I am sure this will be asked 1,000 times, so I appreciate your patience in advance.

I am a long-time gamer but new to flight sims.  I have enjoyed flight sim videos on youtube for a while and with the advent of MSFS20, I had an idea:

My dad is retired, ex-Navy who was a navigator on nuclear subs.  I suspect if I gifted him a new PC with MSFS20 plus controllers, he would enjoy it very much.  (He played MSFS many many years ago and is computer savvy.)

My questions are:

1) Do you have a buying guide for controllers?  (Yoke, throttle, pedals, etc.)  I see the Logitec throttle and yoke on Amazon running for about $300.  I see the more serious simmers saying they aren't great in the amazon reviews, but many people saying they are good entry-level stuff and they score 4.5 stars out of hundreds of reviews.   Looking for entry level and spending under $500.

2) Should I buy pedals right away or wait?

3) One of my goals is to play remotely with my Dad.  I assume MSFS will allow us to either fly together in separate planes or for one of us to take the role of co-pilot.  Can anyone confirm?

4) Any other advise?

 

Thanks agian!

 

 

Hi, welcome to AVSIM! The only dumb questions are the ones which don't get asked, it is said. 

I cannot really answer your questions fully as far as MSFS goes - I'm on FSX:SE. I use the Thrustmaster HOTAS X stick and throttle (not a yoke) and their Flight Rudder Pedals (TFRP) - both great budget peripherals IMHO.

You may want to head over to the joysticks part of the forums and check out that

https://www.avsim.com/forums/forum/328-hardware-controllers-joysticks-drivers/

Some simmers still fly using keyboards, and my hat is off to them 🍻, but once I'd begun using a flight stick I could never go back. The same when I finally got a throttle to play with and then getting some pedals really was the icing on the cake. What I'm, saying is - go and get the pedals too if you can! (Once you've formulated an opinion based on what is hopefully suggested by others in this thread and or on the internet) 

Enjoy!

Hello and welcome!

1) There is a wide variety out there to suit your needs/wants/price range.  Can you share more info on what you’re looking for?

2) I would say that if you can you should.  Ironically I’ve just sprained my ankle and it’s the first time in a long time I haven’t had full use of my rudder/brake pedals...the work arounds are not great!  So all that to say in addition to being more realistic I think it makes flying easier with them.

3) As of right now you can both fly in separate planes remotely.  If you use the live multiplayer option in the sim you’ll both be in the same virtual world )along with everyone else!). Shared cockpit is not available currently but the dev team are aware that there is interest in it for future development.

4) have fun and ask lots of questions!

It’s awesome that you’re planning to get your dad involved too.  my grandfather was really Into flight sims right up into his mid 80’s (another retired (Canadian) navy vet, worked in aircraft maintenance).  Have fun!

Edited August 19, 20205 yr by regis9

Thank you to both!