A friend asked me today if the MSFS 2020 are really so bad in flight physics and IFR and the Garmin procedures? Because he had researched a bit in the internet and he find some user which asserts that they’r rl pilots. they opinion are: that the MSFS 2020 Flightphysics,ifr and Garmin aren’t so good yet. And i couldnt answer him. Because i am not a pilot in rl and i only flown a bit in realife(i flown only for 6 weeks in the past sail planes with a flight instructor).
So i think here are some rl pilots which caqn help my friend to catch the right FlightSimulator for him. for him is important: a good Flightphysics that comes nearly to the real ones, good Ground Environment of the Airports and a Garmin with comes nearly to the real one in functionality.
Perhaps your friend may want to try the sim himself using Game Pass, which would not require a complete purchase of the simulation, and make his own judgements, rather than relying upon opinions from individuals whose credentials may or may not pass muster?
For any further replies - let’s make sure they’re laser-focused on the simulation please.
The best research is to actually use it and see for himself. If by “research”, he means hanging around X-Plane and AVSim forums, then he’s likely to be getting the echo chamber of XP, FSX, or P3D loyalists and their opinions that often are about as far from reality as can be. It’s like “researching” COVID or other things by watching YouTube videos.
Like @CasualClick said, he could just get a free GamePass sub and try it out for himself and make up his own mind vs listening to others. That way he can make up his own mind vs letting others make it up for him.
On the topic of the Garmins, they are quite basic at best and cover only the most basic functionality of the real unit. Using the WT G1000 NXi and G3000 is highly recommended. These bring the sim Garmins to near real world functionality, particularly with the G1000 NXi. If using a GNS-equipped plane, the PMS50 GNS mod is what I would consider an essential add-on. Using any of the stock Garmins is a huge disappointment if you expect them to even remotely behave like the real thing.
I will speculate that if you are a real pilot, there will be things that annoy you (ATC seems to be a big one). It is a consumer level simulator.
However, people that are experts in subjects may not be the best teachers of those subjects or understand the benefits of the sim at learning certain procedures. If the sim get 80-90% of something right, that’s huge to a beginner. That’s less to familiarize with if later put in the real situation. A real life pilot is already going to have that stuff down to reflexes and probably be annoyed by things that are off.
I see RL pilots here who say for instance that the C-152 is like the real thing and at the same time other RL pilots say that the flight model is nowhere near the real plane. Best thing indeed is, to find out for himself.
I’ve been flying IRL since 1978. I brush off most things that aren’t correct, and try to appreciate how amazing it is that we have such a great tool to simulate - especially CAVOK VFR - flying. It is immensely enjoyable.
This is a very good question and really got me thinking…
If your friend, or any other user of the sim has no intention of ever flying any of the sim aircraft in RL, they will never have anything to compare to, so I’d say go ahead and enjoy it for what it is. In my opinion it’s a very good approximation of flight, including basic GA VFR up to fairly advanced IFR procedures.
Of course if they already have other sims, then they would be able to compare the implementation of MSFS against them.
I’ve been wanting to since I was 13. I have 3 kids in college now so it’s not too feasible at the moment. But I figured I could get do this for now and learn what I can.
The most daunting aspect of flying to me seems to be radio communications and controlled airspaces. In the sim there are no consequences at least.
As a kid (literally… I was fifteen) I worked in the radio business. So I guess I had an advantage that way… kinda.
When I was learning, my CFI encouraged me to let the tower know I was a student pilot. In every instance I can remember the controllers were very helpful and supportive…
The first month of a Gamepass for PC sub is so cheap it’s really like having the full game as a demo anyway. Get it and try it. Add mods, take out mods, break things, go crazy for that first 30 days and see what your friend can get out of it. I signed up for Gamepass specifically to do that, and I’m still subscribed. Plus, you get so many other cool games too that really it’s a no brainer.
If it works. I myself couldn’t load one bit from MS Servers. Is incompatible with LTE radio connections. It didn’t work with the disk version either, no connection to the MS store for updates possible. The servers always refuse. But in the end I’m glad I ended up on Steam. xD
och, ist only the MS Game Server… not a big problem. And after reading here regularly about the update problems, sometimes with and sometimes without the X-Box app. I think it was a stroke of luck.
But yes, the game pass would have saved me from, in my eyes, useless overspending.
It’s not just about the sim but much about the planes. Mods and payware planes that are well implemented are generally considered as a quite big difference compared to default planes and that goes for all flight sims. Which is how it should be. Then of course it can vary between default planes too.
You will also see a lot of different opinions, even among pilots who fly the same kind of plane, this is because where buttons are located etc are facts, while how a plane feels also involves opinions. Add to the fact that you lack one important aspect in sims, the physical aspect of being in a plane and feeling it directly, then that adds to the range of opinions.
