The future has arrived!

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I’d like to say “thank you” to all the developers, artists, testers… whoever was involved! I can say with absolute certainty that the future of flight simulation is now here - after 40 years of waiting and dreaming! :slight_smile:

Yes, I am an absolute flight sim noob: I started in the 80ies with a C64 and various “line graphics / 1 FPS” flight “sims”, continued with an Amiga (filled polygons!) and later with PCs, starting with a 486. I stopped around Falcon 3.0 (and in general with “gaming”) after that.

So here I am, in absolute awe with the Flight Simulator 2020! I already managed my first “IFR flights”, including several successful ILS landings with the Airbus 320neo (thanks to several YouTube tutorials, and even looking up some actual Airbus public documentation about “what does that knob here do?”).

Of course I was already on my first elephant safari in Ethiopia, landed with a Zlin Aviation Shock Ultra on the El Capitan in the Yosemite park, and generally got “lost” in all kind of places on this beautiful planet Earth (and there is so much more to discover)!

I am absolutely happy with the performance, even on my “mid range” iMac 27" 2018, which allows me to enjoy the simulatin wiht “High” settings (with an i7 and 32 GB RAM - and yes, Windows 10 and FS2020 are running off an affordable, external 1 TB SSD): of course I reduced the resolution to “Full HD”, but I am absolutely fine with that (see my 1 FPS experience on my C64 above ;)).

The simulation is relatively stable, especially given the sheer size and complexity of such a product! I do get occasional crashes, especially after flying a couple of consecutive flights (each time returning to the main menu in between), but again, I am absolutely happy with it.

And I am looking forward to what is next to come - especially given a “lifetime” of the simulation of at least 10 years! I paid for the “Premium Deluxe”, not because I absolutely needed those extra airports or airplanes (which are nice, btw), but because I wanted to properly “fund” this ongoing project! And I am absolutely happy with it!

So thanks again from an absolute flight sim novice - who will earn his wings in the upcoming weeks :slight_smile:

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Exactly the same here.
There may be some unwanted turbulence nowdays… but the core is there and has a very strong foundation. If there is a flight sim project to invest in, this is it.

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I couldn’t agree more!

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Good Post Steeler and you echo my sentiments…Im 8 legs into a bush trip and its awesome. The sounds, graphics and ambience are top notch, i went for the standard version but il definitely be upgrading soon. 25hrs in only 1 crash and fps between 30-40 with a I7 and a EVGA 1070…Really happy so far

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I agree totally. Now I’m retired I’m able to get a new computer and get totally immersed in fly sim since I have plenty of time. Excited for what’s to come.

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I just love MSFS 2020
There are a lot of bugs, but we need to be patient
Windows OS has bugs, Android, OS X, nVidia drivers, Photoshop and many others
After many many years of experience, they still have bugs and aren’t perfect
I don’t understand why people comply and ask for a refund, 10 days after the release
I’m pretty sure, on X-Plane 11 and some other flight simulators, there are a lot of users who purchased different add-ons, aircrafts and they forgot about them, ignored them but never asked for refund

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Well said OP

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I don’t think the future has arrived because after buying the premium deluxe we now have to buy a helicopter DLC when it releases . Smart business as they release half a full simulator and charge for DLC’s to get the full functions. Adding helicopters and VR is not considered an upgrade it’s basic functions for a flight sim.

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I’ve never felt so much like I was truly flying before in my life, unless I was really flying! This program is absolutely AMAZING! Yah, some bugs but it’s an incredible platform.

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They aren’t charging for VR

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I do not consider to be generous that we get a “free “ upgrade to VR after we paid close to $200 AUD , it’s a marketing stunt giving you something for free after you paid a premium but I was actually referring to the helicopter DLC.

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You are always free to not buy DLC if you don’t think they deliver the value. I’m personally thrilled that they decided against charging a subscription. If they had really been greedy, that would have been the way to go. For the budget conscious, the $60 standard edition gives you everything you need.

Personally, I won’t be ready to say the future is here until this thing is running in VR. Immersion wise, I still think Xplane in VR using Touch controllers to reach out and turn dials and flip switches is the most like being in an actual airplane. The down side is obviously the scenery isn’t nearly as good. Once MSFS has good VR implementation, I’m not sure what else there would be to hope for aside from incremental improvements in scenery and performance.

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You sort of missed my point in that I am saying the future has not arrived for me and others in that helicopters should be part of the sim no a paid DLC. I am an avid VR flyer and I only use my sims for helicopters so at the moment this sim is not of any great use to me as I am waiting for VR and helicopters. My hope was to have one simulator for everything in MSFS 2020 but it’s still a long way off from that. I bought MSFS 2020 just to start fooling around with setup and usage for when VR and helicopters arrive but so far I am very bored with what they have sold me.

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I was talking mostly about the helicopter DLC that may be forthcoming. That will be the future for me if it is as good as Asobo say.

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You don’t need to buy the DLC to use helicopters. The physics work for the helis is a free update. You are only paying if you want to use MS helicopters. There will be plenty of third party freeware helis or payware from third party developers.

I am glad its DLC since I nor many care about helicopters. Its a small market. If everything was bundled into the core sim it would be a very expensive product.

Also they have not said the VR update is paid DLC.

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That’s a thoughtful reply what a champion for others :+1::+1::+1:

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FULLY agree. I also got the most expensive version to support the Franchise. I simply got tired of the limitations of the other sims. They’re old and it shows. I want a fresh platform, a new start and see devs use new technologies. The things Msfs2020 has brought are just incredible. For the first time in a flightsim we have a complete simulation, meaning, we got the whole atmosphere simulated and airflow simulated, that alone adds a whole dimension that the other sims lack. Virtual flying will never be the same. We have proper VFR, another HUGE thing all other sims lack. Can’t wait for the study planes and Gauge add-ons, it’s gonna be incredible. There’s SO much coming.

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So you don’t mean MSFS 2020 as they decided to use a 5 year old graphics API Dx11 which will make it hard to implement a lot of the new graphics calls, that’s not fresh.

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Dx11 was the only viable option when they started the development of this sim and as a matter of fact is still by far the most used graphics API around (over 90% of all games), Xplane still uses OpenGl, imagine, Vulkan ain’t there yet in Xplane, P3D has a Dx12 engine but everything else is just outdated, and it still looks worse than Msfs2020 with Dx11, so I don’t get your point. Literally nonsense. Dx12 is on the Msfs2020 roadmap, will eventually be updated to that.

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Where did you get the idea Vulcan is useless in X Plane 11 Beta, that’s simply nonsense . I am getting 90 hz in my Vive Pro which is max 45fps each eye which is ideal as before it was lucky to be 20. In a flat screen it is 140
FPS .

P3D is also wonderful with DX12 and has solved all the slow FPS issues .

I fly mostly helicopters from well developed areas from Orbx and it’s still a very good sim with the DX12 upgrade .

I think before the older sims hit the button in the API upgrade it was a huge gap when you weighed up functionality and scenery but MSFS have is certainly shackled with an almost legacy API. It’s going to be harder and harder to move to DX 12 Ultimate once 3rd party devs are involved as it will break a lot of their add ons . I also wonder if DX 11 can do VR justice as the new generation API’s have seen VR leap forward in FPS.

There is also the standard reply there is 10 years of development for MSFS and but you can’t assume the other sims won’t be moving forward at the same time . It’s game on and it will drag everything forward and I won’t be limiting myself just to one sim .

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