I’ll start this by saying I do enjoy this game/simulation for those things that do work.
I realize there are a number of flight planning, tracking, and ATC third party functions that many people use. However, I purchased a Microsoft product that is supposed to help you plan your flight, show the plans on the aircraft screens, and simulate ATC throughout the flight. I may some day resort to more realism with a myriad of other products but for now, I want this game to work and I would really think Microsoft would want the product they put their name on to work as intended.
Today, on my world tour, I went 172 miles from the north to the south of Taiwan on an ILS path. Had I flown the MS-created flight plan shown on the TBM 930 screen I would have slammed into a mountain. The ATC did direct me to altitudes 10k then 16k that cleared the mountains. Once I cleared the mountains and saw flat, near sea level land the rest of the way, ATC then told me to climb to 29k??? Then, as I got near the last short leg prior to final approach ATC said to descend to 3k then 1.5k and yelled at me to expedite. That was despite having the TBM in a deep dive. It was obvious that ILS was out of the question when I was was still at 8-9 k in the ILS grab-on area. I switched AP off and dove like a Pappy Boyington Black Sheep strafing run. Fortunately, I had the stress failure mode off. Yes, I did land somehow but the passengers all headed straight to the terminal’s restroom to change their shorts.
I know I can ignore ATC, and sometimes do, but I also enjoy the realism and try to comply to their absurd directions.
