I’ve been dreaming about getting one for years, finally went ahead.  It’s a bit of a slippery slope as you sit on the new motion platform and then realise your controls are now the weakest link in the realism chain, so upgraded to control loading system as well.

It’s not cheap but if you have the funds available and enjoy your simulations it’s money well spent. It’s my main winter time hobby, motorcycles in summer, I looked at it as along the lines of what I’d pay for another motorbike, and for the hours of enjoyment and use it’ll be cheap in comparison.

You know how different VR is to sat in front of a screen, the motion platform and control loading just takes you deeper into that world. I think of it like drawing curtains and shutting out the outside world. VR draws a massive curtain, but there’s still a bit of the light seeping in from outside. The motion and CLS completely isolate you and you’re 100% in that simulator world.

Is it 100% the same as being in a real aircraft? Probably not, but neither is a certified airline simulator, however I’d say it’s 100% of being actually in your simulated aircraft. You’re not in your house on a sim, all your senses and brain tell you your out flying.

For me it’s not really the roll and pitch in flying where the motion platform excels, it’s the little things, jolts of turbulence you actually feel when crossing over a ridge line of mountains low level, the thud of the wheels touching down, or the reassuring bump as he wheels retract into the wheel well, and the rumbling with the speed brake out.

Ironically I’m not that fond of heights and crossing over valleys low level and feeling the aircraft wobble against my will as I hit mountain wave and look down is enough to have me instinctively tighten my grip on the controls.

There are times when it’s windy and I’m flying the T6 down valleys In wales the turbulence really throws you around, it’s nauseating, but in a really good way, it feels real. Sometimes I blast out up to 5000ft just  to find some clean air and relief.. before enthusiastically diving back down low level to get shaken up again.

Talking about diving, I like to land the little scout helicopter on top of Welsh mountain cliffs then hover to the edge and dive vertically down. With the VR picture with 2024’s excellent close up rock faces and the motion platforms pitch I’ve actually heard myself involuntarily shouting in terror and excitement as I plummet down the side of the mountain. 
There’s no way I could go back now having experienced the motion platform in VR.

1 hour ago, turbomax said:

like this one for some $ 10.000? seems to be their top version.

Yes that’s the one I have, I bought the pro version as I though I’d be using it for extended periods and also give more power for lifting things like the CLS rudder and yoke which are heavy.

The price has recently gone up and I bought mine in the Black Friday sales so got it for considerably cheaper that it’s posted for now.

Without the motion compensation , it’s more perceptible in fast rolling military style aircraft but even then it’s not too bad , however the easy cheap fix of adding the motion compensation eliminates it.

The gearboxes and motors have recently been upgraded to reduce the stepping motor feeling , however when making slow rolls or small heading corrections I can still feel a slight “cogging” only in roll, pitch seems fine. It’s only slight and it’s not often in real aircraft everything is completely smooth so I don’t find it an issue.

So far my rig has been fine technically, on the forums people who have had issues seem to get good support from the manufacturer from what I can tell.

I’m still learning as the software allows for different tuning for each aircraft so there’s lots of fine tuning to do to get things feeling how you want. Although you can download premade profiles that people have done as staring point.

Mark from that “get your game on” has made some great videos on the platform. There’s one where he lets a retired F18 pilot do a catapult launch on his rig and you see he’s got it dialled in for for quite a violent surge of acceleration.

Also if you are seriously considering one, A) wait for a sale , they seem to quite a few during the year, but Black Friday seemed the biggest B) get your game on has an affiliate discount code.

thanks Jon, all very valuable information.

1 hour ago, jon b said:

I’ve actually heard myself involuntarily shouting in terror and excitement as I plummet down the side of the mountain. 

what more can you ask for in VR gaming! I can already feel what you are describing from your words alone. 

again: how noisy is the unit in motion, is it house hold wife compatible at night when everybody else is asleep in a house with no basement? 

"The motion and CLS "

CLS what?

Edited February 26, 20251 yr by turbomax

Sorry I forgot to mention that.

i use external Bose speakers and the engine noise drowns out any noise from the rig.

its not silent but its far from noisy, I’ve moved into my cinema room and not had any complaints from the wife in the lounge next door.

its only a gentle whir of the worm gears under normal ops. If you crash it can be a bit lively,

CLS..control loading system. Basically force feed back yoke, rudder and stick  made by Brunner

23 minutes ago, jon b said:

force feed back yoke, rudder and stick  made by Brunner

how satisfied are you with those? I thought MSFS/2024 didn't export force feedback values to be used with a yoke since Microsoft stopped producing their own FFB yoke some 20 years ago

Yes, you’re right it doesn’t , another reason why it’s sometimes hard to defend it as a simulator rather than a game when it supports an Xbox controller but not force feedback, but anyway.

They use proprietary Brunner software that uses indicated airspeed and other parameters to adjust the control loading.

I’ve been very impressed, for the first time ever a heavy jet feels like a heavy jet in the sim. The software is quite powerful and there’s lots to tweak and assign to each aircraft .