7 hours ago, Simon_C said:

I do wonder one thing... A330-Driver made a really positive video about A350. It was for me the main reason to buy it. If you are an A350 pilot, IRL, then you should really have no incentive to mislead the people, which if you do, would only be for financial reasons, I would guess. But being A350 pilot, I don't see you have any financial gains from it, I would say if you made it up to A350, then you must be making some serious dough.

Maybe I am wrong.

A330 Driver isn't a rated A350 pilot is in fact a rated A350 pilot, I just saw one of this videos and he said as such - fair enough!

When the ToLiss A330 came out I would have thought he, being an actual IRL A330 pilot, would have had some interest in reviewing the highest-fidelity rendition of the aircraft to see just how good it was. When I asked, he just said he couldn't "due to hardware issues" and that was that - apparently refusing to fix his XP12 installation (and he hasn't done any XP content since AFAIK).

He spent plenty of time playing with the Inibuilds A330 in MSFS for instance... I would have thought a comparison between Inibuilds default A330 + Laminar default A330 + ToLiss A330 would have been his time to shine, but nope!

Shame - I guess he moved on from Xplane.

 

Edited March 8, 20251 yr by FPVSteve
I was wrong about A330 driver not being an A350 pilot

Delets. NVM

Edited March 8, 20251 yr by JBDB-MD80

Blackbox711 on his first stream/review of the ini A350 starts to give concluding remarks and ratings at this timestamp: https://youtu.be/CuXe11ngsfI?t=10594

• flight model: 7/10 - he felt the hand flying was nice and it felt like a heavy aircraft and modelled inertia well, rotation was fine, he didn't like the flare (but then he also admits he doesn't know the a350 flare law well and he had an a350 expert on the stream who explains how its flare law is different)
• systems: 7.5 out of 10 ("overall I'm quite happy with systems simulations, and some modelling of abnormals")
• autopilot: 8/10
• sounds: 6/10
• external model and textures: 9/10

V1-Simulations has also done a couple of streams/reviews and he commented on the Fenix vs ini A350 systems simulations depth at this timestamp: https://youtu.be/sq7mYKKti_0?t=2839 ... he said what most have already said, it's not up to the Fenix systems simulation depth, but that doesn't mean it's not good... he also recognizes the various new kinds of systems features the ini a350 models.

320 Sim Pilot also has done a couple of streams/reviews and he too likes the flight modelling and how it feels hand flying in terms of heaviness/etc. Overall he was quite happy with it as a complete package.

A330 Driver too is similar to these above IRL pilots above in terms of his feedback in the various review and tutorial videos he's put up. He also did some abnormals like single engine failure on takeoff in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuYg568JTgs&t=1722s and not everything was simulated correctly (i.e. FMA readings were incorrect, but ECAMS were correct, he felt the autopilot was struggling too much and control of rudder was not strong enough, etc). He said he wouldn't have trusted the ini A350 to do a single engine auto-land (the real aircraft can). He also noted some procedural inaccuracies on engine-out, the aircraft tried to follow normal acceleration altitude rather than engine-out acceleration altitude. I don't see him being glowing at all and he's also been very critical of other aircraft before (i.e. Fenix V1). The only times he could've been perhaps accused of bias was when reviewing PMDG aircraft given his close association with them at the time.

So as far as I can see, these specific IRL pilots above who've always been unbiased and straight shooters, continue to do the same with the ini A350. I'm not seeing any iniBuilds logos splashed on their videos, and no proof that they're being paid extra (or given subs) by iniBuilds above and beyond giving them a free copy to review. What they seem to be concluding about the aircraft's pros and cons are what I'm also hearing from most simmers (who're not biased or have an axe to grind with iniBuilds) 🤷‍♂️ 

I don't have the aircraft yet, but from all what I can see cutting thru the hyperbole (on all sides) the only criticism is the price point maybe. Seems like a great bird to fly A->B and has good flight modelling which is the #1 criteria for me, sure systems is not as deep as they can be but could get there in time.. it's the best A350 out there currently and I'm pretty sure I'll get it soon, especially with the fix packs rolling out.
 

Edited March 8, 20251 yr by lwt1971

4 hours ago, Nuno Pinto said:

This A350 is great. It's missing quite a few ECAM screens, but most simmers (like me) don't even know about them or won't use them in their... let's say "simulation needs". Unless you fly the real thing, you won't miss them.

Exactly! Don't read the Virgin Atlantic A350 FCOM freely available on the internet! And you all good! 😁

55 minutes ago, FPVSteve said:

A330 Driver isn't a rated A350 pilot

A330 Driver doesn't exist. It's a hoax. 👺

1 hour ago, Simon_C said:

Wow, never thought this might be the case. I've heard people around praising his videos and knowledge pretty much. I guess I am unsubscribing on his channel and is gone from my list of youtubers.

Any other recommendations, some who are realistically testing and reporting truth?

Personally V1 Simulations, 320simpilot.

4 minutes ago, carlanthony24 said:

Personally V1 Simulations, 320simpilot.

FD2S or "flighdeck2sim" is a real world (Boeing 737 Pilot) that streams MS and XPlane shares his honest opinion on aircraft for both sims.

Edited March 8, 20251 yr by JBDB-MD80

7 hours ago, Ricardo41 said:

word not allowed, this plane went from being the "hot shizzle" to dog meat in a week or so. 

I'm glad I held off on purchasing. Lots of hype, carefully edited prerelease videos, youtube clickbait streaming, etc. 

Plane was worth the hype and price. I love it.

1 minute ago, JBDB-MD80 said:

FD2S or "flighdeck2sim" is a real world (Boeing 737 Pilot) that streams MS and XPlane shares his honest opinion on aircraft for both sims.

I forgot about FD2S thank you for reminding me.

Just now, Tuskin38 said:

Plane was worth the hype and price. I love it.

It really wasn't

 

7 minutes ago, Vitold69 said:

A330 Driver doesn't exist. It's a hoax. 👺

He's a real A330 pilot. There's more evidence towards than than not.

Edited March 8, 20251 yr by Tuskin38

1 minute ago, carlanthony24 said:

It really wasn't

My personal experience says otherwise, and that's all that matters for me.

Edited March 8, 20251 yr by Tuskin38

Just now, Tuskin38 said:

My personal experience says otherwise, and that's all that matters for me.

Good for you. Generally most are very unhappy. 

3 minutes ago, carlanthony24 said:

It really wasn't

Considering the competition with other High Fidelity airlines, no its not. But its one of the most prettiest airliners in MSFS.

Edited March 8, 20251 yr by JBDB-MD80

Just now, carlanthony24 said:

Good for you. Generally most are very unhappy. 

I see no evidence of the majority being unhappy.