You’ve been using the sims that long too?
Yup, I’ve had them all as well!
I was referring to the way the sim was marketed prior to and at release.
All their PR and information indicated that the sim was much further along in it’s development state than it actually was when released in August., with no indications of lots of rather large shortcomings.
I doubt if too many folks realized the state it was in then when they purchased it.
I most certainly agree that the sim is sorely needed, and as I indicated above, it is absolutely amazing and I am enjoying every minute of it. All I mentioned is that “one could make a case”.
I set it at ultra the day I installed it. I’ve never checked my FPS and I never will. Bombing around (mostly) in the Caribbean in the 152 and it’s the most fun I’ve had with my clothes on (okay, almost).
I didn’t expect them to.
My issue was there was no hint from any review that I read or watched that gave me any indication that this sim was in the state it was then.
I believe it would have been prudent of them to let us know the issues they were dealing with, what features weren’t working at all correctly yet, and the limitations on the features that were.
Would they have sold as many? Probably not, but then again, would they have had all the complaints and ill will that those complaints generated towards a great product?
How many of those have influenced others not to buy yet, or at all?
I would have purchased it in any case, and having purchased all of the MS fight sims since FS5 upon release, I was expecting somethings, but certainly not the extent that existed.
Just my thought’s.
Off to fly as I do enjoy this sim.
Grammatically, a “Flight Simulator” is something that simulates flight. Does this sim simulate flight? Indeed it does. Therefore – not a misnomer.
Now, if it was called a Garmin simulator, or an instrument approach simulator – then we’d have a problem.
The nice thing is that there is a long-term roadmap, and third party aircraft developers all saying that the systems aspect of the sim will continue to get rapidly better. That sets up nicely for dividing responsibility and tasks to Asobo (for their cool virtual world creation and core flight – yes, flight – sim functionality and SDK), and for third parties to do their thing like they do in other flight simulators.
It’s just mid-January and this thing was only released on August 20th of last year. And from what I’ve seen and read in the forum, the OP is right – the vast majority of simmers know very little about flying a real plane and real-world aviation systems or procedures. Even if they were given study-level systems and aircraft, they wouldn’t know how to use them.
OP’s suggestion is to be patient and enjoy all the things related to aviation while we wait. If all we have right now is a very good VFR platform (minus the terrain spikes, of course), then why not go flying in VMC and learn how to realistically fly VFR?
And I would point out that VFR flight in the real world is sufficiently complicated and challenging to take you many, many hours of study and practice to master it. By law in the USA, a VFR private pilot’s license takes a minimum of 40 hours, half of which is taken up by ground school – learning navigation, weather, airspaces, ATC procedures, and radio communications.
I LOVED learning the fundamentals of aviation and getting my PPL. It was very, very challenging and enjoyable. Simulate THAT! And best of all, it doesn’t depend on FPS rate.
To OP’s points about enjoying all aspects of flight simulation:
There are quite a number of people on the forum who I follow and respect. They generally have one or more of the following qualities:
Are natural troubleshooters, eliminating variables and forming good hypotheses, then setting up experiments to test those hypotheses. The guys who have no axe to grind with Microsoft or Asobo, but also don’t shy away from placing blame on them if it is justified by scientific methods.
Have a significant amount of real life pilot experience and let us benefit from it. There is a huge difference between how GA planes (props) work and how turboprops and airliners work. The guys that fly jets know those differences very well, whereas us prop drivers do not. Since I do fly turboprops, jets, and airliners in the sim, I really like hearing that perspective, especially when they explain why it’s different.
Have a good sense of humor and know how and when to use it.
Treat negatives as challenges and offer constructive criticism, education, and/or encouragement as appropriate.
Despise trolls and misinformation, and can hardly restrain their passion and glee when getting rid of both.
Understand that there is a bigger picture of business factors, domain expertise, and software development complexity at work. They don’t think Microsoft or Asobo is Evil Incarnate or that the sim – with all its current warts – is “garbage”. They look at it as a work in progress with the potential to soon be the sim eco-system that all of us have wanted for a long, long, time.
Many moderators – whose title implies that they should step in and calm things down. I like the moderators who can’t resist being one of the community, and jump on trolls and misinformation, and use their moderation powers to either get rid of, point out, or tolerate our calling out – the negative drama. I’m talking about those people who think the sim or Asobo is “garbage”, “unprofessional”, “unacceptable”, “unplayable”, etc.
And perhaps most importantly, those people who think I’m smart and funny even when I’m clearly no such thing.
Can you share in Willis’ prize? You’ll have to ask him, but I can tell you, when it comes to sharing, he’s one of those guys that will stab you with his fork if you try to take one of his French fries.
That might be a bit too far. I am the first to share what I don’t finish. @TheSevenflyer is welcome to clean the plate. Every comic need a good straight man.
well said. i feel like this part cannot be mentioned enough, and in addition, most of it is recongnizable (it’s a heaven for VFR pilots, with detail rarely seen before), and most of it also just looks beatuiful, from lighting to weather to textures.
even if there are still problems, and nothing will ever be perfect, it is, without a doubt, a beauty of a flight simulator and i’m happy to be able to experience all this from the beginning. i look forward to MSFS’s future. and mine.
For me, this is part of the real joy of the sim and something very expensive or impossible to get in other sims. I can recreate the exhilaration of my early VFR flights using SkyVector for VFR maps that shows cities, roads, rivers and lakes, and notable landmarks. I can plan and fly a trip that I will fly using only pilotage – flying solely using headings, time, and planned visual references.
What’s really cool is to fly one of those trips and without any moving map tool (including GPS) that tracks my aircraft, and have the SkyVector map and a Google (or Bing) map in satellite view. You can see just how realistic the sim’s scenery is, and exactly what the ground really looks like to VFR pilots.
Choose someplace remote where you don’t have to worry about airspaces or ATC. Turn off traffic and fly the 152 and you’ll see what aviation felt like 30 years ago. It’s so awesome to make the whole flight navigating by looking out the window. You get a thrill when you find that destination airport by using pilotage and reference to maps that don’t show where your aircraft is located.
To OP’s point, there is a TON of stuff to enjoy in this sim while we wait on bug fixes, new functionality, and third party developers!
Easy…
30 years ago I was flying a 737.
Then again, 3 weeks ago I was flying a 185 on skis into a mountain lake tracking a portable AM transmitter set up on the ice for navigation.
So…
Louis CK (standup comedian) had a routine that reminds me of the discussions on the forum. It is about he was on the first flight, where they introduced WiFi. After an hour it went out, and the guy next to him was saying it was ■■■■■ BS. Then Louis said, How can this guy be mad at something he did not even have an hour ago. So, how can we be ■■■■■■ off at this simulator, that none of us even had 5 months ago. Should they just have kept us away from us for another few years? For me, IT IS AMAZING
Thank you for winning Yeti’s Best Laugh of the Day award. One of these days I’ll come up with a suitable prize!
