Collection of "WOW" Moments

[ryanbatc]

I wanted to show some screenshots I had taken that really gave me WOW moments.  I may have seen something that made me think "wow this looks just like real life" etc.  These are predominantly from 2024, but some in 2020 and also from XP12.

No matter what sim you use, it's incredible that we've arrived at this level of visuals.

Please Enjoy!

Just the other day I was gobsmacked when I noticed Nick from Black Square modeled the filaments in the light bulbs for the cockpit flood lighting in the Dukes!

This from 2020, the new FlightFX P180.  I was using REX Atmos - but I noticed the wind on this distant refinery stack was blowing the direction the actual wind was!  That's really cool (if it seems backwards it's because I was circling to land the other end of the runway)

This is one of my favorites from a month or so ago in 2024.  Flying the King Air C90 GTX to upstate New York - found these extremely realistic clouds using live weather!  I was in Track IR and just glanced out the left and instantly thought WOW!  That looks so real!

Here's a followup pic on the same flight.  I shot an approach to minimums (LNAV mins) and low and behold there was this giant hill hehe.  I said that's pretty cool and that explained why the mins were LNAV only.  Plus the wintery scene looked really nice, including the seasonal terrain and trees.

This was a flight from KSNC to KHVN in Flysimware's Beech Sierra.  The way the clouds were laid out with the sun beams and the ocean, just made me think of something I had seen flying in Duluth.  Wow it just looked real!

Entering the pattern here at HVN, again the rain showers/virga in the distance and the sun hitting the ocean - WOW again!

I flew the Piper Cub here near Orcas Island.  The lighting with the hill in the background - to me looked like a real photo!  I love the antennas in the background too - so nice to have them by default in 2024.

A VFR flight from Longville, MN towards Duluth, a couple of months ago in the COWS DA42 had me thinking... sheesh this sunset is exactly what I've seen before.

I posted Grand Canyon Vistas a while back in its own thread.  I just had to revisit this pic - looks like a photo!

MMmmmm... leather!  Photo-realistic leather in the C185 Skywagon available in SU1 beta!

This flight was a while back, flying in southern MN, on a crisp winter day, I came across these God Rays - wow!

KANJ - The American Sault St Marie - in XP12 - the landscape and sky just seemed very realistic for a early autumn day

Flying near Nassau Bahamas - I departed a smaller airstrip and behind me is something I've seen on a magazine cover!

Flying the PC24, paint by TimHH, in the Alps...  this area was higher detail but I couldn't believe how real it looked - the cliff faces and snow on the pine trees!

I flew the Carenado C182RG several weeks ago - this is just east of the MSP area - inbound for Y23 (for some grass trip pattern work).  Live weather with the spot of sunlight on my panel here looked totally realistic!  How far we've come!

Another lovely TimHH paint for the Torquesim C525!  And superb looking cirrus clouds and bare trees this time of the year in MN.  It's kind of funny...  I tend to do most of my simming within a 1 or 2 state radius of my home area...  I think it's because I've flown this area for half my life and I like to compare the real world to the virtual.  

This was a different C24R flight, I was doing some airwork then later pattern work at 42B, a lovely little airport in East Haddam, CT.  The tint on the window here combined with the moody skies could have easily been a photo from a real plane.  If you didn't know, 42B has a custom hand crafted version in MSFS 2024.  (I actually only learned this recently thus why I've got overlapping structures - I had been using an older 2020 scenery which includes the East Haddam Swing Bridge as seen in the pic).

On the ramp at First Air (W16) in the PNW - the early sunset is casting some truly amazing lighting on the prop of my Waco.

Flying the COWS DA40 in the hills of southwestern Wisconsin, enroute C81 airport (another superb freeware piece that everyone should have).  The line of wind mills is very common in this area along with southern MN - it get's quite gusty here at times!

Making a splash on Lake Minnetonka - just north of where I used to work at KFCM.  This paint job on the incredible 2024 Albatross is very similar to a real world one, N98TP - an aircraft I've spoken too many times in FCM and DLH.  The water splashes here look amazing!  It reminds me of warmer days (is it Spring yet??)

 

 

 

[Flyfox]

I can only say WOW! Thanks a lot, Ryan, for these beautiful shots!

[Ed_S_Pilot]

Couldn't agree more, Very nice set Ryan......

Flight siming today amazes me from where it has evolved from.

[John F]

I always trust your appreciative eye to bring great shots!

[Pugilist2]

Beautiful shots for sure! 

[ryanbatc]

On 3/1/2025 at 12:08 PM, Flyfox said:

I can only say WOW! Thanks a lot, Ryan, for these beautiful shots!

Thanks Felix!

On 3/1/2025 at 1:31 PM, Ed_S_Pilot said:

Couldn't agree more, Very nice set Ryan......

Flight siming today amazes me from where it has evolved from.

Indeed it has!  It's a wonderland!

On 3/1/2025 at 1:35 PM, John F said:

I always trust your appreciative eye to bring great shots!

Thanks John, you're my number 1 fan LOL!

9 hours ago, Pugilist2 said:

Beautiful shots for sure! 

Thank you!

[P_7878]

Incredible collection of images and aircraft, Ryan...from both MSFS 2020 and 2024...!

I can only imagine the life-like effect of some of these images in (your) Track IR system...

Thanks for sharing...!

[usaboy]

Truly amazing captures. Wow!!

[jankees]

nice shots, Ryan!

[crosswind]

There are times that you have to make a double check to ensure that the image actually came from the simulation...Awesome set

[SP2472]

Definitely some great ones, Ryan.

Darryl

[Tim-HH]

That is really an amazing collection of pictures! Very impressive 😃

[jim007]

a really WOW collection Ryan !! well done and thanks to share 🙂

 

[andy1252]

"Wow" does pretty much sum it up, Ryan. We really have arrived at a point where it can all feel ultra-real (not talking about the flying side, not qualified to comment on that). I certainly find myself quite frequently just sitting back in amazement looking at my screen these days.

And I'm with you on that first shot - amazing level of detail!