I have massively reeled in my addon expenditure since 2024 launched. At present there's only two i will spend money on, Fenix whenever they launch the next model, and the Bluebird simulation's 757, the later a few days after release just to see reports from fellow simmers on it's level of fidelity.

I have probably tripled my expenditure on aircraft since 2024 launched but only because there have been so many great releases. I don't keep track of how much time I spend flying each of them and it doesn't really matter to me if I fly one much more than any other.

I think I've regretted two maybe three purchases in the last two years and forgotten them as I would a bad meal in a restaurant.

3 hours ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

Probably the most complex civilian aircraft was Concorde. Would that appeal?

I assume you know it flew at Mach 2 between 50,000 - 60,000ft. It had 13 fuel tanks and no elevators or ailerons. It combined them into elevons. Full power plus reheat (afterburners) for every takeoff irrespective of weight and runway length. Rotate at 195kts and pitch up 15° to maintain 250kts initially.

It’s a very challenging but satisfying aircraft to master. The most accurate version is by FS Labs but it’s only available for P3Dv5. There’s no indication they’re working on a MSFS version.

Would that be enticing enough to convince you there is still life in P3D?

One cannot but bow in front of the Concorde. If I had more time at hand to dedicate to simming, I would definitely install P3D just for it but my current time budget is very limited and I spent enough time tweaking MSFS2024 to my liking that I am now dedicating my time to enjoying the various airliners I fly. I will admit though that reading your description of operating the Concorde was a bit overwhelming 😅.
Cheers!

1 hour ago, Simselli said:

I have massively reeled in my addon expenditure since 2024 launched

1 hour ago, St Mawgan said:

I have probably tripled my expenditure on aircraft since 2024 launched

Ahh the duality of man LMAO

Yesterday I bought the Blacksquare Commander 114. I have yet to do my first flight in the Duke, Bonanza and Baron of the same developer...
Nevertheless I bought myself a new computer this week. I need more power for all that flying I don't do 🙃

Edited yesterday at 12:50 PM1 day by Rimshot

The Black Square Commander is a perfect example. I don't need it, I don't need another single engine GA plane (not saying it is exactly the same of course). On the other hand though, I do like to support quality developers who produce quality work. There's a handful of devs I just have no hesitation supporting.

However the reality is I have zero time for another plane right now. I've barely flown the Cessna Caravan. What I should do is spend more time in the planes I have, but there's a new plane I don't have...

I've bought many many addons over the years for a lot of sims. The main problem is that after flying VR a couple of years I cannot force myself to finish one singe flight on my triple screen setup. I had so many trouble keeping my system stable causing me to spend a lot of time troubleshooting back in the day with vr. Sometimes I buy a new add-on to scratch the itch but it never satisfies me longer than a couple of hours.

The thought of being locked in my mancave and looking at a screen just never leaves my head.

Everyone has different reasons to purchase add-ons ofcourse.

Happy flying everyone!

1 hour ago, Rimshot said:

Yesterday I bought the Blacksquare Commander 114. I have yet to do my first flight in the Duke, Bonanza and Baron of the same developer...
Nevertheless I bought myself a new computer this week. I need more power for all that flying I don't do 🙃

Yes, I have the Mad dog in P3D I’ve never flown, I have the Mad Dog x in MSFS 2020 and 2024 I’ve never flown. A couple of days ago I upgraded to the new 20th anniversary native 2024 edition so at least I can be sure the aircraft I don’t fly is the latest possible version 😂

(Nothing wrong with the aircraft it’s just it’s so complex it deserves time to sit down and learn how to operate it properly which I’ve never got around to. By the time the 40th anniversary edition is out I should be ready for a quick circuit)

An additional comment about having large numbers of add-ons. I probably get at least four or five emails every week telling me of updates to add-ons I've bought. When I look at the changelog/info about this "update", most of the time it's something really minor - "removed a doo-dah from the edge of runway 7", "fixed the colour of the buttons on the altimeter" or suchlike. Some vendors/developers seem to be serial offenders as well, I'll often get an 0.1.1.1 release of something followed by an 0.1.1.2 and 0.1.1.3 all on consecutive days (sometimes even the same day). What happened to quality control and/or checking what you put out?

3 hours ago, Kristofski said:

Ahh the duality of man LMAO

Haha yep! I have gone a little crazy here in 2024. We're just spoiled with addons. Most are quite good as well!

3 hours ago, Rimshot said:

Yesterday I bought the Blacksquare Commander 114. I have yet to do my first flight in the Duke, Bonanza and Baron of the same developer...
Nevertheless I bought myself a new computer this week. I need more power for all that flying I don't do 🙃

Oh awesome! How is the upgrade?

My flying has drastically changed. For so many years I was airliner only combined with VATSIM. Mostly in the us/canada/Caribbean. Then I really made a huge effort to spend time all over the world. Which then led me to explore General Aviation. Now I seem to be 80% GA and mostly flying into small little strips. I kept thinking it would be a very quick phase, but it seems to be sticking big time. Like Ryan said. So many great new addons. Business Jets, props, turboprops. It's a great time to have this hobby.

17 minutes ago, ryanbatc said:

Oh awesome! How is the upgrade?

Thanks! I haven't got the system yet, for now it's only present in my signature. The shop is waiting for the delivery of the SSD. I hope to get it next week. As it is my holiday I'll finally do some serious flying and make use of all these addon purchases 😁

On 7/24/2026 at 1:08 PM, sniper31 said:

Well, I am retired with no kids and not married. I do have a cat and a girlfriend 😊 I have plenty of time to sim, and that is even with me being outdoors a lot. I live in Colorado, so lots of outdoor activities to stay busy with. I Jeep quite often, camp often, do some multi day rafting trips each summer, and also run every day. I am an avid long-distance runner, so every day starts with at least a 2-mile run, most times much longer. In the winter things slow down a little, but I do enjoy skiing very much and spend about 60-70 days each winter on snow. And, I do own a house so that takes lots of upkeep and care as many of you know. But I still find time to sim at least 2-3 hours most days. I really enjoy GA, some airliner (mostly A320) and plenty of heli flying too. Mostly I spend my money on aircraft but some scenery too. Honestly, I spend more money on hardware options. I have a control setup for just about any type of aircraft you can think of, and I spend lots of time mixing and matching to find the "best" setup only to change my mind after 2-3 flights...lol!

I don't advertise this very much at all, but this topic has kind of opened the door. I served a full 28-year career in the US Army as an Infantryman and spent about 4 years of that time in combat. Towards the latter part of my career, I was wounded in combat while on a mission in a certain country. Flight simming for me has been both a therapeutic and cathartic release from a lot of the "stuff" that comes with all that. I have been simming since I was a kid, but during my career, I was only able to do it every so often (weekends when I was not also deployed...lol). After getting wounded and being very static during long months of rehab, and then retiring gave me the time and a nice option to focus on something completely different. It helps me relax and takes me away mentally from a lot of the "noise".

Anyhow, there you go. That's how I sim and use my resources (time and money) when it comes to simming. It has been a great therapeutic and cathartic outlet for me 😊

I think I said this before but I greatly appreciate your service to our nation!

My wife started running again (after being a cross country/track star in HS), she ran the Vermont 100k not long ago. I can barely run a mile LOL. So good for you as well! It seems to be a healthy hobby, and CO is simply beautiful!

5 minutes ago, ryanbatc said:

I think I said this before but I greatly appreciate your service to our nation!

amen. thank you very much