P3D or XP will remain the sim of choice for those with low download speeds and there are many of those in the UK and around the world. And there will be some quality aircraft that will never make it into MSFS.

The biggest downside to MSFS for me is them not allowing 3rd party developers access to the weather engine. Why are they so protective?

1 hour ago, Pascal_LSGC said:

Did you read the linked post by Derek (Jusflight)?
Here's an excerpt for you:

I'm really sorry for P3D users. But don't put X-Plane in the same basket please.

Pascal

The reason XP was viable prior to MSFS was that they actually offered an alternative to FSX and XP had some strengths over FSX. No such advantage vs MSFS. It’s over. 

5 minutes ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

P3D or XP will remain the sim of choice for those with low download speeds and there are many of those in the UK and around the world. And there will be some quality aircraft that will never make it into MSFS.

The biggest downside to MSFS for me is them not allowing 3rd party developers access to the weather engine. Why are they so protective?

You can turn online features off in MSFS, including Photogrammetry,  and it still looks 10x better than XP and P3D. I had no problem with my low speed internet with MSFS. And i honestly cannot think of one aircraft that is so good that it would force me to stick with P3D or XP. 

Personally, the last thing i want is to mess with weather engines, or even AI traffic. To me the benefit of MSFS is that those are built in. Been there, done that. Too much messing around with installing updates and keeping everything running. Those days are mostly over, which i think is a huge positive. Jmho. Others have a different take. 

1 minute ago, RobJC said:

And i honestly cannot think of one aircraft that is so good that it would force me to stick with P3D or XP. 

I can. Concorde. There’ll never be a quality version for MSFS.

2 minutes ago, RobJC said:

Personally, the last thing i want is to mess with weather engines, or even AI traffic.

Hi-Fi had been successful for years with their products for FSX/P3D. I remain unimpressed with the lack of detail in MSFS clouds. Likewise with EA in P3D. The Ai package from AIG is second to none and transforms airports, default or third party.

29 minutes ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

I can. Concorde. There’ll never be a quality version for MSFS.

Hi-Fi had been successful for years with their products for FSX/P3D. I remain unimpressed with the lack of detail in MSFS clouds. Likewise with EA in P3D. The Ai package from AIG is second to none and transforms airports, default or third party.

I guess we will just have to agree to disagree Ray. 😁

2 minutes ago, RobJC said:

I guess we will just have to agree to disagree Ray. 😁

Indeed. 😁

49 minutes ago, RobJC said:

The reason XP was viable prior to MSFS was that they actually offered an alternative to FSX and XP had some strengths over FSX. No such advantage vs MSFS. It’s over. 

Ooooh, what an analysis ! Your market knowledge seems so much deeper than Justflight's.

I'm glad we're on a forum, I wouldn't come closer than this: it seems you would bury alive someone with good vital markers. 😄

Pascal

I fly on FS9 until 2018, and currently still using Win7 (with P3Dv4 and XP11 in OPGL). I don't see why I couldn't hold them until like,er, 2030....

11 hours ago, Glenn Fitzpatrick said:

XPlane was first released in 1995.  Over the years it has manged to co-exist/compete with Microsoft Flight Simulator 5.0/5.1 , FS95, FS98, FS2000, FS2002, FS2004 and FSX .  I cannot see XPlane suddenly failing after 26 years just because MSFS has been released.

 

I can. It's the scenery. XP can compete, especially for new flight simmers, only if it finds a way to have real-world satellite imagery, which now appears very unlikely.

1 hour ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

The biggest downside to MSFS for me is them not allowing 3rd party developers access to the weather engine. Why are they so protective?

Same for me.

It could be that they want to protect their proprietary weather engine.  However, they could allow 3rd party development and still protect their code by requiring NDAs.

Dave

1 hour ago, RobJC said:

You can turn online features off in MSFS, including Photogrammetry,  and it still looks 10x better than XP and P3D

Regarding those with poor download speeds they first have to download a mammoth file and perhaps more than once. How is that even possible with 2Mb connections? In short, it's not a viable option.

I realise P3D and probably XP require downloading but those are far smaller and no have enforced updates.

3 hours ago, mikealpha said:

Quite weird to read such statements from Justflight. They have abandoned their P3D products all of a sudden half a year ago. Their BAe146 P3D version got the last update December last year and since then silence. The much needed and promised FMC update and other needed fixes never made it. Their external FMS developer is not able to update in half a year? Come on... 

I am certainly not one of these P3D customers  buying their MSFS stuff now. I am done with Justflight. 

They are just following the money trail That's business. 

20 minutes ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

Regarding those with poor download speeds they first have to download a mammoth file and perhaps more than once. How is that even possible with 2Mb connections? In short, it's not a viable option.

I realise P3D and probably XP require downloading but those are far smaller and no have enforced updates.

What percentage of users have that slow an internet connection? 

1 minute ago, Bobsk8 said:

What percentage of users have that slow an internet connection? 

In the real world not many, the modern world lives on phones and internet.

In flight simming. where the average user is actually older than the average Harley owner ... possibly quite a lot.

Though if P3D survives because your average "study level" simmer is old and has ancient internet all the more kudos to P3D .

2 hours ago, RobJC said:

And i honestly cannot think of one aircraft that is so good that it would force me to stick with P3D or XP. 
 

I could think of dozens. At the moment most MSFS airplanes are toy planes for the gamers. It doesn’t exactly inspire confidence to switch right now.