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Yoochem

MSFS and tourism

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On 3/5/2021 at 10:41 AM, bobcat999 said:

It certainly has for me! 

I have spent time flying around Utah in MSFS after I saw videos and photos from some other MSFS users, and I was amazed by the quantity and variation of the beautiful scenery. 
Utah is certainly one of the most beautiful states in the US, and I didn't realise it before.  Me and the wife now have it on the radar to fly/drive some of the routes through the Utah when things return to some level of normality.

Before this in MSFS, I didn't realise there was so much there to see and enjoy - my only interest before this in the US was returning to Florida as often as I could.

In MSFS, I have flown around every part of Utah and the wife has taken a real interest, and then followed this up by watching YouTube videos of the areas where we can.  In Utah, so far, in MSFS we have found and 'flown' around - Salt Lake City and the Great Salt Lake, Moab area and the colourful Potash Ponds (I first saw them in MSFS in someone's YouTube video), Bryce Canyon, Zion National Park, Dead Horse Sate Park, Canyonlands, Bonneville Salt Flats, Arches National Park, Snow Canyon, Goblin Valley...  The list goes on!  Definitely a three week touring holiday in there somewhere! 😀

We have also done recent 'MSFS reconnaissance' missions around the Canary Islands, Montenegro, and the Swiss, Austrian and Italian Alps, and even planned a driving route for this as a 'backup holiday', which is easy enough now with the Eurotunnel.

 

Hey that's super interesting @bobcat999! On a personal note, I'd love to check out Utah in MFS myself now after your enthusiastic reply :-) I like the way in which you call them reconnaissance missions, it makes a lot of sense. Do you and your wife use MFS together? And when you flew around these other places, were there any that you didn't find so attractive (i.e., places that are now off the 'backup list')? If so, why?

 

On 3/5/2021 at 11:50 AM, hjsmuc said:

I don't think that it does that for me. Let's take an example: I'd like to visit Roatan or St. Barth one day. Now, while the MSFS depiction of the islands is very nice (Roatan with a mod), it does not inspire me more than what I see on videos or google earth pictures of the real thing. What the sim can do though, is help relive moments of places I visited and liked, or places where I had a home in previous times. 

This is great stuff @hjsmuc, thanks so much for elaborating. You see, your reply differs a lot from that of @bobcat999's and I'm really interested to learn what might be the reason. Do you (both of you) have any idea why one might find inspiration for travel why the other does not? 

And just a specific question for you @hjsmuc: wherein lies the power of the sim for you in reliving you previously visited/liked places?

 

 

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3 hours ago, Yoochem said:

1.  Hey that's super interesting @bobcat999! On a personal note, I'd love to check out Utah in MFS myself now after your enthusiastic reply :-) I like the way in which you call them reconnaissance missions, it makes a lot of sense. Do you and your wife use MFS together? And when you flew around these other places, were there any that you didn't find so attractive (i.e., places that are now off the 'backup list')? If so, why?

2.  This is great stuff @hjsmuc, thanks so much for elaborating. You see, your reply differs a lot from that of @bobcat999's and I'm really interested to learn what might be the reason. Do you (both of you) have any idea why one might find inspiration for travel why the other does not? 

1.  The wife doesn't fly in MSFS (although strangely, she has flown a helicopter in real life and I haven't! :biggrin:), but she prefers to watch over my shoulder, or watch the little bits of video from MSFS that I put up on the big screen in the lounge.  We will then go into YouTube to look at the places in real life and see if there are any tips and advice for travelling in those areas. 

For places that didn't seem so attractive, yes.  For example, Florida can look very flat and boring from MSFS, but we know it isn't, and we will keep going back as we love it, so the negative effects don't really take much precedence, only the positive.  It might have more effect for a place we have not yet visited, but we always back this up with other information anyway, such as YouTube reviews of the area.  YouTube is another major influence, as there are so many beautiful videos of places to visit around the world, especially the relaxation videos, we just let them run for hours sometimes.

2.  The differences is we are just different people with a different outlook! :biggrin:  I actually agree with hjsmuc on the points talked about; I can relive a past journey or holiday when revisiting it in MSFS, and there are some places I already want to go (such as St. Bart's as well actually), and MSFS will have no influence on us, so it sounds like I just seek out interesting places in the sim (as just another source of information), that might be the only difference.  Watching other people's videos of places in MSFS has also triggered a lot of interest.  As I mentioned, we saw a video in MSFS of the colourful potash lakes in Utah.  I didn't think it was real, or thought the colours were over enhanced for the video, but when I checked, I was surprised, and I started looking at other parts of Utah.  I already knew about Glen Canyon, but that was about it.  I was quite amazed at the varied and beautiful landscapes when I was flying around in MSFS.  If you live in Utah, you are lucky! 

Edited by bobcat999

Call me Bob or Rob, I don't mind, but I prefer Rob.

I like to trick airline passengers into thinking I have my own swimming pool in my back yard by painting a large blue rectangle on my patio.

Intel 14900K in a Z790 motherboard with water cooling, RTX 4080, 32 GB 6000 CL30 DDR5 RAM, W11 and MSFS on Samsung 980 Pro NVME SSD's.  Core Isolation Off, Game Mode Off.

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22 hours ago, kt069 said:

Hi;

Please also check this nice addon related to your topic; https://flightsim.to/file/7898/bushtalk-radio-client-audio-tours-from-your-cockpit

BushTalk Radio (Audio Tours in the Cockpit)

Hey that's a great one, hadn't heard of this before. Thanks! I've contacted the creator to see if he's up for a chat about what inspired him to make this.

21 hours ago, bobcat999 said:

1.  The wife doesn't fly in MSFS (although strangely, she has flown a helicopter in real life and I haven't! :biggrin:), but she prefers to watch over my shoulder, or watch the little bits of video from MSFS that I put up on the big screen in the lounge.  We will then go into YouTube to look at the places in real life and see if there are any tips and advice for travelling in those areas. 

For places that didn't seem so attractive, yes.  For example, Florida can look very flat and boring from MSFS, but we know it isn't, and we will keep going back as we love it, so the negative effects don't really take much precedence, only the positive.  It might have more effect for a place we have not yet visited, but we always back this up with other information anyway, such as YouTube reviews of the area.  YouTube is another major influence, as there are so many beautiful videos of places to visit around the world, especially the relaxation videos, we just let them run for hours sometimes.

2.  The differences is we are just different people with a different outlook! :biggrin:  I actually agree with hjsmuc on the points talked about; I can relive a past journey or holiday when revisiting it in MSFS, and there are some places I already want to go (such as St. Bart's as well actually), and MSFS will have no influence on us, so it sounds like I just seek out interesting places in the sim (as just another source of information), that might be the only difference.  Watching other people's videos of places in MSFS has also triggered a lot of interest.  As I mentioned, we saw a video in MSFS of the colourful potash lakes in Utah.  I didn't think it was real, or thought the colours were over enhanced for the video, but when I checked, I was surprised, and I started looking at other parts of Utah.  I already knew about Glen Canyon, but that was about it.  I was quite amazed at the varied and beautiful landscapes when I was flying around in MSFS.  If you live in Utah, you are lucky! 

Thanks for the detailed reply, this really clarifies some things for me 🙂 My partner is also hesitant to take controls (although she did do a landing once!) but is happy to take some 'co-pilot tasks' such as contacting air traffic control and doing the navigation. How did this work for you two? Was it accidental that she started getting involved a little, or did you plan to enjoy MFS in this way when you bought it?

Related to your other points: if I understand correctly, you're saying that MFS has become one source (out of many) for getting travel inspiration. What makes it different or what does it add to these other sources such as Youtube for you?

 

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Just as a sidenote and why I love MSFS so much meanwhile:

 

I used to do some journeys through the Sahara with my Motorcycle many (too many) years ago, e.g. Algeria.

With MSFS it is the first time ever I can visit these places again what is due to the political and safety situation (beside the pandemic) in these countries not possible.

But I was really flashed to see the Oasis I was, even the campsite could be identified. I was flying along the exact route through the dunes we also where driving with our bikes. I really could identify dunes and could compare them with fotos. You could imagine that gives me a thrill and goosebumps to see that again.

 

Just as example ... and I have visited other locations also in Europe I have been ... very exciting!

Thats why I love MSFS ... yes, it is certainly more a landscape simulator for me curently. But I like it!

 

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Guenter Steiner
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31 minutes ago, Yoochem said:

1.  Thanks for the detailed reply, this really clarifies some things for me 🙂 My partner is also hesitant to take controls (although she did do a landing once!) but is happy to take some 'co-pilot tasks' such as contacting air traffic control and doing the navigation. How did this work for you two? Was it accidental that she started getting involved a little, or did you plan to enjoy MFS in this way when you bought it?

2.  Related to your other points: if I understand correctly, you're saying that MFS has become one source (out of many) for getting travel inspiration. What makes it different or what does it add to these other sources such as Youtube for you?

1.  My wife loves aircraft, but has no real interest in pretending to pilot them in a flight sim :smile:.  She tends to watch when I am flying around potential new places to visit.  It only really started when the scenery got as real as it looks in MSFS.  I previously had FSX, P3D, and Xplane, and although the Orbx packs were quite good, there is something about the lighting in MSFS that really brings out the scenery.  We didn't plan this; I showed her the new sim in August when it launched, and she immediately said "hey, have a look at 'X', or fly around 'Y' and see if we can spot the building where we stayed".  Then it moved on to looking at new places. 

2.  This is an easy one to answer!  Although there are lots of good tourism videos out there, with MSFS you can fly around for as long as you like and see the landscape from any angle you choose.  You can take in the big picture.  One example - We did this when looking at the Avala resort and villas, in Budva, Montenegro (yes - on our list 😀).  Although the videos are good, Google maps etc. don't do it justice.  By flying around the area in MSFS, you can easily see where it is in relation to the Old Town and beaches etc. It gives you an 'extra' feel for the place that videos and maps don't bring on their own.  Plus you can fly around for as long as you like, and even find other places of interest to visit, and judge travelling time to them etc. I hope that helps.  As usual with people from the Netherlands, your English is excellent!

Edited by bobcat999

Call me Bob or Rob, I don't mind, but I prefer Rob.

I like to trick airline passengers into thinking I have my own swimming pool in my back yard by painting a large blue rectangle on my patio.

Intel 14900K in a Z790 motherboard with water cooling, RTX 4080, 32 GB 6000 CL30 DDR5 RAM, W11 and MSFS on Samsung 980 Pro NVME SSD's.  Core Isolation Off, Game Mode Off.

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On 3/7/2021 at 9:31 AM, Yoochem said:

why one might find inspiration for travel why the other does not? 

And just a specific question for you @hjsmuc: wherein lies the power of the sim for you in reliving you previously visited/liked places

I guess the first question is not easy to answer. Some may get a stronger appeal from a 3D scenery on a PC, others by pictures and stories. All three together can blend in nicely, depending on location, time, season and mood. Similar to movies, new CGI filled ones are graphically impressive yet often quite empty regarding the storyline.

For reliving a visited place the highest accuracy of the sim plays an important role. So, at least for me, the better the similarity with the real world, the easier it can bring back certain memories. 

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Hans

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On 3/8/2021 at 10:47 AM, guenseli said:

Just as a sidenote and why I love MSFS so much meanwhile:

 

I used to do some journeys through the Sahara with my Motorcycle many (too many) years ago, e.g. Algeria.

With MSFS it is the first time ever I can visit these places again what is due to the political and safety situation (beside the pandemic) in these countries not possible.

But I was really flashed to see the Oasis I was, even the campsite could be identified. I was flying along the exact route through the dunes we also where driving with our bikes. I really could identify dunes and could compare them with fotos. You could imagine that gives me a thrill and goosebumps to see that again.

 

Just as example ... and I have visited other locations also in Europe I have been ... very exciting!

Thats why I love MSFS ... yes, it is certainly more a landscape simulator for me curently. But I like it!

 

Hah that's amazing! I recognise the feeling. Did you have a similar feeling of amazement when flying over new locations as well sometimes?

On 3/8/2021 at 10:53 AM, bobcat999 said:

1.  My wife loves aircraft, but has no real interest in pretending to pilot them in a flight sim :smile:.  She tends to watch when I am flying around potential new places to visit.  It only really started when the scenery got as real as it looks in MSFS.  I previously had FSX, P3D, and Xplane, and although the Orbx packs were quite good, there is something about the lighting in MSFS that really brings out the scenery.  We didn't plan this; I showed her the new sim in August when it launched, and she immediately said "hey, have a look at 'X', or fly around 'Y' and see if we can spot the building where we stayed".  Then it moved on to looking at new places. 

2.  This is an easy one to answer!  Although there are lots of good tourism videos out there, with MSFS you can fly around for as long as you like and see the landscape from any angle you choose.  You can take in the big picture.  One example - We did this when looking at the Avala resort and villas, in Budva, Montenegro (yes - on our list 😀).  Although the videos are good, Google maps etc. don't do it justice.  By flying around the area in MSFS, you can easily see where it is in relation to the Old Town and beaches etc. It gives you an 'extra' feel for the place that videos and maps don't bring on their own.  Plus you can fly around for as long as you like, and even find other places of interest to visit, and judge travelling time to them etc. I hope that helps.  As usual with people from the Netherlands, your English is excellent!

1. That's a great comparison between MSFS2020 and previous flight sims, thanks! I think that really captures the reason why I think this is really a big step in the development of virtual tourism - the accuracy (and lighting, indeed) of the scenery has become so high level that it captures people's attention more... and takes them on an (imaginary) adventure. What do you think?

2. That makes a lot of sense actually, thanks for elaborating! In addition to your point, I'm starting to get the feeling that perhaps because we are 'limited' in our movement as in real life, and only really take one perspective usually (from the plane), that the experience feels more true to real life than e.g. scrolling over Google Maps. And thanks for the compliment, it probably helped that I lived in New Zealand for some time as well 😉

On 3/8/2021 at 1:43 PM, hjsmuc said:

I guess the first question is not easy to answer. Some may get a stronger appeal from a 3D scenery on a PC, others by pictures and stories. All three together can blend in nicely, depending on location, time, season and mood. Similar to movies, new CGI filled ones are graphically impressive yet often quite empty regarding the storyline.

For reliving a visited place the highest accuracy of the sim plays an important role. So, at least for me, the better the similarity with the real world, the easier it can bring back certain memories. 

Hey that's an interesting point hjsmuc. Do you mean that in MFS you 'miss' the story of a place (if we are talking about travel inspiration)? And when you relive these memories, do you feel like visiting the place again (perhaps imagining going again) or is it more like looking at old photos for you?

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Just now, Yoochem said:

Did you have a similar feeling of amazement when flying over new locations as well sometimes?

 

Yes, indeed!

After that experience described above, it is the first time in my long sim career that I leave known terrain. I had a bunch of scenery enhancements for the other sim(s), mainly europe and seldom left this region, because it was to ugly to look out of the window.

No I start to explore, mainly desert regions. I'm "currently on my way" from Egypt to the arabian peninsula. Astonishing!

 


Guenter Steiner
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Betatester for: A2A, LORBY, FSR-Pillow Tester
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9 hours ago, Yoochem said:

Do you mean that in MFS you 'miss' the story of a place

Not necessarily as a result of looking at one sim or another. What I meant is that a story complements each picture even if the picture is already telling a story.

 

9 hours ago, Yoochem said:

do you feel like visiting the place again

Yes, if the depiction is good. 


Hans

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On 3/10/2021 at 8:03 AM, guenseli said:

 

Yes, indeed!

After that experience described above, it is the first time in my long sim career that I leave known terrain. I had a bunch of scenery enhancements for the other sim(s), mainly europe and seldom left this region, because it was to ugly to look out of the window.

No I start to explore, mainly desert regions. I'm "currently on my way" from Egypt to the arabian peninsula. Astonishing!

 

Cool! So I guess that the new lighting/terrain/live map data really changes your experience compared to other sims? And on a note related to my research: do you travel much guenseli? I wonder how you see your sim experiences in relation to that. Does it make you want to visit these new places? Or do you reckon you won't actually travel to (all of) them, so you can see them through MFS?

 

On 3/10/2021 at 5:37 PM, hjsmuc said:

Not necessarily as a result of looking at one sim or another. What I meant is that a story complements each picture even if the picture is already telling a story.

 

Yes, if the depiction is good. 

Okay so I have to ask; when is the depiction good (enough)? Do you have any examples? 🙂

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Hi,

some people think I am a little crazy about my flightsim experience, and I think they got right, but this doesnt boder me.😲

I do this since FS 2004 that I fly in this way. I never care about "realismen in planes", standard allways enough for me, my preferences where in scenery.

Also, I got a Homecockpit with all buttons and gauges, so a good aircraft.cfg and sound is all I need.

I fly arround the world and always starts where I landed a day before, never use the menu to get somewhere else. It´s hard when good scenerys comes out and I am on the other side of the world.🤣

The next level for this is after landing: I look for videos they bring me from the Airport to the city, also look Comercials from the local hotels and take a walk in the city by youtube.

Or with the new MSFS I take the drone and fly to the beach to look to a sundown, its so fantastic!!

This is the nearest to a holiday at the moment.

I compare it sometime on places where I stay in real life and it is not so bad.

The last 6 Month I fly all over in North and South-America, visit Macho Pichu, Couzco, LaPaz, Rio, New York, Grand Canyon, Monumenth Valley and many more.

Never will see all these places in real life.

Call me crazy, but I love it!

 

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Stephan from Germany

 

My System

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@Yoochem I've sent you a PM!


Guenter Steiner
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Betatester for: A2A, LORBY, FSR-Pillow Tester
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On 3/12/2021 at 9:26 AM, sal9000 said:

Hi,

some people think I am a little crazy about my flightsim experience, and I think they got right, but this doesnt boder me.😲

I do this since FS 2004 that I fly in this way. I never care about "realismen in planes", standard allways enough for me, my preferences where in scenery.

Also, I got a Homecockpit with all buttons and gauges, so a good aircraft.cfg and sound is all I need.

I fly arround the world and always starts where I landed a day before, never use the menu to get somewhere else. It´s hard when good scenerys comes out and I am on the other side of the world.🤣

The next level for this is after landing: I look for videos they bring me from the Airport to the city, also look Comercials from the local hotels and take a walk in the city by youtube.

Or with the new MSFS I take the drone and fly to the beach to look to a sundown, its so fantastic!!

This is the nearest to a holiday at the moment.

I compare it sometime on places where I stay in real life and it is not so bad.

The last 6 Month I fly all over in North and South-America, visit Macho Pichu, Couzco, LaPaz, Rio, New York, Grand Canyon, Monumenth Valley and many more.

Never will see all these places in real life.

Call me crazy, but I love it!

 

 

Hi Stephan! Thanks so much for sharing, that's such a great story! I think people might just envy you during these times instead of calling you crazy actually! At least, I know I envy you: while my partner and I fly together from place to place about once a week, we have to do so using a joystick and a screen. It must be a great experience to actually fly around like that in a complete home cockpit.

Did you build this already before Covid/MFS came out (for other flight sims)? And what persuaded you to invest the time and money to do this? I'm still quite new to the world of flight sims so to me it's really fascinating!

The obvious advantage to the aviation experience aside, do you think the home cockpit also adds something to your virtual travel experience? And if so, how exactly? 

And now that you've visited these places digitally, do you think you're okay with never seeing all those places for real? Did you decide this before, or after flying around them?

I know, lots of questions, but I'm very curious haha!

 

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2 hours ago, Yoochem said:

Hi Stephan! Thanks......

Hi, thanks for answer, well its starts at 1995 that I remember the first flightsim that I used in the late 80s by a FS 3.0 on a old IBM XT.

Theres a picture with my son how it looks at 1996

http://www.vulcanier-germany.net/hal9000/Flusi/History/Bild29.jpg

Then I am flying for years like "normal people" with one screen on a normal desk because monitors are very heavy an exspensive at this time. In 2013 my wife got a new bigger Monitor and the old one was working, so I start to think, I can fly with one Monitor and got instruments on the other monitor. Also found a third monitor for less money and I got this and this was the start for a long way to the rig today.

http://www.vulcanier-germany.net/hal9000/Flusi/History/IMG676.jpg

After a view weeks I decided to kill my moneypic and buy me 3 monitors of the same kind

http://www.vulcanier-germany.net/hal9000/Flusi/History/DSCN0558 (Small).JPG

Next was, I need a moving map, to know where I am and found a old mobilphone to use it.

http://www.vulcanier-germany.net/hal9000/Flusi/History/DSCN0565 (Small).JPG

Now I know how to build a homecockpit without making tons of wirering for the instruments by using tablets that also not pressing the performance of the flightsim (FSX at this time)

Looks realy ugly the first step, but makes a lot of fun

http://www.vulcanier-germany.net/hal9000/Flusi/History/DSCN0655 (Large).JPG

And at nightime it looks great

http://www.vulcanier-germany.net/hal9000/Flusi/History/DSCN0654 (Medium).JPG

So, in 2016 my wife is not realy longer amused about the look in the livingroom and she told me that I got to go downstairs in the basement with tis ugly thing or I had to made it nice looking.

The goal was to have a working desk and a Homecockpit in one place.

So that has to be a convertible Cockpit.

That was the start of my Homecockpit which I used until today.

There is a video how I made it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sx0FPDg81zk

And this video is how it works today

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21iOB7v-ysI

I hope you like it and don´t hesitate to ask me any question.

 

 

 


Stephan from Germany

 

My System

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