I hope Asobo will dedicate time into improving the ATC

[captain420 3,099]

I had basically shut off the built in ATC since a little after release of MSFS because it was terrible. However I just recently turned it back on again and just had a wow moment. I loaded up into KSFO and then heard the ATC talking to the AI traffic by calling the planes callsign, giving them clearance to land and what not, and as I sat on the tarmac with the drone camera can actually see the planes that they are communicating with! It's like real life where you're tuned into Live ATC and then doing some plane spotting. It was a cool experience to have in the sim. If only the ATC can be deeply improved, and I hope Asobo will improve on it. There has never been a real good in-built ATC system in any flight sim that I'm aware of. It would definitely take plane spotting to a whole new level.

Edited October 7, 2021 by captain420

[irocx 293]

Would be nice.

But after SU5 totally reinforced the old adage "be careful what you wish for",  how about we get through SU6 and see where we stand?

[Toneal2 6]

My. main gripe with stock ATC is when nearing an airfield flying a GPS approach. Last night coming into land at ESGG Goteborg I was constantly being told to climb to 10,000 feet about 10 miles from touch down. Ignoring ATC orders - pic rules OK - and switching to an ILS approach (WT Nxi did a brilliant job) and I broke out of cloud almost on top of the runway. Actually my copilot, the resident dog, stirred from her position to nudge me at the crucial moment but all ended well

[Bobsk8 12,887]

10 hours ago, captain420 said:

I had basically shut off the built in ATC since a little after release of MSFS because it was terrible. However I just recently turned it back on again and just had a wow moment. I loaded up into KSFO and then heard the ATC talking to the AI traffic by calling the planes callsign, giving them clearance to land and what not, and as I sat on the tarmac with the drone camera can actually see the planes that they are communicating with! It's like real life where you're tuned into Live ATC and then doing some plane spotting. It was a cool experience to have in the sim. If only the ATC can be deeply improved, and I hope Asobo will improve on it. There has never been a real good in-built ATC system in any flight sim that I'm aware of. It would definitely take plane spotting to a whole new level.

PF3 does the same thing, you hear the controller talking to aircraft you can actually see, unlike some other ATC programs, where the chatter is make believe. 

Edited October 7, 2021 by Bobsk8

[peloto 213]

It can be and must be improved a 1000%, it gives really a huge of immersion like real behavior of traffics AI, the FS2004 two decades ago has the same level approximately, so there is a lot of room for improvement sure, and I hope that too, a "real" ATC.

[ricka47 616]

4 hours ago, Toneal2 said:

My. main gripe with stock ATC is when nearing an airfield flying a GPS approach. Last night coming into land at ESGG Goteborg I was constantly being told to climb to 10,000 feet about 10 miles from touch down. Ignoring ATC orders - pic rules OK - and switching to an ILS approach (WT Nxi did a brilliant job) and I broke out of cloud almost on top of the runway. Actually my copilot, the resident dog, stirred from her position to nudge me at the crucial moment but all ended well

I'm also being told to climb way too high on approach and just ignore it. I don't remember this being an issue in the beginning though. Maybe it was broken somewhere along the way.

[snglecoil 1,829]

Didn’t I hear in the last Q&A that ATC is one of Working Title’s longer term projects? If so, that gives great hope. But given all of the other stuff on their plate, it seems like it may be a while. 

[regis9 4,041]

Improved ATC and whatever is needed under the hood to allow high quality AI traffic to keep that ATC busy (ie AIG) would be the icing on the cake right now.

[jrw4 626]

IF Working Title, or anyone else for that matter, can create software that provides realistic ATC in real time to human pilots, the ICAO, FAA, and most every other similar organization would really want to talk with them. This is a profoundly difficult problem, one that might eventually be addressed using state of the art AI technology. For desktop flight sim, perhaps not so much.

If you want to experience good ATC while flight simming, try one of the online services. In the meantime, have fun and stay safe.

[psolk 3,057]

Just my opinion but I would vastly prefer them to dedicate their time and efforts to a proper SDK that allows weather, AI and ATC control from 3rd party developers who focus on this alone.  

No sim to date has ever "mastered" true ATC and AI including interaction between the two in it's vanilla state but they did offer an SDK that made those capabilities available to 3rd party dev's.  

[Drumcode 1,908]

To be honest, I heard Jorg claim over the last year plus that they would do something, he even mentioned at some point last autumn that Microsoft China is working on something, maybe this went nowhere. This thing needs a lot of work, a lot. I think WT will not work on the ATC itself, but they'll work on the operational IFR functionality and given that they have a ton of work on their plate, I wouldn't expect this any sooner than late 2022 and I'm just speculating. I'm not sure if Matt can confirm their plans, but that would be nice.

[snglecoil 1,829]

@jrw4 you are correct. ATC is infinitely more complex in the real world. I’m hoping that given enough thought and focus from some very smart people, we can get something at least adequate in the sim. For all of its flaws, the original implementation of ATC back in FS2002 was not all that bad for a first attempt. I do see a day when we could get something “good enough” to pass as plausible ATC. 

[DAL488 2]

I also heard Jorg mention Working Title will be taking over ATC improvement.  That is very encouraging news, IMHO!   It needs the dedicated focus of a 3rd party; I really hope we see significant improvements, but I expect it will be a year away.  Still, if WT is lead, then great!

[Republic3D 1,232]

I would love for someone to make a plugin / addon that links FR24 real time data with MSFS. 

And someone like Working Title making a good ATC.

The problems I have with ATC now is that they keep sending me back and forth between different frequencies all the time certain places, and they give wrong altitudes at approach. 

But it's already better than it was at launch.