Given that PMDG have had the confidence to state that various aircraft , including their 747 will be developed and released for the new sim shows, I would suggest, that they have been in discussion at more than a basic level with Microsoft. Otherwise that’s quite a brave statement to be making at this stage. As such I’d imagine that PMDG would be well aware that a 747 will be in the stable and yet they still consider there will be a place in the market for their product, suggesting it is perhaps at a different level of depth or aimed at a slightly different kind of simmer.

I don’t know , but what I suspect ,is that the  new default 747 will follow a similar philosophy to aerosoft in that it will be simulated accurately for day to day operations and perhaps basic failure modelling, rather than the complex compounded failures included with PMDG. It has after all taken PMDG over 15 years of evolution and development to get where they are now, though I take the point that a 200 strong team of the worlds best programmers could achieve a lot in less time.

The real strong point of PMDG’s products are the very advanced failure and systems modelling, to most of course these things will go unseen and so the $100+price point seems extreme. However ,having a working knowledge of real world 747s I am constantly blown away by the depth of systems modelling on PMDG’s 747-400 and honestly feel the price is actually very cheap for what you’re  getting.

To operate proficiently with advanced failures takes a great deal of study, practice and experience, which most of us don’t have the time for, while others thrive on the challenge. 

I personally buy study level aircraft because I want study level aerodynamics, that’s what’s important to me, the realistic handling, quite often I can’t be bothered learning the systems from start to finish just to go for a flight from A to B . So I can see there is a place for both depths of simulation , and a 747 or other aircraft with a high degree of aerodynamic accuracy , but perhaps without nut and bolt system simulation really appeals , I’m hoping this is what the default aircraft will be. 

At this stage though who knows, but I certainly think for one thing the whole flight sim ecosystem and economy are about to change dramatically.

As an experienced sim 747 and RW 747 pilot I am particularly delighted to see the 747 being a default aircraft, as I was also by PMDG’s announcement that their 747 would be coming across.If and when I can try out the alpha I am really looking forward to getting my hands on the default 747, and if allowed to do so it would be great to feed back to the community on its accuracy.

Historically default 747s in any sim have not been great, I have a feeling that might be all about to change though !

 

 

3 hours ago, simtom said:

See, this is the problem we're currently having in our community, the denial that a first party developer can make a study level aircraft. And I do own the 747 so I know what study level means. This is a long term project for Microsoft so it might definitely come at a later point in time.

Why would they bother..  they claim to have lots of partners - guess what, a partner has to be able to make a contribution, and make a living for the partnership to work..

3 hours ago, ca_metal said:

They have a PHD in rooftops working for them... come on... that’s insane... 

And the guy with a PHD in trees, I hope he can transform these green blob like things into works of mother nature.

2 hours ago, DavidP said:

Not all aircraft exhibit this behaviour - try it in a long body Mooney and you will be pumping in plenty of nose up trim.

Just wanted to correct the misconception that all aircraft behave like this.

It's the same with Cherokees, but he's obviously flying in a Cessna or R400 and they do exhibit a rising nose with flaps.

I am the only one thinking Asobo will become the PMDG of this decade ? Why would they stop modelling aircrafts after the release ?

45 minutes ago, jon b said:

However ,having a working knowledge of real world 747s I am constantly blown away by the depth of systems modelling on PMDG’s 747-400 and honestly feel the price is actually very cheap for what you’re  getting.

Oh thank you so much for a global sanity check. I never understood the complaints about theses addons pricing. A company provide an in depth simulation of an airliner, and people think it should be priced like a candy crush bonus level.

For less than the price of a dinner at a restaurant or one hour of flying in a Cessna 150 you get a hand at flying theoreticaly and synthetically one of the most biggest aircraft in the world for an unlimited time, and you get the chance to learn all its systems and experiment all kind of failures. For $139, I can't help but think that is totally insane bargain. Nobody will ever convince me of the contrary, nobody, ever.

I know a few pilots who used extensively PMDG 737NGX pre, during and post their 737 Type Rating. Do you know how much a 737 type rating cost ? They sell cockpit mockup to students, posters, at horrific prices. Do you think a cockpit mockup compete vs 737NGX sim ? Do you have an idea how much money these 139$ spent saved them, as for keeping current on type before a recheck or a company interview for example ? If you do not realize all of this you should not buy and use an advanced system simulation.

People seems to have lost the value of things, as if everything downloaded from the internet should be free or almost free. If it's free you are the product, that's the case in any service you use on the internet you don't pay for, if it is paid quality will match price. Low price, low quality.

Now people should stop complaining, if they don't want to buy then don't, but stop bashing on a subject you do not understand.

1 hour ago, Greazer said:

And the guy with a PHD in trees, I hope he can transform these green blob like things into works of mother nature.

Those green blocks are an eyesore! They need to work on their AI to fix that!

7 hours ago, Duncan Odgers said:

They have the attitude everything should be default out of the box.

Love it. That’s what I want to hear!

Not impressed. 

I'm sticking with FSX

’nuff said

 

(joke of the week)

53 minutes ago, Noooch said:

I am the only one thinking Asobo will become the PMDG of this decade ? Why would they stop modelling aircrafts after the release ?

Yes I wonder if something a bit like the iracing model could be on the cards (without the subscription 😎). Some great stuff with the game, but then you can buy other, beautifully realised, models further on down the line if you want them - for about a 5th of £140. They could tie it up with specific mission packages for example, rather than race series. 

Testing at XO19

9 hours ago, Noooch said:

I am the only one thinking Asobo will become the PMDG of this decade ? Why would they stop modelling aircrafts after the release ?

Might be 😎but does Asobo make all the aircraft ? Not sure. I wouldn’t be surprised if there is a team at Redmont working on some airliners and bizjets, specially if the « partnerships » with large US aeropace companies is technical in nature.

In his first interview, the French flight modeling engineer seemed very much focused on GA aircraft.

I think if they release a trailer in the future that starts with some world travel atc chatter, the internet could well explode in a big fiery hot mess. Or it might just be me.  

@Duncan Odgers Thank you very much for sharing that with us.

Anything about the hangars we saw in the initial trailer?

Excellent report. Thank you for taking the time to write up your experience and sharing it with us. You do realize that you probably just gave "The Cap Guy" a new nickname in the office. Don't be surprised if that is on his name tag at the next conference.

Ted