When Virtual Cockpits were introduced into FS (around FS8?) i must admit i hated them. I said they were rubbish and i would never use them. How times change. I now refuse to fly 2d cockpits and fly VC only. There is a better feeling of movement and you can see more out of the windows and to the left and right using the mouse.This does of course cause a problem. There are very few freeware aircraft that have a built in VC. I only fly the jetliners and have only two non FSX aircract in my repository (727 and IFLY 747).I dont particularly want to pay for aircraft. Any other airliners out there for FSX that have decent virtual cockpits?

I feel the same. The change for me came with my purchase of the Shockwave Solo P-51 (in FS9). Since then, I reject acft without a VC. My two favorites right now are the Realair SF260 and the Acceleration F-18.PhillEdit to add P-51 was in FS9.

I also just fly airplanes with a VC. With TrackIR it is wonderful. I just switch to 2d cockpit when i can't turn a knob or switch in the VC, then back to VC again. I rarely fly freeware planes because they don't usually have a virtual cockpit. If anyone knows freeware planes with a nice VC, please tell us here.Cheers.

The original VC's didn't have any working instruments! Since then, they have come a long way, but there's still some distance to go. VC's are very difficult to program and set up, which is no doubt why you don't see very many in freeware aircraft. Buying a TrackIR was definitely the watershed moment for me in terms of making the switch between 2D and 3D cockpits. I haven't been making many rounds of the freeware aircraft lately, having concentrated on sceneries for the last few weeks and months. Still, anything by Bill and Lynn Lyons is a must-have, and they always did fantastic VC's. A search of the library using the full words "virtual cockpit" does reveal some intersting-looking choices for FSX.Jeff ShylukAssistant Manging EditorSenior Staff ReviewerAVSIM

"can you live without the VC?"Yes. I don't feel strongly either way. Sometimes I use one, sometimes the other. Maybe I have a short attention span, but I like variety. I switch aircraft a lot, also.

>When Virtual Cockpits were introduced into FS (around FS8?) i>must admit i hated them. I said they were rubbish and i would>never use them. How times change. I now refuse to fly 2d>cockpits and fly VC only. There is a better feeling of>movement and you can see more out of the windows and to the>left and right using the mouse.>>This does of course cause a problem. There are very few>freeware aircraft that have a built in VC. I only fly the>jetliners and have only two non FSX aircract in my repository>(727 and IFLY 747).>>I dont particularly want to pay for aircraft. Any other>airliners out there for FSX that have decent virtual>cockpits? Back in FS9 I NEVER used the VC's and always flew in the 2D cockpit but when ACES PORKED the 2Dcockpit in FSX by eliminating the use of BMP's for the non-forward views I was forced into the VC's. Fortunately the CRJ and A321 VC's were acceptable after a few mods to the mouce click spots. Then I added TrackIR4 and a whole new "feel" ensued. Now I could never go back to the 2D cockpits. There are a few good free VC-equiped FS9 aircraft that work well in FSX over at Classic British Flight Sims. The HS.748, BAC 1-11, Trident 3 & 4 and the AW Argosy are all in my "Aircraft" folder and get flown regularly. They do, however, suffer a few SP2-induced texture problems but I have been able to tweak a BMP here and there or the panel.cfg file entries to get around most of them. These days I will not even bother to download any aircraft that doesn't have a VC and if the ones that do do not have a reasonable "photo real" look and full fuctionality, they don't stay installed. I don't have any payware aircraft, at the moment, but am awaiting the Razbam A-6 Intruder. From the screenies I've seen it will be a "must" for anyone into carrier ops in FSX. Paul

I uploaded a modernized Pietenpol Aircamper here a few months ago modeled to the FSX SDK that features a full virtual cockpit, many animations, a detailed engine, and fully detailed working rigging. Look for 'pete.zip'. I did not make a very detailed file description when I uploaded it, so it's a bit of a 'sleeper' if you search for vc, dvc, or virtual cockpit...:-doh http://img82.imageshack.us/img82/2189/petevcwp7.jpgRobert