What an incredibly well-done analysis you’ve put together here ANRI, thanks a lot! I’ve spent a lot of time trying to figure out what was going on under the hood in the sim regarding thermals, but i never got anywhere near the level of detail you’ve come here. I think there are two points here that really cannot be underestimated, with the first being:
In principle, there is no need to “invent” something new, you just need to configure these dependencies correctly.
I think it’s obvious that no simulator, at least in the foreseeable future, can accurately calculate the “real air”, and the whole point is that that isn’t needed. Tweaking the variables to accurately model is what needs to be focused on, as that’s what’s possible and sufficient.
Secondly, and this concerns everyone, not just glider pilots, is that:
These errors significantly affect not only gliders, but also all aircraft. Not only in weather presets, but also in real weather.
Since SU11, flying lighter aircraft feels more “alive” for sure, but it’s completely unrealistic. Any sunny day where i have to cross over a bit of water and then fly over land again, i know that i’ll suddenly be violently shot up with >1000ft/min, making final approaches over water almost impossible. Flying over a large grain field? Same thing, better cut the engine completely to not suddenly be 500ft above your cruising altitude. This unrealistic thermal behavior as a result of incorrect variables make flying worse for most types of players. I really hope this report gets the traction needed to bring about changes to the model as soon as possible. Agian, thanks for putting it so precisely and accurately, because most of the discussions so far were purely anecdotal. Great stuff!