VR and immersive flight lesson

[yanfeng12342000 132]

I posted this on the main forum. As this is strongly VR related, I'd like to share the idea here.

 

I like PilotsEYE flight documentry series very much. It's such a pleasure watching those real pilots do the pre-flight preparations, taxiing, takeoff, approach and landing in such a professional way, exchange casual talks between them, and enjoy the magnificant view inside and outside the cockpit. It's great enjoyment as well as learning all aspects of airliner flight. 

 

Now can we have this in the new MSFS? Technology has so advanced that we already have photorealistic cockpit and scenery, then how about some lifelike virtual veteran pilots that fly the planes so that we can watch and learn all the way? Of course we can take over if we are sure about that enough.

 

I know all current flight simulations already have something like this. Well, sort of. It's just some brief voiceover instruction which is not intuitive at all. I don't like those flight lessons. They are not fun, and can be daunting or even traumatic for the newbies. 

 

It's time for new ways of learning. Guess what are some hottest Youtube game channels? Full game play streaming! It's not just people are becoming so lazy that they'd more like to watch others to play for themselves. It's watch, enjoy, and learn. I leanred a lot from those channels. It's also a new way of social connection. 

 

I am a GA flyer. I have always want to do airliners, but I don't want to go through the heavy manuals and memorize all the switches. I'd like to learn it in a more relaxing way. I want to sit beside those AI pilots, watching them do this this time, and that that time, enjoying the view as I will. 

 

And there are more possibilities. Those virtual AI pilots can appear in flight lessons, and they can also take part in missions. They can even lead the guided tour for those absolute lazy people who just want to watch the view, and I am sure there are a lot of such people.

 

This is also good for those diehard flight simmers who absolutely don't want such form of guidance. The biggest obstacle for the development of flight simulation has always being the small user base due to steep learning curve. Microsoft had already done quite some efforts to attract more interest from the general public, with mixed results, as shown from the failure of Microsoft Flight. The difficulty lies in how to make both ends meet: "serious" simmers VS casual players. Yet with more realistic graphics and more advanced AI we need to think about the next generation way of learning for the next generation flight simulation. What's happening in the game scene should cast some light into this. The line between "serious" something and "casual" something will be more and more blurred. More general players will guarantee the long term benefit of the developer, and hence the benefit of the diehard simmer.

VR could add so much immersion for this way of watching, learning, and enjoyment.

[Chandler 13]

Nice idea, if Asobo is hiring Virtual Flight Instructors, I will be the first in line...😉

[NAVPI 34]

A company thought about the concept and started to work on something: takeflightinteractive.com

Right now, they are busy working on a product using their tech for a USAF initial training program on the T-6 Texan II. The founder worked for MS on flight sims before. Their training concept on the new FS platform (and VR while at it) could prove quite interesting for simmers. Any thoughts on it?

[Chandler 13]

2 hours ago, NAVPI said:

A company thought about the concept and started to work on something: takeflightinteractive.com

Right now, they are busy working on a product using their tech for a USAF initial training program on the T-6 Texan II. The founder worked for MS on flight sims before. Their training concept on the new FS platform (and VR while at it) could prove quite interesting for simmers. Any thoughts on it?

Sure thing is, that VR will have a bigger role in professional flight training in the near future. Its way more versatile and cost effective than todays training solutions.

It can not replace level d training though. But even that might change in the more distant furture.

Edited December 4, 2019 by Chandler

[yanfeng12342000 132]

On 12/4/2019 at 7:13 PM, NAVPI said:

A company thought about the concept and started to work on something: takeflightinteractive.com

Right now, they are busy working on a product using their tech for a USAF initial training program on the T-6 Texan II. The founder worked for MS on flight sims before. Their training concept on the new FS platform (and VR while at it) could prove quite interesting for simmers. Any thoughts on it?

Yeh US and Chinese airforce have been using VR to train pilots for some years, and they are both using the dated low resolution HTC Vive. While these are serious training that must aim at the highest authenticity, I am thinking of a more relaxing and entertaining way to engage the learners of flight of different levels. It can be some step by step lessons, or some missions guided by AI virtual instructors by your side, who can do things from giving suggestions and instructions to taking over the control and you can just sit and watch. 

I think this is a great way to make flight simulation more open to the general public while retaining its education and simulation nature.

Edited December 5, 2019 by yanfeng12342000