFly one the most and that's because when everything is taken into account, it is the best of the bunch.

Edited by Chock
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Alan Bradbury

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46 minutes ago, CharlieDont5urf said:

737NG is a better choice because of it's near comonality with the 747/757/767/777 series. 732 is too much out of left field for autopilot management. 

 


Jude Bradley
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Thanks everyone for the responses. Great stuff.

I wasn't aware of Flight1's return policy. That's pretty unusual for software, isn't it? 

That might nudge me in the direction of the iFly 737 NG.

 

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It's a great plane - great value for money. 


Jude Bradley
Beech Baron: Uh, Tower, verify you want me to taxi in front of the 747?
ATC: Yeah, it's OK. He's not hungry.

X-Plane 11 X-Plane 12 and MSFS2020  🙂

System specs: Windows 11  Pro 64-bit, Ubuntu Linux 20.04 i9-9900KF  Gigabyte Z390 RTX-3070-Ti , 32GB RAM  1X 2TB M2 for X-Plane 12,  1x256GB SSD for OS. 1TB drive MSFS2020

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QW787 is also with F1 so same thing applies.

7 minutes ago, Alistair Logie said:

Thanks everyone for the responses. Great stuff.

I wasn't aware of Flight1's return policy. That's pretty unusual for software, isn't it? 

That might nudge me in the direction of the iFly 737 NG.

 

 

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The TFDi Design B717 has come a long way and with the recent update it's pretty darned nice.  With the recent update, I can feel better about recommending it.  Also, the 717 is highly automated and thus far easier to learn and fly that some other aircraft.

It also has some extra features such as Shared Cockpit, so if you can find someone to fly with they can help you learn the aircraft a lot faster!  I recommend trying the guys at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/multicrew717/

There are things at work in the development side of flight sim with Shared Cockpit which are really going to surprise and impress a lot of people!  I can't say anything more on this, but will share more when I can.

Best wishes.

 


Dave Hodges

 

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I think generally instead of specifying “study level” or not, it would be more helpful to know what a person wants or doesn’t want out of an addon.  Is it a time thing, ie is a person looking for an addon they can use Ctrl-e to start the engines?

If you were to compare the captainsim 757 and the PMDG NGX, while they are in different categories in terms of level of detail, what’s going on under the hood to simulate the aircraft, availability of failures etc, starting and operating either aircraft under normal circumstances is a similar workload.  So what is it that someone is looking to get /not get out of an addon?

I make this comment generally and not specifically to this thread or poster.


Dave

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I think it was Pete aka frugal that came up with “ study level”

says it all really !

Back on topic, I bought the iFly NG because it came out before the PMDG.

IMO not only do I think it’s a better version it’s also very easy to learn and is still very popular and finding YouTube and live streaming on twitch still use the PMDG. It’s the only aircraft at the moment that I will fly when not the FSL A319.

Its old but probably a true classic and is also very FPS friendly.

You really cannot go wrong with it. Sorry Alan I think the PMDG is the only NG to own if you just want one and I see no reason to own any other. Brave of you to mention Ariane. Lol

 


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