Thanks to @Republic3D for his post - I'd not heard of this place but after seeing his pix I had to go take a look. The place itself is quite something, but also the ground covered on the way there is pretty special as well. I will definitely be spending more time exploring this part of the world. I've never bothered much in P3D/XP as the scenery there is not very good, but what I've seen so far in MSFS has been stunning. I shall keep an eye out for animated sandworms! (but if I see Sting I shall consider that an easter egg too far).

So, setting off from GQPA -

heading NE (probably about 100 km to Richat) there seem to be a series of escarpments along the route. More exploration to be done here I think

And there's our target, up ahead

This is as high as I could get the drone cam. Looks a bit fishy to me!

Feels very other-worldly here, and that moon just adds to the feeling. I can just image the feeling of calm and quite and still down there.

Not sure if you can see in the above shot (you can if you max it on a large monitor) but there seems to be some kind of structure down there (down a bit for the tail wheel in this pic). So down I went with the drone, and found this -

So, that's either the Richat Marriot, or the software that generates buildings has spotted something and misinterpreted it. There's nothing there on Google Earth that I could see, so I assume it's an error. Hope so, if it is a Marriot it's gonna be pretty quiet there of an evening.

I'm so happy I inspired you to go have a look yourself!

It surely looks Dune like, beware of the sand worms 😄

You're flying a more proper aircraft as well. I was just a bit impatient when I chose the TBM930, knowing I would get there faster. But this whole region is surely something to explore with a bit slower bushplane like the Cub. It's so unique!

The last building is an interesting find, I remember reading somewhere that this is an old 17th century fort, which the algorythm has obviously interpreted as a warehouse. But if you see opposite sides of the structure, it's got towers. I think they need to include an "old fort" building archetype as well. 😄

The third to last image is absolutely amazing. It surely does look like an eye. No wonder it's being called The Eye of Sahara.

Edited December 29, 20205 yr by Republic3D

1 hour ago, Republic3D said:

The last building is an interesting find, I remember reading somewhere that this is an old 17th century fort, which the algorythm has obviously interpreted as a warehouse.

Ah, interesting. I'll go back and look more closely on Google Earth to see what I can find there. I just assumed it was a random placement error.  As for using a faster/slower aircraft - I cheat. I've got a couple of buttons on the XBox controller I use for the drone cam set up to speed up/slow down the sim rate. That lets me use things like the Cub and still move around reasonably quickly when I want to.

Realy great shots, have to take a look there someone..

 

cheers 😉

20 hours ago, Republic3D said:

I remember reading somewhere that this is an old 17th century fort,

Yep, I went back and looked more closely on Google Earth and there it is. The sim may not have had a fort to put there, but it looks about the right dimensions, shape and location, so all in all I'm actually pretty impressed.

It's right in the centre of the image in the first picture, not hugely visible but possible blown up on a big monitor

Nice one, Asobo!

Wow!!

There it is. Nearly impossible to see in the first image, but clear in the second one. 

I think this really says something about the ability of the AI that is interpreting the satellite / aerial images. 

Fascinating!

On 12/29/2020 at 5:09 PM, andy1252 said:

but if I see Sting I shall consider that an easter egg too far

Sting, or Sting oiled-up in his winged Speedos??  

6 hours ago, HighBypass said:

or Sting oiled-up in his winged Speedos??

Yep, that's the scary one!