To answer the original question, I like bushflying, and VFR flying. Flying through the mountains, or along a coast line 50 feet off the deck and putting it down on a smalls strip nestled in the trees, or a beach. Never was really possible before. Love that!

6 hours ago, Chock said:

Ask someone in the street if they've heard of XPlane

That's the company that's planning to fly to Mars, isn't it? 😉

Jokes aside... heartwarming, interesting to read essay. 🙂

What I like most about the reentry of MSFS is that there is more professionalism to it than with XP or P3D. Esepcially with XP (which I use and am greatful for) it took them so long to even get basic things going like 3D airports or a proper airliner with FMC, systems, model all in one. Actually took them until around 2015. Then it went skyrocketing. But it's still dependent on what Anchorman Meyer puts his focus on. And while there are some exquisite community projects (Better Pushback), most things are a patchwork that takes lots of work to make it run satisfyingly.

With MSFS you can be sure they are catering towards their audience. Even if release was rushed for the money. It is the same money they will only get by supporting the sim the way the community wants.

Edited October 4, 20205 yr by tweekz

I started out flying the typical array of rental Cessna's and Pipers. Occasionally a unique opportunity would pop up. Ever flown a Beech Sundowner with oleo struts? Then one day I was offered an opportunity to join a group that owned a Piper J4 (perhaps the ugliest Piper ever produced!). My world changed overnight. Suddenly I became aware of the aircraft as a whole. I started to look outside more than inside. I became conscious of the ocean of air I was flying in - the sounds that air produced as the AC went through it and acted against it. How it pushed back every time I moved a flight surface. The necessity of coordinated flight, and how irritated the AC became when I ignored it or didn't use the controls correctly - and the the scary physical sensations I felt if I erred. I realized I was now flying by "feel and sound" instead of by watching numbers and gauges. I became aware of the third dimension - to me, the most thrilling aspect of flight. Shooting approaches and landings became my favorite activity. Trying to achieve the perfect one was ever elusive. Throw in crosswinds of varying angle and severity and the goal became even more elusive.I began to realize that, for me, sustaining interest in flying meant I was going to dedicate myself to the most elemental types of flight - simple aircraft - seemingly-simple procedures that were based in physics and skill. Yes, I did enjoy the challenge of plotting cross-country flights, but more and more, as I would make regional trips I found that I was most excited to see what kind of landing I would pull off when I reached the next destination. The cruise between points was pleasant, but a bit boring. Over the years I sought out instructors who had access to tail dragger AC in which to do my BFR's. I got to fly an assortment that ranged from historic WWII liason AC, to modern-day Cub versions like the Aviat Huskey ( I longed to own one of those but the largish six-figure purchase requirement put me off!). I even got to fly a couple of Interstate Cadets - two of which were in the air over Ford Island when the Japanese bombed Pearl - Both got down safely through a hail of enemy fire - one completely unscathed, the second with an array of bullet holes in the airframe. The epitome of my low-n-slow flight experience had to be my first homebuilt Experimental, a 90 HP Gyroplane. Flying under a rotor blade offers one of the most unique up-and-down 3D flight experiences available, and you can pull off maneuvers no other AC can match. I now understood that my primary interest in aviation existed at the bottom of the heap rather than the top. I spent my last ten years, before age-related vision loss stepped in and I retired, flying a small open-cockpit Experimental I built from plans, and which took me 20 years to complete. So here we are with MS 2020. I'm never going to pilot an AC again, but I feel like this Sim has the potential to allow me to re-live some of my experiences in a way no other flight sim or flying title has been able to before now. This is largely due to 2020's ability to portray light, atmospheric environment, weather, and a damned good replication of real-world terrain. I am getting some challenging entertainment out of trying to fly with the glass panels, with my head INSIDE the cockpit, but I still find myself most interested, with hand on a stick and my feet on the rudder pedals, in what happens when I arrive at the destination and see that runway coming into view. The more basic aircraft available out of the gate in 2020 are probably more convincing than the more complex birds, and tend to have fewer problems, but I hope their development improves because there's a lot of fun to be had at the bottom of this barrel.

Edited October 4, 20205 yr by Bosco19
grammar

7 hours ago, wthomas33065 said:

Why is every single knob or screen on an Avionics suite or FMC considered a vital component of a serious flight simulator, but a convincing out the window environment considered mere eye candy?  

 

Good grief, guys.

I think we all agree that MSFS is the new standard and the way forward. No doubt. Personally, I would prefer to allow it to mature some more, let the devs iron out whatever's wrong (because of the hurried release) and when the SDK is finally complete and released and third party devs have something they can work with and start producing the add-on aircraft I prefer to fly, then I will have no reason to stick with an older engine, however well developed it may be.

When MSFS was first announced and previewed I had mentioned in an old post how the new platform would render Wx devs and global scenery producers more or less extinct and I was looking forward to not having to wrestle with installation paths and a tonne of add-ons but just have everything set up and ready out of the box rather than having to spend a boatload of money to get the sim looking and feeling halfway decent. But for my type of simming MSFS isn't quite there yet.

I don't understand why people get so defensive about a product that is clearly still in Beta. I very much enjoy the rendering and the graphics of the new sim but it is also very much a work in progress. It's wonderful to watch all the content being produced on YouTube and for VFR flying there is nothing that can come close to the new platform even in these early stages.

It would be a dull and boring world indeed if we all liked the same things. Here's to diversity! 👍

1 hour ago, speedyTC said:

 

I think we all agree that MSFS is the new standard and the way forward. No doubt.

.....

I don't understand why people get so defensive about a product that is clearly still in Beta.

Do you see the contradiction??  🙂

I would like to see the "finished product" before declaring anything about it..

Edited October 4, 20205 yr by Bert Pieke

It's special in so many ways but mostly because it blows you away with the graphics and the aircraft.

That's a Simulator. . .

The immersion is so deep I have to look away now and again.

After a flight I stand in my kitchen and I'm still rocking back and forth like I do after I've sailed my boat. 

It's full on if you want it to be.

Jump on in, take a ride. . .

Edited October 5, 20205 yr by Will Fly For Cheese

6 hours ago, Bert Pieke said:

Do you see the contradiction??  🙂

I would like to see the "finished product" before declaring anything about it..

You do have a point 😉. However, the promise is there.

10 hours ago, speedyTC said:

I don't understand why people get so defensive about a product that is clearly still in Beta.

For one thing, the product is not in Beta. Secondly, people had sky high expectations that Asobo und Microsoft couldn't possibly meet.

it’s a publicly released flight sim now,

& lots of worldwide fun!

45 minutes ago, Ricardo41 said:

For one thing, the product is not in Beta. Secondly, people had sky high expectations that Asobo und Microsoft couldn't possibly meet.

Thats what i call over the top hyped PR. I was warning people pre-release to set their expectations accordingly...but TBH, other then annoying bugs, missing features and performance issues, its a pretty nice sim. Its pretty enough for me being unbale to go back to P3D anymore. Kinda sad because i do miss flying a proper airliner.

Edited October 5, 20205 yr by roi1862

4 minutes ago, roi1862 said:

Thats what i call over the top hyped PR. I was warning people pre-release to set their expectations accordingly...but TBH, other then annoying bugs, missing features and performance issues, its a pretty nice sim. Its pretty enough for me being unbale to go back to P3D anymore. Kinda sad because i do miss flying a proper airliner

One comment for this statement.  WHY are you unable to go back to P3D anymore. Lots of us do and on a regular basis. This way we do NOT miss the "proper airliners"  A few people were short sighted enough (or so they say) to uninstall everything, other than MSFS. THAT is what is "kinda sad"  

Also if you or anybody else, thinks that  that the expectations were unrealistic, (and for many they were) this was a planned and very clever and successful strategy by MSFS to produce precisely those expectations. However, bugs aside, they did provide a very much better base platform than any before it.  So, in reality, regardless of expectations, we have a really good platform which inevitably will get better.

Tony

11 hours ago, speedyTC said:

I think we all agree that MSFS is the new standard and the way forward. No doubt.

There are a lot of people on these forums who don't agree on that at all, I'm afraid.

1 hour ago, Ricardo41 said:

For one thing, the product is not in Beta. 

@Rob_Ainscough

Please explain what beta means.

1 hour ago, himmelhorse said:

1 hour ago, roi1862 said:

 

One comment for this statement.  WHY are you unable to go back to P3D anymore. Lots of us do and on a regular basis. This way we do NOT miss the "proper airliners"  A few people were short sighted enough (or so they say) to uninstall everything, other than MSFS. THAT is what is "kinda sad"  

Simply because after seeing MSFS, P3D simply looks... bad ? outdated? Fake ? Not sure what will be the right definition. 
Its simply the human nature, its very hard to go lower once you experienced something better. Fly business once and flying economy next time will just make you feel bad.

2 minutes ago, roi1862 said:

Simply because after seeing MSFS, P3D simply looks... bad ? outdated? Fake ? Not sure what will be the right definition. 
Its simply the human nature, its very hard to go lower once you experienced something better. Fly business once and flying economy next time will just make you feel bad.

Mate,

I am simply saying that each of these sims offer something different. I simply do not see it as going backwards. I am simply saying that I think it is kinda sad that some feel that it is impossible to go back and forth, to a platform that they once enjoyed. MSFS, as good as it is, is excellent in different ways "at the moment" and will, unless the other platforms improve dramatically in the near future, overtake everything.  That is not to say that the other two are bad or have gone backwards. 

Tony