1 hour ago, March Hare said:

I'm one of the gamers. No idea how to fly a plane, and I will start my MSFS journey doing things that would clearly frustrate some people (but I probably won't play online)

Don't let any old fart with a snotty attitude put you off. Only lonely, sad wannabes would not welcome you with open arms. People who really love flying, love sharing the experience too.

58 minutes ago, ca_metal said:

Relax, everybody here started just like you. I hope you will find people willing to help on this amazing journey.

I am relaxed. It's some of the longtime simmers who don't appear to be 😉

We need an aircraft carrier off the coast of San Francisco for them to land on. That was one of the first things I tried all those years back in FS4. 😊

36 minutes ago, LHookins said:

Welcome to the wonderful world of simulated aviation!  May your journey be long and pleasant.

Ah, heck, play online anyway.  The people who would be annoyed DESERVE to be annoyed, and there will be plenty of others there who will help you learn.  It should be an amazing experience.

Besides, the Real World has student pilots in it too. 🙂 

Hook

I just don't generally like playing online. I've been gaming since the 80s, on a Spectrum 48K, and I've dabbled in online gaming along the way, but always preferred the solo experience.

Just now, March Hare said:

I just don't generally like playing online. I've been gaming since the 80s, on a Spectrum 48K, and I've dabbled in online gaming along the way, but always preferred the solo experience.

Well, if you find yourself making friends here, you and they can set up a private session where only you and your chosen friends can fly online together! That can be great fun... 😏

3 minutes ago, March Hare said:

I just don't generally like playing online. I've been gaming since the 80s, on a Spectrum 48K, and I've dabbled in online gaming along the way, but always preferred the solo experience.

You may change your mind when you see what the MSFS Discord community is pulling off. We had a large online event yesterday among the testers that I'm not allowed to talk about in detail, but it completely changed my thinking about online flying and things like VATSIM.

Edited August 16, 20205 yr by Der Zeitgeist

5 minutes ago, Chock said:

Don't let any old fart with a snotty attitude put you off. Only lonely, sad wannabes would not welcome you with open arms. People who really love flying, love sharing the experience too.

Oh, nobody could ever put me off anything. In my 40s now, so I developed my own mind and stubborness years ago 😉

I finally got around to reading Mathias' post.  Yeah, still catching up on the forum, a full time job these days.

Sales of P3D stuff is very low.  Well, yeah, thank Microsoft for that for announcing MSFS as early as it did.  They didn't do us any favors.  Then months of teasing which was starting to turn people off.  Then leaked videos on a Chinese site that brought a lot of us back (yeah, me too).  A pre-order system with absolutely no incentive.  Guess which tester(s) haven't pre-ordered. 

He likes P3Dv4.5!  As for v5, "not so much."  A man after my own heart.  If you think MSFS is being touted as the Second Coming, check the P3D forums for v5 opinions compared to v4.

I almost posted once that there would be 1000 newcomers for every established P3D user.  He estimates 500 but says it may be higher.  I suspect he thinks it will be closer to 1000 too, but isn't willing to commit to that.  Yet.

And MSFS is STILL the best flight sim you can imagine.  Warts and all.

Hook

5 minutes ago, March Hare said:

I just don't generally like playing online. I've been gaming since the 80s, on a Spectrum 48K, and I've dabbled in online gaming along the way, but always preferred the solo experience.

Same here. MP is often disappointing. But watch some videos of an You Tuber called Trent Palmer, doing real Cub flying with buddies in the California sierra. FS20 makes you feel like doing the same 😉,
 

 

2 minutes ago, Dominique_K said:

Same here. MP is often disappointing. But watch some videos of an You Tuber called Trent Palmer, doing real Cub flying with buddies in the California sierra. FS20 makes you feel like doing the same 😉,

The great thing about MSFS is that multiplayer is pretty much a default setting, you don't really have to do anything to get it running, it's just a switch to set the visibility of other users, and you have other people flying around you, done.

It's only if you want to get organized and communicate that other factors come into play, but the infrastructure for that is already very well advanced with Discord and a few easily installed apps.

1 hour ago, March Hare said:

I've just bought a Thrustmaster T Flight HOTAS X, and a copy of Ace Combat 7 to "try it out" and satisfy the gamer in me.

My recommended controls, in order of importance:

1. A joystick, preferably with a throttle.  Thrustmaster is a good brand.
2. TrackIR (or VR when you get around to it).  Being able to look around naturally adds more to the entire experience than anything but a joystick.
3. Throttle.  Looks like you may already have one.
4. Rudder Pedals.  These make a big difference in flying and even more so on the ground and are better than a twist grip joystick, which works until you get pedals.  MSFS with the current flight model doesn't need rudder pedals in the air, so hold off on that purchase until it matters.
5. A yoke.  Optional, as you can fly anything with a joystick, but some people like them and swap out depending on what they're flying.  I used to do this.

Lots of people like DCS for air combat or even just flying.  There are a lot of people here flying both.  I haven't tried it myself.

Hook

 

the question is

for how long an xbox user stick with a flight simulator ?

let see in a couple of years; those move very quick from flower to flower

Edited August 16, 20205 yr by arsenal82

4 minutes ago, arsenal82 said:

for how long an xbox user stick with a flight simulator ?

For some of them, years, just like it was for us in the beginning.

You have absolutely NO understanding of what the larger gaming community is like.  But you'll find out, if you stay with MSFS. 😄 

Hook

10 minutes ago, LHookins said:

For some of them, years, just like it was for us in the beginning.

You have absolutely NO understanding of what the larger gaming community is like.  But you'll find out, if you stay with MSFS. 😄 

Hook

i stay with any simulator; 

you say xboxer will stick to it;    and i think not;

to go further; i can see the development of msfs2020 slowing down considerably in a couple of years; i must add; specifically the pc version.

Edited August 16, 20205 yr by arsenal82

2 hours ago, raymar said:

While reading some of the Aerosoft posts this week, this one post by Mathijs Kok really caught my eye.  He projects some staggering numbers.

These are the exact overtures relating to the end of the P3D marketplace I spoke about in another thread. I was speaking mostly of third-party aircraft/tools as it requires far more effort to port these (vice scenery) add-ons from P3D to MFS.  How long do you think Aerosoft, FSLabs and PMDG will employ resources to develop for a sim with 1/500th of the market share? That doesn't make practical business sense...  

Edited August 16, 20205 yr by kingm56