And there is the essence of any argument! Irrefutable! 
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Yes VFR is pretty good in MSFS but a good Orbx Scenery closes that gap and the problem is that X Plane still has better aircraft even with the Bing Maps there are still areas I like to fly that have crappy generic airports in MSFS. I won’t be deleting X plane unless MSFS does a lot of catch up in other areas and this video shows X Plane wont be standing still either. We need more than one simulator in case MS does an FSX and closes the door again. Someone needs to keep MS honest and XPlane has always done that very well and besides I fly helicopters mainly and while we have a couple of generic helicopters which are fun they don’t meet the standard of rotary wing flight in X Plane.
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and flies like the most modern and accurate sim …
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I don’t want to fly the whole planet as I like to simulate the areas I fly IRL. The addons for X plane give me all the world I want to see. Don’t get me wrong I like MSFS for VFR but it’s just a sideline for me.
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agree but xp just announced the next update the visuals are getting an upgrade…for me the msfs weather breaking is a no go for me both need seasons so that is lacking for both… and GOD pd3 is not even in the running I wish people would STOP trying to put that in with the flight sim mix MSFS is more Game as you said .
To all the xp and white flag talk or its dead ect,ect the entire lighting gfx is getting an update so NO it is not dead at least the ■■■■ weather works as it should, and i can fly UNDER a bridge if i want and not see a wall of something under it cars don’t look like melted blobs It feels like flying. I love my Concorde too much and my Sr71,the aircraft "feel " as they should the controls the procedures as many said XP for training MSFS for playing and looking. maybe one day msfs will get there even some of the so called hand made airports are wrong like mine…towers,lights in the middle of taxi ways runways, seasons for the love of pet seasons…I am optimistic MSFS has always been ahead of its time FS9 FSX all took years for them to look right but FSX still never felt right to me .However at least in FSMS i can fly helo’s in xp good luck…
Well, I ditched MSFS and got back to Xplane. Yep, graphically MSFS outperforms Xplane by a large margin, but only graphically. I just can’t stand how an airplane responds to the wind, can’t stand MSFS’ a bit cartoonish look and, dammit, that Xbox-optimized menu. And I actually don’t belive that MSFS will become a mature simulator. As some stated above, it’s just a pure arcade with fancy visuals.
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Yet still active on it’s forums.
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Apparently 190 posts later we have established the solid facts that (despite all its other shortcomings) MSFS has much better visuals and is much preferred by people flying VFR, but I’m not sure if we’re making any progress beyond these arguments.
In the meantime Xplane11 seems to be preserving the average daily numbers of its audience and hasn’t had a sales offer since February (or at least that’s what Steam stats say between September '20 and now). It’s as if several people are content to use both sims simultaneously or have just stuck with XP11 for their own reasons.
ps: not everyone flies VFR, I’d argue that the vast majority of people in online networks (VATSIM, IVAO etc) prefer IFR airliners.
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Hi,
I have XP11, MSFS, DCS and Condor 2. I like and fly all of them, depending on my mood. The old argument that one or the other is better seems pointless to me since they all have their pros and cons. The key for me is to enjoy each one of them to the fullest.
Excellent comment. I agree fully.
The arguments of “this sim is better than that sim” , “no thats not a sim thats a game”, “No its not a game its a sim”, “this one is more realistic” , “no this one uses blade element so its more real”, “this ones visuals are from minecraft”, “that one looks like a cartoon” will go and and on and on till the end of time 
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Here we are approaching a year and unfortunately I feel the same.
What gives me the most enjoyment in a flight sim is still my FSX build before and after MSFS release.
MSFS still isn’t my go to sim. Tons of great updates and patches and great performance in VR lately, but there is just something that isn’t scratching the itch when it comes to heavy airliner IFR trips for me.
While in the sim I only find myself wanting to do low altitude sight seeing flights maybe 30 minutes tops before I grow bored and exit the sim. For complex multi leg airline flights I still find myself hopping in an FSX/XP11 addon like Fly the Maddog, Aerosoft Airbus 318/319/320/321,Aerosoft CRJ, Majestic Q400, Feelthere ERJ 135/145/175/195 etc etc along with the immersion of GSX Level 2 Expansion.
There is just something about the older sims with flight plan preparation and this certain brute complexity that is still much more satisfying and rewarding than MSFS in it’s current state. Particularly heavy aircraft landings. MSFS just isn’t giving me those nervous feels/butterflies of landing into places like Santos Dumont(SBRJ). Landings in MSFS feel all too easy…even with realistic damage and crashes and aerodynamics on I feel like something is still holding my hand in some sort of arcade easy mode way with landings. As compared to FSX or XP11 where I’m approaching SBRJ and the pressure and excitement is on of nervously landing my huge metal death coffin ERJ 175 on it’s short runways constantly making small adjustments with yoke and throttle coordination and keeping an eye on everything else around me in VR.
Prime example I own both MSFS and FSX versions of the Aerosoft CRJ and sure enough I just get a much better complex immersive challenging experience flying this particular bird in FSX believe it or not.
I’m on full hardware setup (yoke/rudder pedals/throttle/VR) and MSFS just feels…well less rewarding and complex and more of an easy mode arcade flight. Not sure I’ll ever get that complex rewarding sweet spot feel for MSFS. As for visuals they are great but even in this particular area of the sim I still much rather prefer REX/ASN clouds and weather in FSX. After a while in MSFS the clouds start feeling cartoony and much too cotton like and sometimes even looking down at terrain MSFS has it’s XP11 moments where the bodies of water meet the land/ coasts and terrain appear just as flat,washed and bland.
While the photogrammetry is certainly an amazing visual evolution in simming it still isn’t something I find as an absolute necessity for my particular simming visual needs. As someone who only flies in VR across all 3 sims I find the older maybe not so accurately modeled autogen method still very satisfying as everything from buildings, bridges terrain objects, still appears to me in full stereoscopic 3D. Which is amazing depth rich visual immersion on it’s own. So for me visuals and easy convenient menu/map interferences aren’t everything in a sim. I prefer feel and a certain brute techy unforgiving complexity the older sims give off.
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But Coke just tastes better!
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I feel exactly the same way, You said it very well. I also use MSFS solely for low and slow bush flying, and for that let me be clear - its amazing and looks wonderful. The GA planes are really well done.
For me the fun all ends as soon as I load the Airbus or 787. Somehow the airliners feel a bit cartoon to me, the visual models look like clean plastic models. I dont get that “heavy feel”. Its when I crave the tubeliners that I return to X-Plane 11.
Im no fanboi, I just use whatever flight game for what it does best. For me MSFS excels for low slow VFR, & XP11 for airliner (Zibo!) . As far as im concerned both these titles compliment each other, they do not compete on my system. Each brings its strengths to the table.
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Interesting. Comparing the 787 with the similar 767, the MSFS 787 feels noticeable heavier and more sluggish than the 767 IRL.
Does the x-plane 747 still tilt to the downwind side when taxiing in a strong crosswind like a paper aircraft?
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Taking off in the Leonardo’s MD-82 just brings me smiles everytime with 300+ hours cockpit time already…the depth, the complexity and that feel of those brute power Pratt & Whitney JT8Ds propelling the heavy tuber off the runway into the clouds.
I hope Leonardo can translate this very experience and feel into MSFS one day!
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Not to mention all the Torquesim stuff. SR20/22, TBM, BN Islander, Pocket Rocket, SAAB etc
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Ive never flown the XP11 747. The only default airliner I fly from that sim is the 737-800 and of course the Zibo Mod.
I didnt know it had that behavior will jump in it to experience it!
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Wow my comment hit a few people that agree. I have read all your comments and you have pretty much written in detail my thoughts about MSFS and X Plane. I still find X Plane my go to sim for the detailed areas I fly in real life but if I want to just go somewhere random its MSFS,
What happens is that I have gone to places in MSFS then gone and bought the scenery for X plane 11 ! Whoops is it supposed to work like that?
Anyway i think they will exist together for a long time as the two sims have a different user base but there is some cross over for some people that feel each sim has its own set of compromises.
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Many people that flew XP tried MSFS 2020, and found it difficult to go back to XP.
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