So last evening, I was messing around with the DC6 sitting in a ramp, at KSEA. I decided to do that so I could examine the detailed instruments, familiarize myself with everything, etc. and not have to hear the engines droning away on the runway. As I did that, it fell dark outside - and so did it in the game. Airport lights started looking brighter, the sun was setting on the backdrop, planes kept landing, etc.
Wait. WAIT.
Planes were landing? I had AI traffic and Live Player turned off. So I asked Siri to search one of the callsigns, it brought up flightaware.com and the flight info said it had landed 2 mins ago. In Real Life. These were real freaking planes landing inside my sim. Right on time (ok a small delta).
Now how freaking cool is that? It truly blurred what was reality and what was sim for several minutes. It was like being on psychedelics, without being on them really (disclosure: never been on them). So any āuserā would, I just sat there watching the sky, kinda forgot about the DC6. Night fell, the airport came into life, beautiful twinkling lights in HDR, more (real) planes landing, more flightaware.com searches and more amazement, and more suspension of reality. I was in an adult version of candy land.
THANK YOU ASOBO AND MICROSOFT FOR GIVING US THIS IMMERSIVE SIM.
Sorry for yelling, but thatās exactly how I feel right now - like screaming from the top of the (simulated) world.
Yes right at the moment I think the sim is in a good place. For me great scenery, okay performance (personally much better than X-Plane 11) and 3 cracking aircraft in the hangar: PMDG DC6; JF Piper Arrow Turbo; and Milviz Corsair, not to mention the Stearman that only cost me about Ā£12 (not nor intended to be study level but for the price a right cracker). Weāve even apparently got a decent payware helicopter (read reviews but not bought). And so much to look forward to from A2A (hopefully a Comanche 250 and Aerostar 600) plus future stuff from PMDG(airliner coming soon apparently), Just Flight(not sure whatās coming after the Warrior but have high hopes) and Milviz(Cessna 310 I think)
So yes, pretty immersive at the moment and long may it continue. Letās hope the 27th brings good things and no game breaking bugs. Heck now why did I have to spoil it ? Letās hope the bad times are behind us and the sky is not the limit
I wish I could feel your excitement, but for me any AI traffic is not immersive at all in my opinion without the real model or livery. No point seeing a fictional aircraft land, but it does however represent it slightly if as you say it landed at the same time as IRL. I agree itās cool, the sim is immersive not perfect but getting there. When the AI planes actually look like the real planes that are landing, thatās when it will get even cooler
Itās true that some of us want different things from a flight sim and that not everybody will be over the moon with FS2020 and thatās okay.
For some P3d and X-plane 11 will probably still be the āgo toā for certain sim aspects and, yes, I get that too. Personally, iām not that bothered about immersive AI traffic or study level airliners but obviously itās a game breaking thing to some people. Weāre all different and thereās no real right or wrong view just what is important to yourself
it will get there eventually , and those older sims will wither out. i donāt know why people get mad expecting everything to be study level at launch they give us so much to be grateful for, complete new gen experience the immersion is insane nothing like any other sim Iāve played. the possibilities are endless
I actually think itās already beginning to happen. Milviz are no longer developing for P3d and who knows how long PMDG will continue to develop for it also.
As the SDK improves and developers gain more experience with FS2020 more and more developers will desert P3d and X-Plane 11 and come to FS2020. The large market and financial rewards will be a massive pull. As regards X-Plane 11 iām not really sure what the future is other than as a niche sim. In a year or so unless Laminar soon pull something out the bag I anticipate that X-plane 11 will be surpassed in all areas by FS2020. I think they need to do something in the non too distant future if they still want to remain relevant. Canāt really comment too much about P3d since I never owned it but I do see devs.moving away from that too.
I love KSEA, sometimes i use freeware F22 to fly close to people and try to escort/follow them for a while while they land or climb hope they donāt hate me.
Also realized the more i stay on ramp the better real traffic gets.
Well, to be fair: thats something you can have with a āthe other simā sim too. Plus the planes disappear seconds After t/dā¦,
But i get what you want to convey.
āit will get there eventually , and those older sims will wither outā
Want to put money on the table?
Letās hope they donāt āwither outāā¦because it is competition that is driving our hobby further and furtherā¦
P3D 5.2 (1) is still my go to sim for real flying practiceā¦so I have both, and intend to keep it that way.
To possibly add to your immersion, i think thereās a way to use Live ATC and somehow delay the audio to synch with the sim stream of live aircraft, so you can hear ATC and everything as it is happening in the sim. I was able to do that with the Traffic in XPlane, but I havenāt tried to do it with MSFS. Use VLC Player which is a player that has an option to delay the sound stream. Approximate what the delay is from flightaware to the sim, and synch the two. I think thatās how itās done. Iām sure you can google it or find the exact instructions in a forum (XPlane, AvSim). It was pretty cool. As I recall, when ATC instructed to turn off the runway, you can see this in the sim. Now if we can get a Tower camera view back in msfs.
Wow that would be amazing. I am very intrigued. I found some live atc streams online but none worked. I was thinking of buying the stick and ruddersā product for ATC chatter, but it is just pre-recorded clips.
Appreciate more specific details, please.
And now repeat the best time of your life with an Oculus Rift or HTC Vive or whatever other 3D VR headsets are available.
What you have witnessed so far was only a glimpse of what has yet to come and what is technically possible - when REALLY sitting in that cockpit with a VR headset on you will truly see and believe
(Immersion-Tip: Put a can of engine oil and some old metal parts that smell like metal with a little hint of rust on the shelf - and you can also smell the DC-6ā¦)
So basically then just leave the PC room as it already is?
Only kidding.Couldnāt resist.
Some people also use a fan for an open cockpit experience. I personally use a home made base shaker which is quite immersive although my family donāt always share my enthusiasm if they are chilling out in the room below
Youāre comparing apples to oranges though. Xplane and P3D are established sims with a 20 year legacy. Msfs2020 is the new kid on the block, meaning we donāt even know what a halfway āfinishedā, version of msfs2020 will look like, and despite this, the only, and I mean only, reason to still fire up either of those two sims (right now at this point in time) are airliners, specific 3rd party planes and choppers. There is no other reason to keep using Xplane or P3D, both graphically outdated by A LOT, compared to Msfs2020, both lacking of scenery, unless you do a ton of work yourself, and even then itās not the same, both lacking of an actual atmosphere, compared to msfs2020ās organic flying feel, even Xplane doesnāt come close compared, in that organic aspect. Both P3D and Xplane feel like thereās no actual atmosphere, but just a gigantic windtunnel, itās in fact the first thing I noticed when trying Msfs2020. On top of that, msfs2020 feels way more alive, while the other two sims feel like dead worlds. Letās compare them when msfs2020 is mature
Well I agree with you but there are still quite a few die hard P3d and X-plane 11 simmers around.Iām guessing that figure will reduce substantially in the next year or so with improved SDK/aircraft leaving possibly the hardcore fans who canāt bear to give up the hundred/thousands they have invested in the older sims. Some people will never move on but if they are happy thatās okay. Not everybody wants the latest and greatest. We are also still āwatching that spaceā as regards X-plane 12 but not much really seems to be happening there so far from what I can see
It still has some issues but GardenSnakes/Mr. Proper has been fixing it up.
It gets real world traffic from Flightradar24. Like FlightAware, Flightradar removes traffic where owners have requested but unlike the built-in traffic facility, you see GA traffic too. Thereās also configurable model matching so you can use proper liveries with the IVAO (might have initials wrong) libraries.
Flightradarās data isnāt delayed so you can listen to near ATC with an air band radio, or use internet ATC. No delays to audio necessary.
Spot on, on everything you said. I also donāt want to see Xplane completely vanish, that wouldnāt be good, nor p3d, you know. I have respect for laminar research, lockheed martin and the work they did. They offered a serious alternative when Microsoft had a ā¦letās call it ādifferentā leadership, that didnāt care about flight simulation. The problem I see with Xplane, is that some people believe itās the holy grail of flightsimulation, which ofc it is not and never was. Has as many flaws as P3D or Fsx and the āflight modelā is grossly overrated, although clearly better than what P3D/Fsx offer. I got tired of spending enormous amounts of money for old tech and thus stopped directly supporting Xplane and P3D. My last add-on was an aerobask plane in Xplane. Now I focus on the future, aka Fs2020. Cheers
Sure there is. Try to build a multi-view/multi-monitor wrap-around simulator that doesnāt look like your view is through a fishbowl using FS 2020. It canāt be done, at least not yet. So thereās one reason.
āThe problem I see with Xplane, is that some people believe itās the holy grail of flightsimulationā¦ā
As do some believe of FS 2020. They each have strengths and weakness. XP11 can be used without an outside server, FS 2020 canāt. FS 2020 has (pretty much for me) real-time satellite imagery. XP11 doesnāt.
The ONE area FS 2020 shines over the others is at low level VFR. Thatās it. It has the eye candy, but itās still learning to walkā¦to use a āitās still a child,ā analogy.
For realistic open cockpit, you need a fan, water sprayer, your PC in a refrigerated cold room and a friend with a bat to hit you across the back of the head when you brake to hard in a tail dragger and flip it.
hope they donāt hate me.
They each have strengths and weakness. XP11 can be used without an outside server, FS 2020 canāt. FS 2020 has (pretty much for me) real-time satellite imagery. XP11 doesnāt.