Agree, and regardless of how it unfolds, it’s a really good time to be a flight sim enthusiast after years of relatively stagnant technological leaps or progress.
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I’m a newcomer to civilian flight sims. I’m far from an expert on the matter, but I’m learning fast. I’ve been aware of the sim space in general terms because I’m a gamer, I like planes and keep up on general industry develpments. So my opinion certainly needs to be taken within that context.
And to be clear, I’m not trying to disparage XP or Austin, and I could be terribly wrong in my impressions, but that’s just the way I see it from my point of view of not being a “community insider”.
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Hard to give a definite answer. The best would be: The best of the coming years.
Right now it’s already the best scenery and graphics wise. There is potential with the modern flight model to be on par with XP.
But as of now, the lack of 3rd party aircraft and some fundamental flaws are holding it back from being the undisputed #1.
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Yes, agreed, once the issues you very well outlined are sorted there will indeed be no need to go to another sim. I won’t switch back to X-plane 11 anyway as I have already mentioned. But unfortunately we’re not quite there yet and I just wish ASOBO would spend more time now on systems/SDK than scenery enhancement. To me, at the moment, it’s a bit like when you are sitting an exam doing a three hour test and spending all of your time on just one out of four questions (with equal marks) just because it’s the only one you can answer well. When the results come in the mark will obviously be a ‘fail’ since your max score will be 25 %.
Maybe i’m asking for a bit too much especially since the sim only came out on Aug 18. Anyway, generally I really like FS2020 and for me there is as yet no better alternative.
Yes, agree with that too.
I think your assessment is pretty spot on. At the very least it aligns pretty much with my own line of thought. I also tend to feel, maybe unfairly, that customers are not much of a priority and that they are there on a ‘like it’ or ‘lump it’ basis. As I said, maybe i’m being unfair here but it is an impression i’ve had for a bit.
I think the inexperience of the Asobo team is partly at fault here. None of them were simmers or knew anything about planes before this. Even though I truly believe that they were aiming this as serious simmers, their lack of experience in the sim space and gaming background didn’t allow them to have a clear picture of what was really involved. It’s complicated.
I may be critical of some of their decisions at times, but in the end, I also know that this is the future of flight sim, regardless what others may feel about other sims. It’s not the best sim atm, but it will be in time.
Well, I do think that there is a real desire at ASOBO to make the Sim a success and there are a lot of positives which give me a lot of hope for the future. I will hold onto those.
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But you are solely talking about visuals here, there is more than graphics involved when talking about a simulator. MSFS clearly excels in the visual department but apart from the visuals there really isn’t much to be excited about. X-plane on the other hand is the opposite 
.
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You need to read more than just my 1 post in this convo to get the context…
One key one is…
I did read quite a lot of posts but not enough of them I see. Anyway I’m addicted to the visuals as well but I’m also very close to banging my head against the wall at times. It does not seem to me that the people at Asobo know 100% what they are dealing with. Their level of knowledge does not extend much above PPL level I’m afraid…
I made a summary of some of the simulator aspects in need of improvements. Some items are pretty basic I would say…
We’re on the same page, it would seem.
The TLDR version:
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If you’re seriously into your simming, MSFS is not quite ready yet. It needs a lot of work. Unless XP do something drastic, in a couple of years MSFS is going to shoot right by them and there’ll be little reason to even look at XP.
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If you like pretty visuals, VFR flying, and aren’t a hardcore simmer, MSFS is what people want right now.
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FS2020 is great for visual flying, but study aircraft is two thumbs down… I can wait till PMDG planes come out next year, I hope. Assume, Asobo is improving their SDK.
I read that post. 100% agree with it.
That is true, I have both XP and MSFS and will always have both but decide for which one to get a particular plane for. I like to see decent A380 and Pilatus PC-24 in either sim especially MSFS.
To add to that, according to the definition of game, it states that it is “an activity that one engages in for amusement or fun”, you can call it what you want - simulator or game, either is good enough so we should stop fighting over that and concentrate on what matters. It is going to be even more interesting when XP is fighting back so stay tuned, however, they may never have the resources to push it as with MSFS.
I know I complain about this sim most of the time, but due to the graphics - environment, aircraft, and weather, the view takes my breath away each time I fly in it. As most people would agree, VFR is a joy here. Though I don’t like VRs for simming, I may try it in the future to experience the environment.
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I expect FS2020 PRO ($150), with the totally different SDK made by 3PD consortium. And hopefully a new era of flight simulators will begin!
Being able to actually explore our planet is in itself a HUGE win in my eyes. Made me appreciate our planet even more.
MSFS will go down in the books as the most revolutionary sim ever made.
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So VFR pilots are not real simmers? In the same way VFR pilots are not real pilots?
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The next update is supposed to be about the airliner experience and the one after that about ATC so we can expect more realism on the IFR side of things. If they really make the ATC “study level” they will have a massive advantage over other sims as they simply don’t offer that. Realistic default ATC is what’s been missing in every simulator so far.
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Looking forward to the ATC update and seeing what improvements are made. As you say, if it is of an acceptable standard this will give FS2020 another advantage over the other sims. I have got P2atc but would much prefer a decent in sim alternative.