Accurate Simulator for Real Life Practice

[SGPilot88 0]

Hello,

I am a student planning to take a Private Pilot License and is looking for a simulator. I been googling and watching YouTube of mainly 3 software but cannot come to a conclusion

1) MSFS 2020,  2) XPlane11, 3) P3D

I need a software that is most accurate in terms of flight physics as I want to practice maneuvers outside a normal flight envelope. Such as accident barrel rolls and vertical flights...etc. 

I have a high end computer and  willing to pay for pay ware planes.   Plane type will range from GA to Airlines.

The most important solo goal is the accuracy of the flight modelling and weather dynamics. 

 

 

[LRBS 948]

I would wait for a while before purchasing anything right now.

The reasoning is that it will be a new version for Xplane coming out shortly.

As a real-world pilot regarding aircraft flight modeling physics, my preference is XPlane 11 followed by P3D. Msfs 2020 has a long way to get there but nice visuals.

I fly the "super" category and am not quite familiar with the GA so can't recommend anything. I can recommend for sure for P3D the Fslabs, there is an MD80 and PMDG for the airliners, they have some shortcomings but are good enough to familiarize or practice as needed. On XP11 has also some good ones but I don't know if they will work with the XP12.

Good luck with the license and welcome on board! I'm sure that you will enjoy and love this unique and challenging adventure as a real pilot. 

Edited January 28, 2022 by Vlad Tepes3

[C2615 319]

If you looking for "practice maneuvers outside a normal flight envelope". then non of them... find a LVL-D simulaor certificated for UPRT is the best choice if you can't do it in real airplane with proper instructor....

If you want some general idea of how airplane would do in such condition, XP might be slightly better, or it's not better than some combat flight sim then, as that's what they are made for... I found some WWII combat sim experience is quite useful in my 737 UPRT training in FFS. 

[Beardyman 604]

A2A with their accu sim and P3D is not the most accurate ?

[jcomm 5,939]

For the kind of desktop-based training you're after, namely "out-of-the-envelope" flight, I'd say none of the mentioned sims will do...

Actually no desktop sim that I have used so far is good enough for that, not to talk about the kind of controllers most of us use in a desktop, but by far IL-2 Great Battles or DCS with some WW2 modules are the closest to the real thing I have used so far.

IL-2 is more expensive to invest in and it's a WW1 / 2 combat flight simulator. DCS is free-2-play and comes with a very good prop module for FREE !!! the TF 51:

IMO ground physics is second to none in IL-2 too. Actually IL-2 is my preferred overall in terms of flight dynamics and physics modelling 🙂

For stuff other than aerobatics, go XP12 when released or even MFS. P3D is good but can be expensive to maintain...

 

Edited January 28, 2022 by jcomm

[AvAngel 306]

Honestly, no sim as others have said is perfect, notably as most of them don't, unless a full motion rig, have the word not allowed in seat feeling... even they aren't that perfect.

Any will do, honestly msfs is fine... for most manouvers, navigation, operation... it helps to practice drills, and does just fine. You won't be able to substitute it for actual flight time...

Chances are you'll be flying a piper, or a small cessna, can do the A2A route for p3d or fsx, but I actually find the visual accuracy out of the window in msfs more useful... the sun glare, the terrain, you'll be flying VFR, OUT the window in flight school for the most part... make that more accurate, deal with landing into the sun's glare, or with clouds that look like actual clouds, and it helps get your headspace right more so.

Just my opinion obviously, but I've yet to fly a sim plane that feels like flying a real one. They can be good, they can be detailed, but its just missing that feeling... Training is about repetition anyway, its about drills, its not just about a-b.

[Chock 17,769]

There is a freebie demo of XPlane, so it won't cost you anything other than the time to download and install it to try that one out, MSFS can be tried out for a couple of quid via an XBox pass, so that's cheap to try out as well. XPlane has its fans and its detractors, but since it can be tried out for free, you can decide for yourself which camp you want to fall into in that regard.

P3D is expensive whichever version you go for, but as a student you can at least legitimately get the cheaper version. Of the three, probably A2A aeroplanes in P3D will be the most 'on the numbers' as far as instrument readings and settings go, but having said that, A2A aeroplanes are for the most part available for the considerably less expensive Steam version of FSX which P3D was developed from, so this is a cheaper route to getting hold of some payware A2A aeroplanes for a flight sim which will not be vastly different from their P3D counterparts in most respects which actually matter from a simulation standpoint.

As Rob points out, for the bigger stuff, I'd agree that the Majestic Dash-8 Q400 (for either FSX or P3D) is probably the best one there is and it also has the virtue of being amongst the least expensive ones to get hold of as well. It was this exact add-on which Richard Russel used to learn how to fly the real Dash 8 Q400 which he stole and flew stunts in for over an hour before deliberately crashing it, which might not be the best advert for the thing, but it does give you some idea of how realistic the thing is in terms of systems simulation and handling.

Contrary to what a lot of people suggest, Microsoft's newest version of Flight Simulator is a good choice since it is cheap to acquire, runs well on even a modest computer, has realistic scenery for most places built-in as standard (which is particularly good for ab-initio pilot training doing circuits and bumps) and comes with a lot of aeroplanes built-in. It might not be the most super-realistic in terms of being 'on the numbers' for control inputs with many aeroplanes (or at least it will be like that until A2A get around to making something for it), but it is constantly improving and it does nevertheless convey a good sense of the feeling of flight. In any case, none of the many desktop flight simulators there are will really give you the muscle-memory of the control inputs you make on the real aeroplane - the control throws and physical feedback of PC-based yokes and joysticks etc are just not really that much like the real aeroplane controls in terms of feel and input -  so MSFS is really no better or worse in this regard than many other flight sim in spite of what people might like to claim about their own preferences.

People can get very partisan about which one is 'best'; the truth is, only you can be the judge of which one floats your boat, so, try the freebie demo of XPlane, try the very inexpensive trial of MSFS, then try the Steam version of FSX and if that appeals to you, consider stumping up the cash for P3D as it is basically a 'very visually upgraded version of FSX'.

It's worth bearing in mind that flight sims can potentially drill bad habits into you which can be difficult to shake off when subsequently taking real flying lessons, so be careful of that. The most obvious one is not looking out of the window enough when in the real thing because you get used to looking at the instruments in a sim version of an aeroplane to help give you some feedback as to what it is doing because sitting on a chair at a PC cannot emulate what it feels like to bounce around in a Cessna and get thrown sideways when not coordinating the rudder in a turn properly. Ironically enough, this ends up making most 'sim pilots' pretty good at more advanced IFR flight and flying in IMC, but it often makes them terrible students in VFR ab-initio training. It's also worth noting that most PC-based flight sims are not at their best when it comes to more out of the ordinary maneuvers such as spins and the like, so don't put your expectations too high in this regard.

Don't let this put you off flight sim training though, with care, PC-based flight sims can actually engender good habits too, such as regular instruments scanning, familiarity with radios and navigation equipment etc.

Anyway, if I had to recommend a sim which will do for most of this stuff, I'd say go with MSFS, because it is a lot of bang for your bucks and it runs well whilst looking good on almost any PC, even a pretty old one.

Edited January 29, 2022 by Chock

[cmpbellsjc 2,963]

@Chock

Glad to see you back Al. People were asking about you last month when you vanished.

 

[jon b 2,050]

I’d say if you have your high end computer already regardless of which simulation platform you end up with one of the best things you can get is a VR headset , especially if you want to do extra envelope stuff.

My choice for extra envelope manoeuvres in VR would be DCS, there’s a couple of civilian aerobatic aircraft available to buy.
 

For the rest of the PPL stuff… any of the big 3 civilian sims will do. If you are training in an area covered by orbx true earth region get that for either P3D or XP11 if not MSFS will have you covered for VFR navex stuff.

@Chock Ahh there you are !