https://secure.simmarket.com/virtavia-p6m-2-seamaster-for-msfs.phtml
This aircraft dropped quietly the other day and I’m very interested but would like to hear from anyone who has it - what do you think ?
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I picked it up and it meets my expectations for a fun way to experience an impressive 50’s aircraft design. It’s typical Virtavia quality: It’s an MSFS-native model, but visually it looks like one of the best P3D/FSX planes, with accurate details but texturing that’s not as immersive as many newer built-from-scratch MSFS designs.
That said:
- It’s only $20
- It flies like you’d expect the plane to (the MSFS engine’s poor water handling simulation considered), hits the performance numbers, and that’s something that’s more important to me than minute visual details
- It’s a nice airplane that realistically is never going to see a big enough market to justify a $35-75 study-level plane
- Sounds are Wwise and sound good to me.
- Nice details like the beaching gear, deployable spray deflectors, and rotating bomb/mine bay
If you’re expecting something of the level of the Just Flight Vulcan or IFE F-14, move on, this probably isn’t the plane for you. But if you’re a fan of historic aviation and the idea of flying the fastest flying boat ever is intriguing to you, it’s a fun plane for about $20 US.
Really, my only gripe is the cheesy way they overlay the modern radio tuners on top of the accurate instrument panel if you pop them up to adjust frequencies. But I can suspend disbelief for 10 seconds while I tune ATC. 
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Thanks for the great write up, I appreciate it!
That was a nice writeup/review.
Looks like it’s an interesting plane, but I’ve seen in depth reviews of 2 aircraft and been able to try one of their aircraft already, and to me they weren’t worth flying for free. Texture quality was abysmal. The $10 aircraft we have in game are better imo. Even those screenshots look more like a plastic model than a real aircraft - at least to me.
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Virtavia’s stuff is not the most visually detailed.
But, the visuals are accurate, and important for some of us, the flight modeling/performance gives a convincing recreation of flying the real thing.
I totally get that the incredible visual detail MSFS is capable of is an important part of the experience for some flyers. But for me, I’m happy to sacrifice some of that if it means we can experience historic planes like the Seamaster, F4D Skyray, etc.
(Comparisons to $10 Microsoft-published planes aren’t really fair, as those planes are subsidized by Microsoft, and backed by MS’s marketing.)
Anyway, other than MSFS’s terrible water-handling simulation (a sim engine problem that affects all water-based aircraft that I hope MSFS2024 tackles), the flying experience here is great.
And comparing the cockpit above to the real thing, it’s a nice job of simulating the mechanics of the 50’s jet experience even if the micro-detail isn’t there.
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Are you sure they had it in P3D (or FSX)?
They’re the competition, so… while I see your point, I disagree as a consumer. Since one costs $10 and one costs $20, am I getting twice the plane for $20? They kind of set a standard - if a low one, but their price point matches it.
However, there’s one advantage this plane has over anything from anyone else… It’s the only Seamaster, and anyone who really wants that plane will probably pick it up. Much like I picked up the Boeing 314 knowing it was less than stellar.
$20 is that middle ground between basic and high quality. I don’t expect exactly FlyingIron quality from a $20 aircraft, but I expect more than I do from a $10 plane.
Good call. I think I got it confused with their P3D R3Y Tradewind, another rare seaplane they did. (And there was a freeware Seamaster for FSX that I had a long time ago.) Edited my post!
That’s a good argument for MS to charge more for their Local Legends/Famous Flyers, because independent companies likely can’t match those prices and stay viable. MS prices those planes at that level to support sales/continued use of the FS platform, and they have the income of a multi-billion dollar company behind them. Also, MS-published planes don’t have to give 30% back to Microsoft (or whatever fees to go to SimMarket, OrbX, etc.) like third-party planes on Marketplace do.
I get your point about how we spend our money as consumers. But the reality of the situation is that the playing field is only third-party developers, and the MS-subsidized planes aren’t setting a standard it’s realistic for others to follow.
Anyway, I don’t want MS to charge more for their planes, but a pricing comparison between MS and third-party planes is always going to have MS planes as the winner. I’m just glad that, outside of a few devs like Just Flight and Leonardo, MSFS’s popularity has resulted in most devs pricing their planes at 1/2 to 2/3 of what the P3D generation cost, despite the dramatically increased demand for quality. Back on topic, Virtavia’s planes used to be $30-50 on earlier sims, so $20 is fine with me.
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