G’day gents and hello,
To preface this post, I’m super new to MSFS but have been casual simming since FS9 and flying “study level” aircraft since 2006 starting with the original PMDG 747. My last sim was P3D5.
Having spent a lot of time setting up my controls, peripherals and some fine tuning, I’m quite…appalled…to say the least, at how the default aircraft handle in FS20 (MS Store, fresh install of W10, brand new Ryzen 5600 and 3070). I have done countless searches and tried all kinds of tweaks but fundamentally there seems to be a major problem along with myriad of minor ones.
At very low altitudes, aircraft is extremely unstable. The weather is CAVOK but it feels like taking off in gusting CATIII with a cargo hold full of hyperactive baboons let loose. Control is gradually regained as altitude is gained (~1000ft+). The same happens during landing. The nearer I get to the ground, the more twitchy and uncontrollable the aircraft becomes. It’s like ground effect on steroids. My first landing was a whopping -500FPM in broad daylight and zero wind. It only gets worse the bigger the aircraft. In a Beech it feels like flying in GTA5. In the 748 it’s like trying to land United Flight 232.
I asked a couple of mates, one of which was an F16 pilot and now a line pilot for close to 5 years. He says the default aircraft are “virtually unflyable” and even with payware like PMDG 777 it’s only bearable. He only flies MSFS these days “for the scenery”. They were unanimous in declaring default a/c as “sh#ttier than sh#t”.
If this is true, do I go ahead and buy payware planes for MSFS or cut my losses and try XPlane instead? I already have a whole bunch of addons in the cart waiting to join this game. But I don’t want to throw in any addons first precisely so that base performance or basic issues can be assessed. Hardware wise it’s exactly the same as when I was flying in P3D and that worked for years and years (and FSX, FS9 before), an old Saitek Aviator and throttles, no pedals. I have a Logitech G29 for other games but it is always disconnected before flight.
And we haven’t even gotten to the AP and loss-of-control issues with the airliners. There’s a thread on Reddit saying the default 748i is better than “Salty’s mod” now, but if what I’m experiencing is the improved state then how bad did this heap use to be?
I’m sorry if this sounds like a whinge because I’ve been anticipating FS20 for quite awhile now (between finding the time to rebuild my rig and finding the time to do the actual software setup) and cannot for the life of me comprehend how a sim/game that handles like that is supposed to appeal to the mass market if a seasoned (if albeit casual) simmer can’t even do a smooth takeoff and landing in clear weather. It is utterly disappointing and I’m wondering if there’s really something I’m doing wrong here.