“Any copy of X-Plane purchased from X-Plane.com can have the features required for FAA certification unlocked using a special USB key or digital download product key. However, getting the actual certification through the FAA takes a great deal more work than getting the X-Plane software ready.”
" What simulation software do airlines use for training purposes? Do they use software like P3D, FSX, X-Plane, or FlightGear? Or is it a custom? What about aircraft? Do they source them from groups like PMDG or is this also custom?"
Several reviewers also placed it on their favourites’ lists and called it the most aesthetically pleasing game of 2020; however, there was criticism of its loading times and inaccuracies in rendering of some buildings, landmarks and objects. Pilots also noted the game’s unrealistic aerodynamics.
I enjoy regularly switching between MSFS and X-Plane. Both have their advantages.
For example, the HotStart TBM900 in X-Plane is better than the TBM930 in MSFS in a lot of ways. And there’s the Zibo 737 which is unique. MSFS is fun for sightseeing or group flights and other planes.
I don’t need to prefer one sim or the other for the moment.
I’m not a ‘pro’ air sim user - I don’t know anything useful about virtual piloting, and I struggle with even the most basic procedures. I bought X-Plane 11 (and before that XP10) and failed abysmally with both. I mean, literally failed to get anywhere beyond watching the A.I. fly the planes around to random destinations.
My problem is that I never wanted to be the pilot, more the passenger. I wanted to experience the wonder of flight sims without having to learn lengthy technical procedures I have no interest in. XP11 seemed not to be tailored to someone like me. It’s for the ‘true’ sim pilot, isn’t it?
MSFS 2020 was the flight sim I was looking for. I’ve been happy ever since.
I could never get to grips with X-Plane properly and to me it was dark and the controls were problematic. I went the P3D route after FSX and P3D’s Scenery only got better with the help from all the developers especially ORBX. Recently I could not fly for even 5 minutes in P3D after MSFS2020 was released all because of the graphics and to me MSFS2020 looks nearly like the world we live in. There’s a lot of issues with MSFS2020 but the developers are constantly working on it, to improve and to fix it, and that gets my thumbs up. I have now removed P3Dv5 entirely from my system as nothing has been done to rectify the issues it has and it failed to even load (it crashed on loadup) after I updated my Nvidia drivers to the previous version before the latest driver update a few days ago. Sure MSFS2020 has the might of Microsoft behind it and what we now see graphically is what is expexted nowadays considering the technology that is available and out there. Let’s see how it all pans out over the next year or so and if ASOBO get it right …then I personally do not think P3D or X-Plane have a chance.
I’ve been playing flight sims since the early 80s starting off on the ZX Spectrum, but on combat sims as I’ve no interest in flying tubeliners. Also as most “flight sims” had appalling graphics they held no interest for me. Over the years I’ve tried different versions of MSFS and soon got bored and went back to shooting things down.
X-plane 11 was the first sim that I actually played for any length of time but that was only after I messed around with first Ortho4XP and then eventually spending £90 on the Orbx TE GB packs. After that I was hooked and spent even more money on airports, planes, weather upgrades, weather injectors, graphics reshaders and eventually a bigger SSD to store all that.
I even bought flight charts for the whole of the UK and a flight computer to learn how to plan my own VFR flights.
Apart from the additional planes I purchased, the only default one I flew was the C172 and this I’ve carried over into MSFS which is now my go to sim. I feel there is no need to purchase additional weather addons, or reshaders or scenery apart from airports and my wallet and SSD are considerably better off.
X-plane with just the UK scenery and the other addons mentioned above was 475Gig whereas MSFS with the whole world on download is sitting at 216Gig with planes and UK airports. I can save money on addons and put it towards the systems specs needed to get the best out of this sim.
I can understand why people stick with X-plane and P3D and everyone is entitled to their choice. At the moment my choice is MSFS, the world looks so beautiful and I’m opening my horizons and learning more about this planet whilst sitting at my desk. Hopefully the competition responds and pushes the boundaries further.
I remember being quite happy playing FSE in X-Plane because I had a number of FBO’s in Washington State and the Orbx True Earth Washington scenery pack. I flew between the same airports for over a year because I thought the scenery was the cat’s meow.
MSFS was an eye opener. I quickly tired of FSE as I realized there was (literally) a whole world out there to fly and didn’t want to fly the same routes over and over.
Sure there’s a bunch of things I miss from X-plane (Hot Start TBM being one of them), and if I was a airliner fan or flew IFR all the time, I would still be on X-plane. But for me, I can’t fire up XP anymore. I just can’t…
Come on guys [guys: noun. Informal. Non gender specific].
This one has been done to death.
Let us not talk about the hundreds [if not thousands] of £’s / $'s of additional scenery that Xplane and
P3d users have to buy.
Nor the time and hassle of installing it all only to find that MFSF 2020 still looks vastly superior right out of the box.
Neither do we need to acknowledge again the fact that Xplane and P3d have undergone many iterations over many years whilst MSFS 2020 is yet very early in the development cycle.
I know it’s tough after all the time and money you have invested. But there comes a time -and that time, I would argue, is now - when one must cut ones losses and grasp the mettle of the future.
I think this is a bit premature (RIP Xplane & P3D). Right now (and based on MS/ASOBO’s response to requests to fix them) if you are a serious simmer and want to have a more realistic experience for IFR or VFR (to really experience what a ‘real’ pilot might experience) then you are going to gravitate to XP or P3D. If you want to get more of just a taste of it (unless you’re going w/ one of the hardcore 3rd party aircraft) and/or just want the pretty scenery then MSFS is your go-to. There’s room for both, and until MSFS gets better ‘realism’-wise that’s how it’ll remain. Also not to mention all the stutter problems - if they can’t get those fixed then folk’s will gravitate away (right now I get way better smoothness & fps in XP with ORBX scenery which is pretty good). I want to see MSFS get better, but there’s still much work for them to do.
I don’t feel this will never apply to any one sim.
Same could be said about DCS. Why would anyone need to use anything else? Yet there are a ton of combat simmers that DCS still doesn’t scratch that itch for as compared to Falcon 4.0. Here we are in 2021 and there are simmers that still prefer Falcon 4.0/BMS mods because of that certain feel that they love about it that DCS can never replicate.
Flight simmer’s are far too complex for that to be a blanket statement.
Sure, you will always have legacy players that prefer older sims over the newer versions. For the mainstream majority and new players coming on board everyday it will be difficult for older sims to catch up. There is too much excitement and newer tech surrounding MSFS and DCS.
XP is a lot smoother than FS but FS is hauling a lot more weight than XP, graphically speaking. In just about every way the graphics are better in FS but in my opinion XP still leads with flight dynamics, aircraft choice, AI and Helis. Where actual flight simulation is concerned XP leads and FS follows and I see no indication that FS will ever be better than XP in that regard. For that reason I have a soft spot for both simulators.
The problem with flight sims has always been the quest for immersion, the feeling of being a pilot, commercial airline, military or GA. Until the latest generation of 3D tech this was only possible by simulating complex aircraft and weapon systems, accurate flight modeling and procedures in detail. Learning those systems and procedures was the reward that gave you the feeling of being a real pilot, although your eyes were looking at a world that looked cosmetic and cartoonish.
in the beginning I approached MSFS in this way too. Hopping into the more complex planes, learning systems. But with VR I now have 1 or 2 go-to planes. Being the most basic ones like the c152. Enjoying VFR flights with real time weather. Navigating by following landmarks and tuning VOR and NDB stations. This is what MSFS is about. Immersion, being in awe about flying low and slow to absorb the beauty of our planet. Asobo is right with the world updates…
