-Stark-

Here I'll answer since I have a pro version and an academic version for my daughter who is also a pilot. The only visible difference is on the startup screen it says 'academic' and on the actual gameplay screen in the top right it says 'Academic License' If you're like me and you play in Windowed mode with your menu bar up then on the right of that it says Academic License. So in short if you're playing this at your house and that doesn't bother you then get the Academic Version.

I appreciate this topic. Decided to spend an hour or so today tweaking my graphics. Looking to get a consistent 40-50 FPS. I personally couldn't tell a difference in the higher texture sizes. So I'm keeping it at 2048.

Funny I didn't even know that was a bug. I thought all planes started out full throttle until you set something up. I've been to busy jumping the Piper between two local airports to really look into specifics. I should probably adjust some things.

I was thinking this exact same thing as I was reading through this topic (First topic to read since I joined, first reply as well). I sympathize with the original poster when trying to search around, read opinions and watch videos there is a lot out there with die hard FSX fans, X Plane fans and I didn't even know about P3D until one of the videos mentioned it. As a rec pilot I was wanting something as realistic as possible. My dilemma is that over the last 10 years I've had very little time behind the controls and I'm at a point now where I have the time and resources to start flying again. My previous flight sim experience with FSX dates back to the mid 80s and playing it as a kid. My father who is also a pilot swears by it but at 70 years old he's stuck in his ways and resists change. Having an IT background I know that technology changes so I was looking at alternatives and tried the X Plane demo but with that version cutting your joystick out after 15 mins I barely could give it a fair shake because I couldn't even fly between two small airports. So I found P3D which apparently is based on FSX but upgraded to allow multithreading takes advantage of newer hardware. To be honest at that point I was sold. I did find it interesting that Lockheed promotes it more as a training platform than an entertainment product. Maybe that's to give them more credibility on the simulator side or maybe they don't want a NAICS code for Toy and Game making. Whatever the case is I decided to buy a license. I've been doing flights in the Piper because unlock a lot of people I actually learned to fly in one of those (My grandfather was a pilot as well). I cranked up realism and while I'm not 100% sure yet how it relates to actually flying it is a bit of a challenge. I made my choice so I'll just go with it and use P3D as a tool to get some muscle memory back, learn the G1000 and have some fun. I know nothing about the scenery or plane packages yet but I plan to get at least a few more planes, especially the ones I'm interested in purchasing.