I don’t want to imply that simming has more value than casual gaming per se. But I do believe there might be lots of value for lots of people if the training is done properly? And I’m not going to undermine the console community, I’ve had consoles for years and hence I thought to write from my perspective. I’m now on PC, as I thought to invest some time and effort to MSFS, which also brings me to this very topic and lack of training.
My original question for myself was “What excites me about flight sims?” And my first thought was something like “the excitement of flight”. And that sort of covers the flight part. But only partially, if it’s arcade flying, it’s not that exciting. Flying has much more value for me, if it’s challenging, realistic, and well… simulator basically.
But why? And this is where reading community posts etc. has helped me to solidify. Training and Competence. It’s the oldest story there is: Having a goal and moving towards it. Getting excited about learning and developing your skill set.
It seems to me there is a question if there is enough activities for Xbox players in this game? I’m sure they are expecting some action packed quick missions to be included. Casual scenery flights etc. But I wonder if extra care should be put to the training missions. To aid and help casual gamers, like myself, to learn the sim aspect properly. I’m not talking only about basic take-off or landing, but the proper procedures and use of the systems and terminology. That gives life to the plane and the world beyond the current visuals and detail. I absolutely don’t understand if we have more or a less complex simulator, am I expected to watch long-winded youtube videos or read forums to learn? What sort of training is that for your sim?
And this is where I bring my console years with me. I don’t expect learning to be effortless. But I do wish beyond everything else, that the training is done with professionalism and streamlined so that the process gets as simple as possible and as much to the point as possible.
I know MSFS is in development. I don’t know what kind of plans they exactly have. But this is something I wanted to share. I’ve experienced this lately in DCS. When MSFS didn’t deliver, I knew DCS has pretty good concept with training and thick manuals which are great reading IF you want to dive deep but the more streamlined training happens in training missions. These games co-exist and I like both for different reasons. It would be awesome to get the proper training for MSFS too.
Oh nice, I’ve tried to keep up with the development but missed those new tutorials. I hope they bring that “proper training” I’m looking for. It should enhance the experience greatly.
I also hope the add-on planes having training missions too in the future.
i do wonder if there will be many potential simflyers on console.
also it will be impossible to really simfly at first on console, look at the ingame map only…
ahum…far from good enough.
I’m inclined to think there would be plenty of future simmers on consoles. How much exactly is ‘plenty’ I don’t know nor how well the sim works on consoles. And I really haven’t put too much thought to it. I was more wondering if console (and casual pc) pilots could experience the excitement of learning the simming if the training is made spot on. Now that more training is coming my timing was bit off with this. But I’m interested to see what comes along.
Hardware will make no difference. The idea that ‘simmers’ use PC and ‘casual gamers’ us a console is grossly over simplistic and frankly, biased. There will be players of every level of seriousness on both platforms. And good for them all.
I started with flight sim as a training aid when I was flying GA. That’s long ago but I’ve always considered myself a ‘serious’ flight simmer (i.e. I don’t want to buzz the tower or fly under bridges). But heII, I might just get myself an XBoxX if it outperforms my PC … cheaper than a new graphics card!
The OP asks a valid question. For those that want to take this wonderful hobby to more ‘serious’ level, how do they learn about flying, aviation and aircraft? There’s loads out there … but perhaps not as much as we’d like within MSFS itself. Personally, I’d always recommend books. They tend to be far more concise than most YouTube videos, but then I’m just a poor old pensioner from a previous era … as my (adult) kids like to remind me
Good post. You make some excellent points and I hope that it sparks some positive conversation.
The Bush Trips are an ok introduction to VFR flying by landmark etc but it might be nice to also have some more involved trainings which explain the core concepts of IFR flight and the various aircraft systems.
As the flight model matures it might also be nice to see things like entering and recovering from a stall or spin etc.
These can all be provided in game using base game assets so it should be easy enough.
As a gamer coming from a Combat sim type background what I would also like to see would be some introductions to the third party tools which general/civil aviation simmers use and take for granted. Things like the navigation tools and VatSim and stuff.
This can’t really be done “in game” but perhaps somewhere within the forum where good quality guide content can be easily found and promoted.
Well your pensioner opinions are most kind and looking at the bigger picture. Books are so self evident solution for so many problems (or atleast good starting point to solve them) than it’s usually the last place where I look. Of course my wish for ingame training is the streamlined idea, from where to learn the systems that are modeled in the game at the level they are modeled. Books and manuals something to read afterwards to build on that foundation. But now that you have mentioned books… I just want to get one
When I was very young, I played a lot with FS 5. It came with a book (pretty big for my age) I was always reading. I even took it with me on holidays. It made me interested in both aviation and software (of which one is now my job and the other a hobby).
But in FS 5 I don’t think I landed even once, or maybe by accident. I mostly just buzzed around Chicago.
All that to say I agree, there must be room for some flight-sim-based-training, as the material is just super interesting, and will be interesting even for the “casual gamers”, who are often young and busy with figuring out their interests.
I hope they explore a little bit. Whenever I fly commercial I try for a window seat clear of the wing to look at the terrain. That’s one of the best features of FS2020 now with satellite scenery and photogrammetry - you can see why cities are like they are, what terrain features constrain growth, the favor for transportation like roads and rivers, how terrain influences vegetation, how erosion shapes terrain, and on and on. They can also go see landmarks and such all over the globe. Multiplayer adventures also add lots of interest. I just hope they see all the things it can do if they aren’t so taken with more self-directed “play”. With it called “flight simulator” it certainly is one but it’s also so much more.
I have never played the pc version, is there a walkthrough or guide when you load up for the very first time to show what the features/options in the main menu do? I assume we’ll be able to navigate around the menus with the xbox controller and zoom in on the world map using the xbox controller instead of a mouse?
@birdchrash - There are also lessons with an “instructor pilot” built into the sim itself. It’s in the menu but seems fairly idiosyncratic. The user/pilot has to initiate the “training” themselves.
Thanks, it was more a question of what to do before you even get in a plane with navigating through the options tab for all the settings, preferences, assigning different buttons or looking through the world map etc.
The last time I played a flight sim was on the rubber keyed Spectrum 48K when I was given Flight Simulation for Christmas, which was probably in 1984. Had no clue what I was doing then as a kid, hopefully this time will be better.
