I’m going to assume you think that because they used a 3D model asset from a previous sim, that the modeling would be bad. The problem with that assumption is that it assumes the model hasn’t been upgraded to a higher fidelity.
It’s a completely false assumption that “ported” models are necessarily a bad thing. Quite the opposite. By having an existing asset, the author can very quickly upgrade it to whatever detail a platform can handle, and they already have the existing texture and other assets as well that can be upgraded. The flight model and many other features are all separate from the model, and are typically very sim specific, so that’s where a lot of the work goes.
Carenado are pros at texture design and modeling.
Of course, there are plenty of badly “ported” models, too. But, you’ll find that most assets out there started as an asset for some older sim.
Be that as it may, I wish people would climb down from this hill. It’s unfounded.
I wish we had two small regional airliners instead because instead because there’s like no small default regional jets to fly yet and all these aircraft cockpits are way too Basic and not great for career mode aircraft choices when you get into cargo and passenger transport
As long as I can use it in career mode it will be awesome and at the rate in career mode I’m landing at small airports more than big ones so I’d honestly rather operate regional aircraft than the heavy ones
Meh I like Carenado stuff. I have times when I fly that I want to do ‘everything’ and will choose a higher fidelity aircraft A2A/JF/SWS/BS etc etc. Other times I need to get started and out on the runway as soon as possible and get flight time in before kids come back from the pool or a dog’s going to need a walk and Carenado’s are great for that. In reality, there is a whole lot in flight sims where there is every aspect modeled that just doesn’t have the superfluous flow that it does IRL, like flicking switches and opening cowl flaps without thinking about it at all where it busies up the sim experience even with a lot of peripherals making ‘study level’ more difficult than actually being in a cockpit. Keeping a helicopter torqued straight IRL vs watching your screen and figuring it out by what you see in a sim is an example, where you’re basically playing a bicycle sim and you have to actualy remote control the balancing part, you just have balance IRL. If you just want to do the ‘flying part’, Carenado covers it well.
I do hope they update the panel though as if it’s a 15yo version I’m a little sick of the standard stacks they put in just about everything. And my father’s Archer II had LORAN but no autopilot either BITD. But I agree with the first few posts, a bit more equipped like the Sierra, or at least the options. I’d be interested, but I’m not flying it if its the same darn stack yet again, I’d just fly my JF stuff, or heck any other Carenado I already have, which is every single one but the Seneca. And I actually love the Archer for the ‘retro’ RL experience, but relegate it to ‘90 minute rental’ duty. Hop VFR to a strip nearby, T/O and explore a little bit and come back. For hands-on flying it’s better than you’d think, the fun kind of ‘busy’(can’t say the same about the 185 though, just level for more than 2 minutes is an unnecessary challenge). However, every non AP aircraft I have I can that I can get into the config has autopilot ‘added’ to it, sometimes you just need to hit heading/alt hold and see what the heck they’re doing upstairs. Tough spot though with the Warrior/Arrows/Sierra/182’s/Comanche etc already in there. Really, is everyone afraid to do a Lance or Navajo or Saratoga, Cheyenne, Apache or something not Cherokee family?
I further speculate that there will be a number of further complaints in this thread that Carenado ‘isn’t as good as A2A or Just Flight’ that are super helpful to no one.
Their F33 Bonanza is actually pretty decent. Seems to fly per the POH for the most part. The sounds are a little weak, but they upgraded the instrument textures and with dual GTNxi/GTN or GNS support it’s a fine addon for the cost.
I also like Piper so I’m excited to get the Dakota!
Carenado has had their middling reputation for ages and I’d argue they’ve outgrown it enough that I don’t see the merit in the case against them anymore. They are a “sweet spot” dev to me. Well-made, nice looking and nice sounding planes you can jump in and fly with generally good flight models. Simple on systems but with all of the basics covered, cheap (in this case free) but polished enough to not leave me wanting. I’ve bought nearly everything they’ve released in the last 5 years and have been happy with the majority. 337, M20, 182 RG II and 185F are my favorites. I’m a Black Square and A2A guy, love study level in theory (though as someone else said in this thread, I don’t care about circuit breakers), but when it comes down to it Carenado addons just make me happy and I’m glad they exist. My biggest annoyance with them is that they mysteriously reverse the range buttons on Garmin units so hardly something to lose sleep over.
JustFlight update came through the marketplace and It’s now available. But something is broken there. Don’t matter how much I roll left/right, it’s very slow. I checked the hardware settings in MSFS 2024, tried something there, then set to default, but the same issue. No way, the real PA28-161 do roll like a airbus. In MSFS 2020 I did not have this issue.
So I switched to the Carenado PA28-181 and very satisfied by the flight model (and cockpit quality). Yes, it still has few bugs, but at least i can fly it LOL-.
The Dakota 236 could be the one for i am looking. I hope, it will be at least the same quality as Archer II.
so hardly something to lose sleep over.
