Unfortunately the problem persists after SU 12.
Thermals suitable for gliding are only found under very dense and high towering clouds.
As opposed to SU 9, when more natural looking cumulus clouds still had decent thermals.
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There are multiple factors in MSFS that determine the strength of cloud thermals.
Most of them do not correspond with real life.
- Cloud layer height (bottom to top)
In the sim we need much higher clouds to get a good amount of thermals than in real life. - Cloud density
In the sim, the denser the cloud is, the more lift it generates. Which makes little sense for densities above 1.
In real life there is not necessarily more lift under black clouds, compared to white clouds. - Wind strength
In the sim, the higher then wind strength is, the more lift a cloud generates (up to a certain point).
Same applies to the ground thermals.
This makes the least sense. Thermals have no linear connection to (horizontal) wind speed in real life.
Especially the complete absence of thermals at 0 wind makes no sense at all.
Here is a video showcasing point 1 (cloud height).
As you can see by looking at the vertical wind indicators on the gliders display and HUD, we only reach soarable conditions (~ 6kts vertical wind) when setting clouds to be over 10.000 ft high.
I hope Asobo is going to fix the cloud thermals, allowing us to fly gliders in normal conditions, that dont look like thunderstorms.
If MSFS wants to compete with Condor and other flight sims, this is absolutely crucial.
Suggestion:
- increase the lift below clouds at lower bottom-to-top cloud layer heights (good lift at ~5000 ft height)
- increase the lift below clouds at lower cloud density (good lift at density 1)
- Change influence of wind strength to thermal strength
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