Test machine specs: MSI X670E, AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D, AMD Radeon RX 7900XTX, 48gb RAM
Add-ons: FS Traffic, GSX Pro
I stumbled across this developer a few months ago, quite by accident while looking for southwest England scenery, and noticed they had a version of Guernsey in the works. Ever since, I’ve been monitoring their progress and the scenery was finally released 9th September. I expected it to be slightly cheaper than the £15 it currently commands, based on their other products, but it looked quite a substantial project and there are many similarly sized airports on the market for the same money (and sometimes, more). Needless to say, today I parted with £15 of my hard-earned cash…
DETAIL
As usual for a new airport in my ever-expanding collection, I opted to get my first look by flying in from afar (in this case, IniBuilds’ Southampton in my Aurigny ATR 72). After an uneventful flight (except for a monster headwind), I lined up with Guernsey’s RWY27. As I descended the last 300 feet or so, my eyes copped a load of the frankly stunning eye candy that surrounds this small, island airfield (custom approach lights included). So far, so good — plenty to see! I rolled out to the runway end (it’s less than 1,500m in length and can just about accommodate an A320, as long as it’s not at MTOW) and vacated. Next thing to jump out at me were the various models (three in total) of runway/taxiway lights, followed by the really impressive terraforming job. Taxiing here requires constant throttle adjustments if you want to avoid quickly grinding to a halt! I passed the Guernsey aeroclub on the right… by which point my jaw was practically on the floor! Stunning is an understatement, believe me!
As I trundled onto the main apron, I took in the very pleasing ground textures/markings and finally arrived at stand no. 2. And then came a major disappointment: a well-modelled but completely empty terminal building. I mean, if you’re going to model a terminal, you either place 2D window textures to mimic an interior, or you actually create an interior — having what’s basically an empty glass shell is so anti-climatic, especially given the quality of what’s been presented up to this point. Does it totally kill the scenery? No, but I really can’t wrap my head around the decision to omit any kind of interior for a mostly glass building. I can only think that it’s a work in progress, to which an interior will eventually be added.
Looking around the ramp, the GSE clutter is a mix of default and custom and it actually works pretty well. There’s an abundance of fine detail that wouldn’t go amiss in a Pyreegue or MK Studios scenery.
So, with one disappointment out of the way, are there any more? Sadly, yes: the terminal landside; which again is fully custom-modelled but lacks people, vehicles and signage — in fact, any real signs of life. What makes this omission really odd, however, is that every other landside area has been crammed full of detail, from road signs and DHL vans, to an assortment of custom shrubbery. While most devs concentrate their efforts on the terminal (arguably one of the most important areas of any airport scenery), it seems RealVFR have chosen to spend more time elsewhere — and I’m not convinced this is to the taste of the majority of simmers.
Okay, with the two disappointments out of the way, let’s talk about what’s to see outside the perimeter fence. Perhaps way too much to list in a short review — and I wouldn’t want to spoil any surprises — but there really is an impressive amount, some of which I’ve no doubt yet to find. There are stone cottages, whitewashed houses, conservatories, greenhouses, small businesses, industrial areas, farms… you name it, it’s probably here! I’ve seldom seen so much gorgeous detail crammed into such a small area. There are a couple of places on and around the airport in which the (presumably?) custom ortho is a little blurrier than I’d like but this is a minor criticism (and certainly less of a distraction than the deserted terminal and its landside).
Finally, night-lighting, which is beautiful. There are subtle differences between the various light sources that make this airport look very authentic in darkness.
PERFORMANCE
Excellent for me, despite the detail. That said, EGJB is a small airport with a low number of daily flights, so as long as your hardware is fairly modern, I don’t foresee any problems with performance.
VERDICT
I really don’t know what to say here. In many ways, this is a scenery that sets a new (and ridiculously high) bar in 2025; but in others, it simply feels unfinished. I imagine it wouldn’t take that much effort to develop at least a basic terminal interior, or to stick some simple assets landside to bring it to life. If RealVFR did this, they’d have a solid candidate for the best airport of the year, no question.
So, can these issues be overlooked? By me, yes — and I’m a HUGE fan of modelled interiors and landside detail so I don’t make that claim lightly. It just seems such a wasted opportunity, especially when they’ve modelled other internal areas (hangars, the ATC tower, the aeroclub). If it’s not a work in progress, there could well be some sort of legal ramification in creating a terminal interior, that the dev naturally doesn’t want to get caught up in. I shall ask the question…
Should you buy this scenery for £15? Unless you simply can’t live without a terminal interior or an intricately detailed landside, definitely. What is here is extremely pleasing and RealVFR have at least created a good basis for future additions — i.e. the terminal is practically ‘interior-ready’ and the landside sufficiently developed to literally only require the placement of a few appropriate assets.
The standout nature of the modelling, texturing, terraforming and surrounding detail really can’t be taken away from RealVFR here. Aside from the two obvious grievances, one minor recommendation would be to replace some of the default GSE clutter with custom examples. I’m not a fan of default Asobo cars but they are only used landside in any number here, and RealVFR are far from the only dev littering quality scenery with them.
If you fly regularly in the UK, this is a must-have scenery, despite its flaws (are they really flaws? Or just sorely needed additions?). Even if you’re not a fan of UK flying, this is one of those airports that’s worth having just to showcase what’s possible in the latter half of 2025.
On a final note, there’s no GSX profile, which is another thing I’ll be questioning the developer about. I think they’re more enthusiast-level than a serious business but that certainly shouldn’t preclude their responding to suggestions or constructive criticism.
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