Having just got back into the flight sim world (since 2010), I am quite surprised at the lack of development of decent ATC, especially in the way it behaves. It doesn't really look like it's improved since FS2004 (16 years ago!).

It's not so much the voices, but the behaviour:
- staggered climbs causing you to level off for a few seconds at each altitude before receiving next altitude clearance.
- not receiving descent clearance until really late (meaning I have to do a descent with speedbreaks out practically all the way down).
- really confusing and unrealistic approach vectors (I've now given up and often cancel IFR before the approach starts).

Is there any way to make the ATC a little more realistic? 

 

40 minutes ago, benwbriscoe said:

Is there any way to make the ATC a little more realistic? 

In short: No, not really. To adress some of the well-known issues that you mentioned, I use the following work arounds:

• Selecting a higher altitude before actually being cleared and then monitoring (or, well, hoping) that ATC will clear you in time.
• Requesting a lower cruise altitude at T/D for want of an actual descent request. This actually works really well, and ATC will often catch up with you very soon.
• Check if there is an approach transition (e.g., VOR) that you can request. Sometimes a visual approach, weather permitting, results in a somewhat better vectoring. However, also in real life, vectors won't always take you to final in the straightest possible way – so this one is not terribly unrealistic.

Other than that, I strongly suggest purchasing Edit Voicepack Pro to make the ATC sound more realistic (callsigns, phraseology and voice characteristics), which adds a huge deal of immersion in my opinion. There is a free demo available. Also, be sure to check out the multitude of modifications in the Avsim library.

Edited June 30, 20205 yr by thepilot

1 hour ago, benwbriscoe said:

Having just got back into the flight sim world (since 2010), I am quite surprised at the lack of development of decent ATC, especially in the way it behaves. It doesn't really look like it's improved since FS2004 (16 years ago!).

It's not so much the voices, but the behaviour:
- staggered climbs causing you to level off for a few seconds at each altitude before receiving next altitude clearance.
- not receiving descent clearance until really late (meaning I have to do a descent with speedbreaks out practically all the way down).
- really confusing and unrealistic approach vectors (I've now given up and often cancel IFR before the approach starts).

Is there any way to make the ATC a little more realistic? 

ATC programs are amongst the most difficult to create. That's why there are so few and why I still use the same one as I did 14 years ago.

Radar Contact v4.3 is now free as the developer has retired from FS programming. If you're more interested in correct phraseology and accurate instructions as opposed to perfect enunciation and inperfect instructions then give RC4 a try. Ideally suited for IFR flights and very easy to setup and use.

https://www.avsim.com/forums/topic/547732-radar-contact-and-jdtllc-in-transition/

 

Fly on VATSIM.  

VOXATC, but wait a bit because the P3d5 version is in the final stages of closed beta testing. 

Play a LiveATC.net feed in the background.

There have been some good attempts, but everything else sounds much less realistic than the real thing.
 

I feel like this is a goldmine for some developers to take advantage of. Yes, I know it's extremely difficult but it can be done. Imagine a "PMDG" quality ATC addon.. I would certainly pay a PMDG price for it.

Some are good and some are bad but it all comes down to 3 things in an ATC,

- VFR or IFR

-SIDS/STARS

-Tower and Ground Traffic Control

What one ATC does good at one does a horrible job at the others and vice-versa, you can spend hours configuring an ATC but then on final will vector you into a mountain with heavies taking off on your landing runway facing you. It comes down to immersion as best it can and my verdict is Radar Contac v4.

1 hour ago, FPStewy said:

Some are good and some are bad but it all comes down to 3 things in an ATC,

- VFR or IFR

-SIDS/STARS

-Tower and Ground Traffic Control

What one ATC does good at one does a horrible job at the others and vice-versa, you can spend hours configuring an ATC but then on final will vector you into a mountain with heavies taking off on your landing runway facing you. It comes down to immersion as best it can and my verdict is Radar Contac v4.

Pilot2ATC does all of those things wonderfully.  I have used VOX, proatcx, radar contact,  PFE and EditVoice pack with the default ATC.  None of those approach the features and precision of Pilot2ATC.  It has voice control more complex and realistic than VOX and is more feature rich than any of the other programs.  Running it on a networked computer is easy.  There are thousands of voice clips available and from the developer's forum on AVSIM you'll see that support is timely. The only atc more realistic are VATSIM and Pilot Edge.

38 minutes ago, vp49p3 said:

Pilot2ATC does all of those things wonderfully.  I have used VOX, proatcx, radar contact,  PFE and EditVoice pack with the default ATC.  None of those approach the features and precision of Pilot2ATC.  It has voice control more complex and realistic than VOX and is more feature rich than any of the other programs.  Running it on a networked computer is easy.  There are thousands of voice clips available and from the developer's forum on AVSIM you'll see that support is timely. The only atc more realistic are VATSIM and Pilot Edge.

Does Pilot2ATC interact with Ai aircraft or only yours?

It recognizes AI aircraft and gives instructions to you accordingly such as hold short instructions,  but does not control the ai aircraft's actions, nor give atc instructions to the ai aircraft.  Only VOX does that.  VOX though, doesn't have the features P2ATC does. I use P2ATC with UT Live. Works great.

Also, the atc voice clips used as background chatter correspond to the region you're in (such as Europe, US and Australia) and also  to the controller speaking to you, i.e. ground, tower, clearance, departure, center, and approach.

As I suspected. Radar Contact cannot really control Ai but it does issue relevant instructions based on the status of the Ai aircraft. For example, when it changes to Clearance you will hear the Ai request Clearance and RC deliver it. That’s only when you’re on the Clearance frequency of course.

When their status changes to TakeOff 2 they are cleared to takeoff. If you’re on Tower you’ll hear that and if you’re next you’ll then be instructed to line up and wait.

With AIG Ai aircraft it brings airports to life.

Radar Contact has to be the one for me as my PC is in the living room and there is no way I could use spoken commands or have loudspeakers playing.