PMDG 737 - flight planning not great, otherwise seems good

[tfm 188]

After months using the FBW A320neo I must admit I had assumed that the PMDG 737 would come with Simbrief integration. I realise that using the Simbrief download tool isn’t really much more hassle - but imo the extra step(s) do detract from the experience. It feels surprisingly unpolished / 2014-vintage in this quite important respect. Slightly spoilt my first impressions tbh. Hopefully PMDG can improve on this.

 

Otherwise, my experience seems similar to that of others. Looks good, “flies” as expected. 
 

Performance-wise I’d say it’s on a par with the FBW A320neo or perhaps marginally better.
 

For the record: 4k display, ultra, no bloom, LOD200: Mid-40s/low-50s at gate 518 EGLL in poor weather, low-50s/60fps+ (Vsync capped) at cruise even with dense cloud. This is on a 12900ks with all 8 performance cores @ 5.5GHz, hyperthread and efficiency cores disabled , 3090 ti, 32Gb @ 5600/36.

…. and got a spectacular rainbow on my first flight leaving EGLL: gotta be a good omen right? 

Edited May 10, 2022 by tfm

[Zcott 55]

I’m considering picking it up but haven’t quite decided yet. Does it support the built in flight planner and use MSFS ATC?

[Nyxx 6,994]

Simple use simbrief for flight plans, you can also DL a copy for MSFS to use, that way it should work OK with msfs ATC but dont click on a park/gate on the map, use the drop down window.

[MarkW 1,496]

By the way, not every airline has an auto download feature for the flightplans.  The 737 pilot that has done all of the great videos says that his airline does not have this and the pilots manually enter all of the flight plans plus performance data.  I think the downloader is still very convenient and works well.

[Beagle12 141]

Do PMDG supply a comrehensive user manual for the B737 ?

[Andreas Stangenes 1,628]

I think a simbrief integration should come. It's a modern feature we all have grown accustomed to. 

[hvw 415]

5 minutes ago, Andreas Stangenes said:

I think a simbrief integration should come. It's a modern feature we all have grown accustomed to. 

There is a Simbrief option in the setup/preferences of the control panel. I haven't had time, yet, to see how or if Simbrief integration works.

[thepilot 589]

PMDG has fallen way behind the curve in the past few years… no amount of polish can take away from that. My prediction is that after the initial excitement has worn off, more people will become vocal about the lack of certain features.

[pete_auau 1,164]

1 minute ago, thepilot said:

PMDG has fallen way behind the curve in the past few years… no amount of polish can take away from that. My prediction is that after the initial excitement has worn off, more people will become vocal about the lack of certain features.

And  what are  the lack of features your  talking  about?

[VBHB 298]

The plane is as the same as the P3D version. Everyone's wetting themselves over it at the moment. I'm still waiting for the -800 which will be a more better product by then.

[thepilot 589]

1 minute ago, pete_auau said:

And  what are  the lack of features your  talking  about?

Said simbrief integration, ACARS/CPDLC implementation, proper LNAV performance, smooth animations, automated playback of cabin announcements,… 

[JRBarrett 3,120]

17 minutes ago, Andreas Stangenes said:

I think a simbrief integration should come. It's a modern feature we all have grown accustomed to. 

It will, but like weather radar, the ability to directly download Simbrief flight plans or Navigraph charts will depend on Asobo. At the present time WASM aircraft cannot use the internet to contact external web sites. 

[Zangoose 1,633]

14 minutes ago, VBHB said:

The plane is as the same as the P3D version. Everyone's wetting themselves over it at the moment. I'm still waiting for the -800 which will be a more better product by then.

Or the fact that we have been waiting for a decent Boeing or a 737 in MSFS - Maybe that is why a lot of people are excited and happy about their purchase. It's been a very long wait to get some fairly decent airliners into the sim by addon developers (ignoring the FBW A320) and the past couple of weeks have had some great releases. 

[robert young 2,897]

33 minutes ago, thepilot said:

PMDG has fallen way behind the curve in the past few years… no amount of polish can take away from that. My prediction is that after the initial excitement has worn off, more people will become vocal about the lack of certain features.

What are the most important elements of any sim aircraft? That it flies well manually and under a/p, that it looks decent and its core functions work. While most MSFS default and addons aircraft look good, very few of them in my opinion fly at all well without tweaks. I'm pretty certain that the PMDG 737 will fly extremely well, act very competently under autopilot and will have authentic core functions. To me that is worth the price and over-rides any other consideration.

Extras such as integrated simbrief are fun to use but not always. For example I cannot find a way to load up the FBW A320 with passengers unless I start at the gate and use simbrief. Perhaps I have missed something.

The most important facet of "immersion" is how an aircraft flies and whether its characteristics are believable, absorbing and have authenticity. Everything else - virtual coffee machines, atm cash dispensers (I wouldn't be surprised one day!), virtual printers, and other peripheral devices, aids and gizmos are nice to have but nothing, nothing is more important than the fundamentals and very few sim aircraft achieve that.

Edited May 10, 2022 by robert young

[pmplayer 9,599]

I have some problems with my NEW ( got it yesterday ) Honeycomb Bravo Trottles with the Gear up/down, anyone else ? 🤔

cheers 😉