Do simmers generally not care about the flight physics of the sim?

So a lot of the comments have focused on the ground handling (weathervaning in particular) as being a specific area of weakness. This is very fair comment and has been subject of a lot of close study and discussion in these forums and the causes not fully understood. To me it is without question the number 1 most serious issue requiring attention in MSFS as it has such an impact on landings and takeoffs.

Yet the wishlist items associated with these attract far fewer votes than weather-related topics (which are a pretty close second in my book), and some other somewhat highly peripheral issues. It baffles me that so many seem to think the way that most aircraft handled on the ground was OK. Asobo have recognised the problem and have a longer term fix in development, but they have also implemented some new physics variables that will help in the interim.

But here is the thing: those variables have to be implemented by the aircraft dev. in the aircraft flight model. Asobo have provided the tools - but it means nothing unless the devs whose aircraft need attention don’t make use of them (noting that not all aircraft experience the exaggerated weathervane effect to the same degree).

Many of the quality devs have gone back and adjusted their flight models and the improvements are tangible when well done (but if your crosswind technique is poor, you might not notice at first).

So what aircraft perform better on the ground? Well, check this list out here. And if the aircraft you are interested in isn’t listed, if you own it, go find the values in the flight_model.cfg and tell the community.

But returning to the original question: this is first and foremost a flight simulator, not a screenshot-generator. @Ephedrin87 said it well enough above about the degree of fidelity required and what we should realistically expect. And as @Editer noted recently in another thread, beware the rivet-counters and an obsession with visual fidelity over flight performance and vice-versa. A balance must be struck. Which MSFS and its better aircraft generally do.

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