Test machine specs: MSI X670E, AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D, AMD Radeon RX 7900XTX, 48gb RAM
Version reviewed: FS2024
Add-ons: Taburet Northern Hemisphere Summer Mask, BATC, GSX Pro, GFX, Global Shipping '24
For a very long time, JustSim have had the monopoly on Nice, offering (separate) versions for both FS2020 and 2024. Now, thanks to France VFR, we have a choice…
DETAIL
Those familiar with FVFR will know almost exactly what to expect: a pretty detailed and accurate airside, but with few bells and whistles generally.
To get a glimpse of this new Nice, I set off early morning from Bastia for the short Air Corsica ATR hop across the Ligurian Sea. Upon arrival, I was greeted by nice but not overly impressive runway textures (markings are great but the tyre-marks seem a touch generic). After vacating, though, things improved and it turns out France VFR have done a very authentic job recreating the majority of airfield surfaces. While some areas don’t match real-world satellite imagery perfectly, it’s 99% there, with a good deal more accuracy than most devs would have managed.
The various aprons look fantastic, despite their textures not being the absolute sharpest I’ve ever come across. They are slightly higher-res than at Bastia (my only other FVFR airport to date), however, and are certainly far from bad. Especially pleasing is the faded, sun-bleached look of a lot of the ground markings — it really clarifies this is a Mediterranean airport that gets its fair share of hot, sunny days. The GSE clutter is abundant and very well placed but, unsurprisingly, it’s mostly default (or modified default). There are a few custom bits, specifically airstairs, Gendarmerie vehicles, coaches, and pax buses. What we do get — and I noticed this at Bastia — is animated figures wandering around the various ramps, and they are custom rather than default assets (this is about the height of innovation for FVFR).
The terminal buildings (there are two) are beautifully modelled and textured, however only the main rotunda building that forms the centrepiece of T2 has an interior (and a rather rudimentary one, at that — in fact, parts of it I suspect are from the Asobo hand-crafted version, which FVFR in its small print claims to have borrowed bits from). Of course I didn’t expect an £8 airport to feature extensive interiors and this scenery actually works well without them, due to the real-life design of the terminals.
Moving landside is where things start to take a negative turn. That said, T2’s landside is actually pretty well modelled, but T1’s is the typical FVFR affair: a lot of default ground imagery, on top of which assets have been hastily and sloppily placed. Parked vehicles are a mix of custom and default models, which is a pretty common sight, even with the top developers. By FVFR’s standards, Nice’s landside is one of the best, and it does at least boast a good number of fixed assets such as signposts, bollards, lightpoles, etc. In other words, it doesn’t look too shoddy.
So, what don’t i like about this scenery? A few things…
The road tunnel that runs under the runways at the western end of the airfield has been left to default satellite imagery — and while it doesn’t look terrible, JustSim did fully model it in their version of LFMN. Also left to satellite imagery is a small storage area to the south of the runways but, to be fair, the ‘buildings’ here look more like small sheds and portacabins (I’m not sure if JustSim gave this area more attention?)
What I like about the JustSim version is that they’ve replaced some of the PG buildings that sit along the airport’s northern boundary with custom models. This is quite important due to how close some of these buildings are to active taxiways, particularly since the French Riviera’s PG is the older stuff that often has that ‘melted’ look. There was no real expectation on my part for FVFR to develop this area but, nonetheless, it’s a plus point for JustSim.
My final gripe is less of a concern: heavy use of default fixed assets around the airfield, such as blast screens, runway/taxiway lights, walls and fences (yes, it does have an all-encompassing perimeter fence). But given the price, can you really complain? Probably not.
Night-lighting is pretty solid outdoors (without being exceptional) but there are a few Asobo globes floating around landside between the two terminals. Disappointingly, terminal interior lighting is very weak. T2 has some degree of internal illumination (just about!), mostly provided by repetitive 2D texture overlays, but T1 has practically none whatsoever. The (almost) saving grace is that the exterior lighting masks it quite well, at least when viewed from the apron.
Finally, BATC compatibility, which is becoming more of a thing as many simmers abandon the default ATC for something more realistic. Thankfully it seems fine, with every arriving and departing aircraft I saw behaving as expected. Arrival/departure procedures are functional, too.
PERFORMANCE
Bastia performs wonderfully for me, however I’d say Nice is ever-so-slightly worse. Hardly surprising given the size difference but bear in mind, ‘worse’ doesn’t mean ‘bad’. Performance for me is fine, and the one stutter I experienced could just have been coincidence.
VERDICT
I cannot compare France VFR’s rendition directly to JustSim’s but FVFR’s offers superb value, based on what you get in the package. The company seems to develop to its own standards and seems uninterested in competing with rivals. What you get with their airports is a very solid airside experience, and anything on top should be treated as a bonus. There’s no animated ramp traffic here (something else JustSim managed in their version, as well as the public tram) but landing and taxiing to stand felt very immersive to me. The landside is perhaps better than is typical for FVFR, and the buildings borrowed from the default hand-crafted version (which must be enabled) are hard to spot. So far I’ve only noticed two, one being the northside radar tower (whose dish isn’t animated, in contrast to the one south of the runways, so I’m assuming the north example is decommissioned). I know a few people have voiced concerns about FVFR’s cannibalising of Asobo’s LFMN but whatever they’ve ‘borrowed’ seems to fit perfectly into their own work.
For around £8, I’ve actually little to be critical of here. Yes, it might not have some of the fancy toppings JustSim’s has, but the airside experience is hard to fault, and the up-to-date layout of the airport is certainly a win for FVFR.
If you’re not bothered about comprehensive terminal interiors, can live with mostly default GSE and don’t mind a lack of tangible terminal interior lighting, I can fully recommend this airport. Aside from the tyre-marks on the runways, the ground textures are excellent (mirroring those of the real airport almost perfectly) and the parts of both terminals visible from the flightdeck are very well presented. Even the outdoor landsides offer a smattering of intricate detail, though it is somewhat overshadowed by the default satellite imagery and an over-reliance on Asobo SDK assets.
The main question is, I suppose: is JustSim’s worth paying over double for? Equally importantly, is theirs actually better? I can’t answer either succinctly, but I suspect the answer to both is “no”. One thing I did notice about JustSim’s in a YouTube review video is that at least some jetways connect very awkwardly to the PMDG 737, proving that images alone can never paint the full picture. I’ve also no idea how that version plays with ATC mods like BATC.
For me, £8 for a large European airport is incredible value, and despite its flaws, France VFR’s Nice punches well above the weight its price might suggest.
If anyone has the JustSim version, it would be great to see images of it that closely resemble the selection I’ve included below.
