MSFS, P3D, X-Plane: We are going to pay...either way.

[virtualstuff 750]

6 hours ago, vin747 said:

you lucky !@#$%^ !! 😄

I wish i were single, especially with the onset of  MSFS era.. so jealous of you.. 

Or train them as stewardess 🤣

[georgio1952 52]

I will stay with Prepar3d V5 . I'm a lot of years with Lockheed Martin the true Flight Simulator, and it's not goin to change and to follow whatever game (Not Simulators)..

[MrBitstFlyer 3,819]

20 hours ago, MDFlier said:

I guess it's a matter of perspective. My other hobby is boating. The super-duper version of MSFS costs less than the fuel I'd burn on a nice weekend. One rainy weekend, and I get a free copy of MSFS.

It's not that I am rich, I'm single! 🤣

I live on a canal narrowboat in the UK.  4mph cruising has given me several weeks away from the mooring in the last year for £50 in fuel 🙂

[MDFlier 2,031]

2 minutes ago, MrBitstFlyer said:

I live on a canal narrowboat in the UK.  4mph cruising has given me several weeks away from the mooring in the last year for £50 in fuel 🙂

I boat on the upper Chesapeake Bay. I cruise at 28kts @ ~14.8 GPH (3.78L per gal).

At $2.85/gal it costs me $42.18 for every hour I drive it.

Just maximizing my carbon footprint as much as I can. I hope when I die, y'all sweat to death. 🚤

[kevinc5 15]

6 hours ago, MDFlier said:

I boat on the upper Chesapeake Bay. I cruise at 28kts @ ~14.8 GPH (3.78L per gal).

At $2.85/gal it costs me $42.18 for every hour I drive it.

Just maximizing my carbon footprint as much as I can. I hope when I die, y'all sweat to death. 🚤

I eliminated my carbon footprint when I stopped wearing carbon shoes.

[LHookins 3,102]

20 minutes ago, kevinc5 said:

I eliminated my carbon footprint when I stopped wearing carbon shoes.

I switched from using a pencil to using a ballpoint.  I figure every little bit helps. 🙂

 

7 hours ago, MDFlier said:

I boat on the upper Chesapeake Bay.

Well, I could google canal narrowboat pictures, but have no idea what you're sailing.  Can you give us a hint?

Hook

[MDFlier 2,031]

1 minute ago, LHookins said:

I switched from using a pencil to using a ballpoint.  I figure every little bit helps. 🙂

 

Well, I could google canal narrowboat pictures, but have no idea what you're sailing.  Can you give us a hint?

Hook

I don't have an account on a photo sharing site, but this one is identical to mine. Just imagine it without the life ring, and satellite TV antenna (disk on top of the arch). I don't do TV on the water.

'05 Sea Ray 260DA

 

[MDFlier 2,031]

34 minutes ago, kevinc5 said:

I eliminated my carbon footprint when I stopped wearing carbon shoes.

Naaaa... Everything on Earth has carbon it it.

When the space aliens arrive, they're going to have one heck of a good time laughing at us. We've got to be the only civilization in the universe that has classified the basic building block of life as a pollutant. Can't make this stuff up. Burn more hydrocarbon based fuel! Spread life!

Edited July 23, 2020 by MDFlier

[LHookins 3,102]

Cool, thanks!

My boss at my first job out of the military had a 50 foot cruiser.  Lift the deck at the rear and there were two V-8 engines side by side.  Today I cannot even imagine such a thing.

My first boss in the Pentagon had a 28 foot sailboat.  My first and only sailing experience.

These days I get all my sailing done in Vehicle Simulator.  

Hook

[MDFlier 2,031]

Mine is 28.5' overall. Sea Ray plays with their numbering. I have a single 425HP 496 HO in mine. I can get it over 45, but that little fuel flow meter starts reading on the high side of 20 GPH when I do. Gives me the willies. And filling an 84 gallon tank stinks, too. Sorta... 😎

I've only sailed in tiny boats. The most fun I had sailing was at Sandals resort in Ocho Rios Jamaica. My buddy and I took one of their plastic catamarans out and we had an absolute blast with that thing. I was thinking about buying one for playing around with up here.

So... to keep the thread on topic. Buy a new flight simulator and a boat load of add-ons, and you'll still be way ahead on your budget because you didn't buy a hole in the water to toss your money into. 😁

[LHookins 3,102]

From a book I recently read:

“So, how do you like sailing?”
“I had no idea anything so boring could be so interesting!”
“It’s boring,” I agreed, “but there’s something oddly engaging, too."

I find sailing and flying to be very similar, and the above applies to both.

Hook

[_Gladius_ 24]

MSFS only comes with a couple dozen hand-generated airports.  Seems like there’s plenty left for the scenery developers to add.

[Jeff_Fortuna 59]

Interesting thread. I have been using P3D and X-plane for a few years now (and had started with sims in the mid 80's with SubLogic's efforts. So I have been in this "game" for a while and have spent altogether too much money on it.  My two cents would simply be that, from what I can tell from MSFS trailers + leaks, scenery is somewhat better (more accurate?) than P3D with something like ORBX True Earth or X-Plane with ortho (or ORBX). How much better is arguable - but I don't see a quantum leap in MSFS wrt scenery - again, relative to ORBX True Earth. Thus, I would simply say MSFS > P3D >= X-Plane given a well - outfitted (and expensive) P3D and X-Plane. Now, I happen to like P3D with EA. Yes, there are bugs, but I just find it more natural looking than what MSFS did. In any case, again, no quantum leap. X-Plane weather depiction is not good. So, I would say P3D > MSFS >> X-Plane, but the top 2 spots are arguable. Likely, AS weather is more accurate than MSFS's efforts, but that remains to be seen. Anyway, last thing is flight dynamics fidelity. Based on many opinions, I would argue that P3D with A2A is about equal to X-Plane's better planes noting that these sims use completely different approaches to flight dynamics. Now, from what I have heard about MSFS, I would rank things as X-Plane >= P3D (A2A) > MSFS. Again, I don't think there are huge differences. 

So, once again, each sim has strengths and weaknesses and I don't see any clear winners. So, this thread was about the costs. The OP was arguing that it doesn't matter which you choose, you will need addons. In that I totally agree. MSFS *may* require less to look and feel better overall but that remains to be seen. Therefore it *may* be the cheaper of the options (particularly if you add in things like ATC). However, for the near term I don't see abandoning P3D or X-Plane any time soon. I will also grab MSFS. It will actually be interesting to see which sim I end up using the most. In any case, just as the OP mentioned, what this adds up to is that I will be PAYING to support 3 sims instead of one. Thankfully I enjoy this hobby - or I wouldn't be happy about how much it costs.  

[Chock 17,769]

1 hour ago, _Gladius_ said:

MSFS only comes with a couple dozen hand-generated airports.  Seems like there’s plenty left for the scenery developers to add.

Very true. And it's worth remembering that part of why we're all saying the new sim looks fab is because it does so in comparison to what we've been used to. But with computer games (or sims if you prefer to call them that), this year's 'wow' graphics start to look tired a couple of years down the line. It's always been like that with computer graphics and it'll be no different with this new sim. It won't be too long before you'll see some TPD bang out an airport or town scenery which will make even the fancy hand-done bits of scenery in the new sim look mundane by comparison. 

[Bunchy 222]

13 hours ago, MDFlier said:

I boat on the upper Chesapeake Bay. I cruise at 28kts @ ~14.8 GPH (3.78L per gal).

At $2.85/gal it costs me $42.18 for every hour I drive it.

Just maximizing my carbon footprint as much as I can. I hope when I die, y'all sweat to death. 🚤

Just maximizing my carbon footprint as much as I can. I hope when I die, y'all sweat to death. 🚤

This made me laugh.

When the weather's too rough for boating, do you burn tractor tires instead?😁

I hope Greta Thunberg isn't on this forum........

 

Stu

Edited July 23, 2020 by Bunchy