I'm curious what Real-World pilots think of the Air Races, particularly from the standpoint of if it might make better pilots of some of us.

I have some RW pilot experience in the C172 and have been simming for many years. I had no plans to use the Air Races but bought the expansion just to support MS/Asobo. I'll probably not use the additional planes for normal sim flights unless they are modded as they seem to be what you'd expect for default aircraft.

Since I paid for the expansion I tried the Air Races out on a whim and was pleasantly surprised at a couple things. I expected it to be fairly boring but found it to be quite a bit of fun.

What I also found interesting was that since there is an actual circular course and not just a plain circle I found it very challenging. Trying to maintain a fairly small altitude range, properly apex the corners, while making high-g turns at high speed was stimulating. I have spent years earlier in life auto-crossing and found this similar, trying to maximize speed and minimize mistakes to get the best possible time or win the race.

The big standout for me in regards to piloting was realizing how bad I am at coordinate turns. I assume my times would be much better if I wasn't sliding around the turns. Trying to make high-speed turns in that narrow altitude range while also planning my approach to each pylon I found stimulating, fun, and challenging and I think might improve my piloting skills. I found I coordinated my turns better and placed the plane in better positions going around the pylons as I got more time racing in the aircraft.

Has anyone else had similar experiences with the addon?

Yes I found it interesting too. Basically you have to manage your energy wisely and use fitness stick and rudder skill to follow the path.

Did you have to manage prop, mixture, water injection, nitrous, temps, rpm, manifold pressure, trim, telemetry and comms with ground crew? Very Fun but a little too Game-like. Firewall the throttle balls out! 

9 minutes ago, Cayenne said:

Did you have to manage prop, mixture, water injection, nitrous, temps, rpm, manifold pressure, trim, telemetry and comms with ground crew? Very Fun but a little too Game-like. Firewall the throttle balls out! 

You know you can have fun with this hobby not everything has to be study level... 😀 haha

12 minutes ago, Cayenne said:

Did you have to manage prop, mixture, water injection, nitrous, temps, rpm, manifold pressure, trim, telemetry and comms with ground crew? Very Fun but a little too Game-like. Firewall the throttle balls out! 

Ha - no. I just won my first race in the T-6 and it was just throttle maxed the whole time. So no system manipulation, but I still had to try and out-fly my competitors.

I generally do like to sim with something approaching study-level, but the race I just did was a blast. I was in 3rd place most of the race right behind two fairly equally skilled pilots, and I just barely got around them to take the win in the very last lap.

I don't know if you can actually crash into a competitor; I assume not, but trying to pass other aircraft in close proximity and not crash into them or the ground I found quite entertaining. And I think I am still improving my turn coordination which I hope will benefit me the next time I get in the TBM, XCub, or DC-6... 😄

52 minutes ago, ZoblebV8 said:

I had no plans to use the Air Races but bought the expansion just to support MS/Asobo.

Support them? They’re not skint… 

4 minutes ago, Ianrivaldosmith said:

Support them? They’re not skint… 

Indeed.. Fancy spending money on something you wont use just to "support" the corporate word not allowed cashcow that is Microsoft.  People are strange...

Edited November 19, 20214 yr by The Moose

24 minutes ago, ZoblebV8 said:

I don't know if you can actually crash into a competitor; I assume not

You can. I have lost races because I have collided with other aircraft. I have also won races because other people have collided. When you crash it puts you back in the race but further back.

49 minutes ago, Cayenne said:

Did you have to manage prop, mixture, water injection, nitrous, temps, rpm, manifold pressure, trim, telemetry and comms with ground crew? Very Fun but a little too Game-like. Firewall the throttle balls out! 

X Box flyers will love it. 

Lately I have been flying Helis, the B47 and the H145. They are fantastic and pretty hard to fly well in realistic mode.

It is really a nice change to just go out and beat up fast planes around Reno course. Very easy but lots of subtle skill required to make fast lap times. A great brake from Helis.

I don't think they make you a better pilot, but a better gamer at this kind of racing. It is not very realistic as far as managing MP, RPM, temps and G-loads. So you really don't learn how to fly these complex racing machines.

It is definitely just a video game. But that is a nice brake from study level planes actually. Or the intense concentration needed to fly a Heli landing on tight heli pads over a city at night.

So I give Reno Races a big thumb up for fun. It is not real simulation  at all, but a true video game. Whereas other parts of FS2020 is really very realistic and quite good at training for real world flying.

Does anyone remember the Red Bull races in FSX you could smoke that engine in seconds by being a dumbass gamer. It had some pretty decent engine management...

17 minutes ago, 177B said:

It is definitely just a video game. But that is a nice brake from study level planes actually. Or the intense concentration needed to fly a Heli landing on tight heli pads over a city at night.

So I give Reno Races a big thumb up for fun. It is not real simulation  at all, but a true video game. Whereas other parts of FS2020 is really very realistic and quite good at training for real world flying.

I've bought it, just as a stress reliever, have some fun....

9 minutes ago, 177B said:

So I give Reno Races a big thumb up for fun. It is not real simulation  at all, but a true video game. Whereas other parts of FS2020 is really very realistic and quite good at training for real world flying.

Curious - do you think the simulation aspect is so far off in the racing plane models being too arcadish with unrealistic handling that it's not useful for less skilled/sim pilots to gain some stick and rudder skill? Do you think it could be a detriment?

3 minutes ago, ZoblebV8 said:

Curious - do you think the simulation aspect is so far off in the racing plane models being too arcadish with unrealistic handling that it's not useful for less skilled/sim pilots to gain some stick and rudder skill? Do you think it could be a detriment?

No I don't think it can hurt your skills in other aspects of simming or real world flying.

It is just for fun, if you like some fast action. It definitely takes a lot of skill to be at the top, however that skill probably does not make you a better GA pilot. Just my opinion.

13 minutes ago, ZoblebV8 said:

Curious - do you think the simulation aspect is so far off in the racing plane models being too arcadish with unrealistic handling that it's not useful for less skilled/sim pilots to gain some stick and rudder skill? Do you think it could be a detriment?

Maybe for water bombing, combat, crop dusting, insect spraying. Not sure what other aviation activity this would apply to...