The EMB-312 is now available for MSFS. Haven’t purchased it myself yet as I’m still getting my training in on the TB-30 and PC-21, but nice to see the trainers stable filling up!
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It’s entering a surprisingly crowded market considering the dearth of other kinds of Turboprops in the sim.
Curious to know if this one has anything to make it stand out ?
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I’ll be anxious to see impressions. It’ll definitely be an interesting contrast to the PC-21, which has a glass panel and is weirdly fly-by-wire in its handling. The PC-21 is well-done and I don’t regret purchasing it, but I prefer my prop planes being a bit more raw in their handling than that one. I think IRIS will also be releasing the T-6 Texan II in this class at some point.
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It all looks a bit P3D to me and the fact this is the first time we’re hearing about it makes me doubt the quality but sure lets see…
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Looks like it was almost two years in development:
That was from May, and I’ve seen it mentioned on FB and Reddit, so it might be the first time you’ve heard of it in this specific forum, but it’s been being talked about for a while. 
I am excited to see more about this. I learned from the C-22J that it doesn’t take a big name developer and a flashy release to make an awesome aircraft that works extremely well. Sometimes they just do it right. Most don’t of course but there are some gems to be found in unexpected places so I stay optimistic.
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I’m glad its not just me that felt those flight dynamics are just a little too rigid, especially in the rudder department.
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Looks like quite a low fidelity cockpit, so those at the lower end of the GPU spectrum should have pretty descent in-game performance.
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From what I’ve read, I think the flight dynamics are accurate – the PC-21 is a really modern turboprop trainer designed to transition pilots into FBW jets. I just find fly-by-wire less interesting to fly. Give me an F-86 over an F-16 any day! So the EMB-312 might fill that niche.
As for the Tucano, they really picked a lousy day to release it. It’s really reasonably priced, and I’d probably have picked it up, but with the update hitting tomorrow and not much time to fly over the weekend, I’ll have enough new toys for now.
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I picked this up yesterday. I will do my best to provide some of my thoughts on various areas of the plane.
External visuals: 6.5-7 out of 10. If you’re someone who demands perfection at very close range you probably won’t be too happy. For me it’s nice. Not the best plane I own but definitely not the worst.
Internal visuals: 7.5 out of 10. I was pleasantly surprised that the gauges and panel look very nice. There are a couple of rougher spots and textures but it’s overall nice. Night lighting is decent too. Disclaimer: I am not a vr guy so buyer beware on that front.
Systems: 5 out of 10. There are switches throughout the cockpit that actuate in the opposite direction from the way they should. The throttle lever is like the one in the tbm930 where it has to be moved to the right in order to fly. Once over there I couldn’t get it to move back to the left. There’s no manual and while there’s a checklist it doesn’t highlight what it’s asking you to do. Flaps and gear animations are good. The gear lever animation is rough.
Sound: 4 out of 10. Sound is probably the most subjective thing here but to my ears this is just meh. Thing like switches and levers make no noise nor does the canopy. Engines sounds are way too quiet and even if they were louder I am not sure they’re representative of the engine in this plane.
Flight model/experience: 2-3 out of 10. Maybe it’s my setup or maybe I am doing something wrong but this plane won’t accelerate. It took nearly 1500 feet of runway to get to 80 kts. Once in the air and completely cleaned up with very little climb the plane took forever to get past 160 kts. The ground handling once you apply power is skittish and unstable (reminds me of that junk pc-12 from carenado). Aileron authority is overdone. It’s just not great overall.
I own the PC-21 and the TB-30. You’re much, much better off with one of those planes if you’re in the market for something like this.
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I have to disgaree - thats like saying “don’t bother with this jet, there are loads of jets available already”.
The only other decent turboprop trainer is the PC-21, and that’s a glass cockpit - this is great for those who want ‘steam gauge’. (PS - not saying the product is great, I haven’t got it, but the fact that such a plane is being released at all)
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There’s also the TBM-30 which personally I prefer to the PC-21 and that’s steam gauge as well so with 2 alternative turboprop fast trainers it doesn’t seem unreasonable to want to be asking why someone should buy this one.
It’s not a criticism, it’s a genuine question of what this one does to make it stand out ?
TBM-30 isn’t a turboprop though, just a Lycoming piston engine.
i completely understood your question both in meaning and spirit. i am guessing the person calling this into question just hadn’t had enough coffee yet and misread your comment.
owning all three, i can confidently tell you that there is nothing this plane does that makes it stand out and, in fact, is in bad enough shape that i wouldn’t recommend to anyone at this point. you are definitely better off with the tb-30 (understanding completely that it’s not a turboprop) or the iris pc-21.
Thanks for the impressions. I’d encourage you to report the performance issues to the developer. One thing I’ve seen in a lot of MSFS releases is that sometimes purchasers run into conflicts or other issues that cause issues the devs have never seen and aren’t aware of. Maybe it’ll help you get your $20 worth out of this if they’re alerted.
Appreciate you taking one for the team and checking it out! I’m still interested if they get the flight model sorted out. For me the flying experience is the most important thing about a plane. I’m willing to forgive a lot of textures if it feels convincingly like I’m flying the real thing.
i have not reached out to them yet. might be a bit as i am going to spend what little free time i have this weekend to get through some of the new stuff just released as part of the 40th anny pack.
i will certainly come back here and post if / when changes are made that impact any of my ratings. the last thing i want to do is discourage a small dev but i also wouldn’t feel good not writing this up since it’s only fair for folks to be able to make an informed purchase decision.
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reading in this thread, I guess it’s high time someone does a decent PC-7. Looks better than a PC-21 and has steam gauges.
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I’m still on the fence about purchasing this one. Haven’t seen or read a single thing since its release. Could anyone here, who purchased, give further insight on the tucano’s quality?
PC-21 is 50% faster than the PC-7, if speed is important to you.
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It isn’t. I glady exchange speed for better looks and steam gauges.