Stoneface

I was really looking forward to X-plane 10 based on snippets of info I picked up here and there. But, after reading the X-plane 10 preview this morning, I'm not so sure.It's going to be a "plausible" world with "generic" airports? Come on, really? I don't care how attractive you make the objects, if it doesn't reflect the real world then I'm just not that interested. A flight simulator does not just simulate real airplanes, it also simulates the real world. I'm not interested in flying around in a 'plausible' fantasy world. I want to see the actual buildings and landmarks in their actual locations that exist in my neighborhood so that I have a sense of being in a real place. As a real world pilot I often compare my simulated flights with actual real world flights. On occasion this has allowed me to better prepare for a flight by having already flown it in the simulator. I certainly won't be able to do this in quite the same way in a plausible, generic world.I regularly fly FS2004, FSX, and X-plane. They each have their strengths and weaknesses. One of the main weaknesses of X-plane up to now, in my opinion, is the depiction of the visual world, and one of my biggest gripes with the current version of X-plane is the unrealistic 'generic' airports. I was hoping that X-P would catch up with it's MS counterparts in this respect, but apparently that isn't going to happen this time. It's really a shame, because X-P has a lot going for it. The only reason I keep going back to MS is because they are much better at showing me the real world as it really looks. I'm tired of having to buy photo-real add-ons just to make the simulator look the way it should ( I'm talking about all three here). X-plane has the opportunity to build in the right look from the ground up. I hope they don't blow it.My impression after re-reading the interview is that Austin has put more thought into how to draw clouds than how to depict my local airport. In my opinion, the MS versions simulate clouds just fine for me right out of the box. So apparently the technology is already there. Why try to invent something new at expense of fixing the things that really need to be fixed? My second impression is that he is continuing the policy of leaving it up to third party developers to fill in a lot of the missing content, which we will have to pay for.Don't get me wrong. I'll be one of the first to get a copy of 10. That's the kind of aviation geek I am. I was just hoping it would be something better.My two cents.