I having been using flight simulators for a very long time (back to the original Bruce Artwick version on the Apple IIe) and was an official beta tester for the first MS version after they acquired it.

Unfortunately due to quite serious health issues I’ve been out of the loop in the past 14 months but now getting back into the fray.

Like many of you I have a big investment in P3D and its many add-ons with some X-Plane 11 on the side.
 

Last night for the first time I caught up on all the news, videos etc on the new MSFS and literally never went to bed.

If MS deliver on the potential shown from my research it will be a massive game changer imo.

To say I’m excited is an understatement lol.

As a 45 year IT professional (recently retired) I’m up with the latest technologies they are using (Azure Cloud, etc) and will be so nice to have a modern platform.

I may cry a little (okay a lot lol ) when I have to write off the thousands of dollars invested in P3D but won’t hesitate for a second if the things shown in the discovery series videos are as good as they say and look.

I was going to move to P3D v5 but from this point forward won’t be spending another cent on P3D and it’s add ons despite the many tempting “sales” that no doubt will arise in the coming months as MSFS nears release.

Its been a good ride with P3D and unfortunately never quite got fully into X- Plane despite trying a few times, but if MS/Asboro deliver even close to what they are promising then it will be a “must have” for me.

My apologies if this post in any way sounds like it’s disparaging P3D or X-Plane as I’ve greatly enjoyed them both and appreciate the efforts of the developers and communities that have supported them.

I’m just interested to see if others are as excited as I am and your thoughts going forwards.

 

Paul,

     I'm glad your health is improving and you can enjoy the latest flight sim news. I too am extremely excited about the new Microsoft Flight Simulator. A lot of users here have been granted access to the early Alpha testing program. Perhaps you should submit your application for the next round of testing. I'm sure you'd have a lot to offer the development team in the way of suggestions and feedback. I think most people in the know are stunned at the beauty and realism of the new sim. 

Thanks David. I definitely will submit an application in the next round. Hopefully I get lucky 😉

Great post Paul - I'm sure your sentiment and excitement mirrors that of many others on here.

p.s. just make sure you upgrade your ram to 32GB 😉

Thanks Dylan. My PC and graphics card was top of the Line 4 years ago. Will wait till MSFS is released and running for a little while to get the best idea of new hardware for it and then buy a new PC and monitor. 

I’m starting to save for it now lol.

Will look at AMD and Radeon this time around in comparison to my current Intel and NVIDIA combo. Half the fun is doing the research 😏

Will make sure I have  LOT of Ram and a LOT of VRAM

Of course this depends on any of us having any money left after the current crisis ends.

Edited April 16, 20206 yr by PaulFWatts

Hello Paul,

Glad you are back in the community. I too have been a flight simmer since the early Apple attempts at FS. I have been with P3D since it's inception and have ignored the constant need to tinker and fix in order to feel comfortable in the simulator, as a retired commercial pilot I just wanted to keep up proficiency and fly some aircraft that I have not flown commercially. I think I have finally come to the end as far as P3D is concerned, I have tried P3D v5 and although it is better than v4.5 it still has that old tired base. As a result I also will not spend another nickel on P3D products and wait for the introduction of MSFS 2020. I certainly wish MS all the best  and hope they come through with a product can satisfy the community.

Thanks for you post @jedwards

I wish I was as wise as you and didn’t get into the tinkering and fiddling band wagon.

In the end it has made me a bit jaded on the whole flight sim experience but with the new one coming I’m getting my mojo back.

I used to fly non commercial (private pilot) and have always looked for “as real as it gets” in a simulator (without going to overboard dollars wise)

What planes did you fly in real life?

My best mate is a retired Qantas captain and also heavily into P3D atm.

Edited April 16, 20206 yr by PaulFWatts

I agree, no more buying anything until MSFS is released, from the looks and what Asobo is saying, this may finally be the sim we don't have to buy anything for other than aircraft we may want, hopefully they deliver, it looks promising.

I remember you, Paul Watts 🙂    -- that is one of the old-time flight sim names.  There were a couple of Pauls, you and Paul Golding among them.

I was largely out of FS between 2009 and 2017 so, I had a lot of catching up to do.  14 months, you should be ok.  I wish you good health and hope you enjoy MSFS when it comes out.

For me, I'm excited for the visuals and how that lends to the sense of actually traveling. My dad had his PPL and I remember as a young boy staring out the window of the Cessna 210 watching the wheels go up, the land pass by, observing the different towns, roads and terrain as we travelled along.

I was always keen on the surroundings as we approached a new destination. What would the runway look like, the buildings or terrain we would pass over at low altitudes on approach. I would smash my head up against the window to see the gear come down and do the same to see them make contact on the runway. Stepping out after the engine shutdown I enjoyed that sense that we were somewhere new, the air was different, the buildings were different.

As much as I love the study level aircraft, and real life procedures, the thing that has been missing to me is this sense of actual travel, generic scenery ruins that. Downloading my own satellite imagery in XP11 helped with that but it never was great, and knowing that it was limited to the areas I downloaded, that I couldn't just go anywhere was also something that broke that emersion for me mentally.

Anyways that's what I'm looking forward to with the new Microsoft Flight Simulator. The sense of travel. 

1 hour ago, Mace said:

I remember you, Paul Watts 🙂    -- that is one of the old-time flight sim names.  There were a couple of Pauls, you and Paul Golding among them.

Hi @Mace . Thanks for the reply. I used to fly a lot on Vatsim also “back in the day” and looking forward to trying out the new massively multiplayer world in MSFS.

Looks like a new Flight Sim era is ahead of us!

 

1 hour ago, decker89 said:

 

.....

Anyways that's what I'm looking forward to with the new Microsoft Flight Simulator. The sense of travel. 

Hi @decker89. Thats a great perspective on what you are looking forward to. With the world so well simulated that you can fly VFR anywhere on Earth looks like you will get your wish!

6 hours ago, PaulFWatts said:

I having been using flight simulators for a very long time (back to the original Bruce Artwick version on the Apple IIe) and was an official beta tester for the first MS version after they acquired it.

Unfortunately due to quite serious health issues I’ve been out of the loop in the past 14 months but now getting back into the fray.

Like many of you I have a big investment in P3D and its many add-ons with some X-Plane 11 on the side.
 

Last night for the first time I caught up on all the news, videos etc on the new MSFS and literally never went to bed.

If MS deliver on the potential shown from my research it will be a massive game changer imo.

To say I’m excited is an understatement lol.

As a 45 year IT professional (recently retired) I’m up with the latest technologies they are using (Azure Cloud, etc) and will be so nice to have a modern platform.

I may cry a little (okay a lot lol ) when I have to write off the thousands of dollars invested in P3D but won’t hesitate for a second if the things shown in the discovery series videos are as good as they say and look.

I was going to move to P3D v5 but from this point forward won’t be spending another cent on P3D and it’s add ons despite the many tempting “sales” that no doubt will arise in the coming months as MSFS nears release.

Its been a good ride with P3D and unfortunately never quite got fully into X- Plane despite trying a few times, but if MS/Asboro deliver even close to what they are promising then it will be a “must have” for me.

My apologies if this post in any way sounds like it’s disparaging P3D or X-Plane as I’ve greatly enjoyed them both and appreciate the efforts of the developers and communities that have supported them.

I’m just interested to see if others are as excited as I am and your thoughts going forwards.

 

Hey Paul

Welcome back. A lot of old timer simmers like you (and me😏) have flocked back to this newly created forum since June, to say more or less the same, that they were very much looking forward for the new sim, that MS and Asobo are bringing a big breath of fresh air to a hobby we know inside out.

Asobo has the innovative spirit that the regretted Rich Harvey of Terminal Reality had twenty years ago. 

Welcome back Paul and good to see you are doing better 👍

2 hours ago, domkle said:

Hey Paul

Welcome back. A lot of old timer simmers like you (and me😏) ...... 

Thanks @domkle.

It has rekindled my enthusiasm for flight sim again and have been spending the last couple of days getting my P3D v4.5 rig back up to speed with all my many (too many lol) add-ons and airports.

With the hope of this coming sometime this year )or early 2021, I'll stay at 4.5 and enjoy what I have until its released.

I actually starting "flight sim" with "Lunar Lander" on a DEC10 Mainframe using a line printer but that is a whole other story :-)