Time left to fly more important than money ...

1 minute ago, Gate99 said:

I disagree. For the last few weeks all I've been doing is IFR flights. Yes, it has it's bugs, but flying the A320 with the mod  is quite both usable and enjoyable.

I don’t dispute your opinion, but it seems a rare one. I have no interest in tubeliners, but the GA aircraft are basically useless for IFR, unless you’re into handflying, which doesn’t seem to be the case with a lot of people. Are you flying the community modded A320?

1 minute ago, mtr75 said:

I don’t dispute your opinion, but it seems a rare one. I have no interest in tubeliners, but the GA aircraft are basically useless for IFR, unless you’re into handflying, which doesn’t seem to be the case with a lot of people. Are you flying the community modded A320?

Yes I'm using the A320NX mod.

 

1 minute ago, Gate99 said:

Yes I'm using the A320NX mod.

 

That is probably the difference. I say I have no interest in tubeliners, but every so often the mood hits me to hop in the 320 and do a flight where I leave the flying to the copilot and just sit in the left seat and enjoy the view. 

12 minutes ago, mtr75 said:

but the GA aircraft are basically useless for IFR I'm not familiar with IFR procedures hence I stick with what I know

fixed it for ya! 😉

Dip your toe in as inexpensively as you need. Either the XBox version or try it on some friends PC. The game pass is great in this regard.

You'll know right away if this is something that floats your boat; toots your horn or flys your kite. If it doesn't, you're not out much and could probably resell the XBox pretty easily.

On the other hand, if it is 'up your alley, look out 🙂

This hobby is the one for me that, year upon year, stays with me. I spend and spend but never regret it; beyond wishing I'd spent the extra and got the best available or got the bigger storage space.

There's the PC;  the peripherals; the software and add ons.  It does add up. But it's a lot less expensive than owning an aircraft. In fact, it's not that expensive compared to a lot of other hobbies.

25 minutes ago, Ricardo41 said:

fixed it for ya! 😉

Given that I’m instrument rated in real life, no ya didn’t. 

1 hour ago, Ricardo41 said:

fixed it for ya! 😉

Actually, Ricardo, allow me to revise and extend my remarks. 

The OP asked specifically about low and slow VFR flight. And for that, MSFS is magic. Now, if the question is, can you get into these airplanes, turn knobs and expect to be able to fly IFR reasonably well, in my experience the answer to that question is no. The automation in the stock airplanes is as useless as boobs on a bull.

For me personally, I’m instrument rated and fly all my approaches in MSFS and P3D by hand, in airplanes that I fly in real life. But generally speaking that’s not what people seem to be doing in either sim.

So the point is, for users who don’t know how to fly IFR without a reasonably well-functioning autopilot, MSFS just isn’t very useful. Which is outside the scope of what the OP asked, and which is why I generalized the point about IFR in my answer.

So can you fly IFR in MSFS? Sure. But...

Edited October 24, 20205 yr by mtr75

Welcome aboard @dsweingard

Here's my 6 cents from someone who's just started flight simming

Be careful about considering x-box as theirs no date yet for it starting on the platform.

I went game pass to try it out on my pc and then went completely all in on the prem deluxe. I do not regret it. 

However

Don't buy the upgrade path in the game pass store though as they don't include the base game with it!

At this stage any upgrade you do will cost substantially more than if you just buy the deluxe, or premium deluxe option at day one.  Ie buy the one you like and can afford on day one. For example the standard here is $99 and the premium deluxe is $175 inc standard, or i could buy the standard for $99 then spend another $128 to then upgrade to it. Which is $52 more where I live!

You can go Microsoft store or via steam, I went store but I don't believe theirs any significant difference between either.

Nb: I do recommend a decent joystick. I have the thrustmaster airbus edition bought specifically for the simm (never simmed before) and have no idea what it's like flying without one.

 

Lastly the simm IMHO will only get bigger and better, so any pc build you do needs to factor this in. Without knowing your budget, pick your screen resolution, then concentrate on GPU, CPU, SSD then if possible 32 gigs of ram. Mine uses a minimum of 13.7 gigs just doing vfr in the country at 2k resolution, and that's only on high. I've seen it get above 17 a few times. Throw in Windows on top, and we're well above 16 gigs.

Ideally aim at least to the recommended level or above to give you some breathing room.

Good luck with whatever path you decide to do.

Antilles

Edited October 24, 20205 yr by AntillesFlyer
Spelling

5 hours ago, dsweingard said:

SSpending 2k for a hobby might or might not be dumb.

Do what makes you happy.

We live once.

Once.

Sure, sound out advice. But don't procrastinate.

Follow your heart, enjoy - most of all, be happy!

Double post due to no server response. Sort it out, Avsim, or give us a delete button 😁 (Perhaps one exists but I've just not found it after 15 years?!)

Edited October 24, 20205 yr by spacedyemeerkat

12 hours ago, mtr75 said:

Actually, Ricardo, allow me to revise and extend my remarks. 

You're shifting the goal posts around. You claimed that one cannot fly IFR in MSFS. This is factually wrong. Now, if the question is: do the procedures you can execute in the sim match the ones in real life? The answer to that would be, of course, to an extent. If the answer were a resounding yes, MSFS would be on track to be a certified training device.

It's $70 game, we are talking about default aircrafts. 

It's like playing Sniper Elite 4 and then claiming you're now ready to join Special Forces. 

2 hours ago, Ricardo41 said:

You claimed that one cannot fly IFR in MSFS.

Nope. 

17 hours ago, mtr75 said:

VFR low and slow is basically the only use for this simulator at this point.

Short memory span?

36 minutes ago, Ricardo41 said:

Short memory span?

Inability to comprehend what you read? This is what you claimed:

3 hours ago, Ricardo41 said:

You claimed that one cannot fly IFR in MSFS.

Fail. 

Don't play word games with me, Ricardo. You will lose.