Was a noob a year ago. Now have around 700 hours in MSFS, and am familiar with all the more complex add-ons.
However, I keep reading that the flight model is so much more realistic in X Plane.
I’m really curious - if I buy X Plane, what is the thing that will make me think “Wow - this is so much better than MSFS”?
I’m considering buying X Plane, by the way. But I keep thinking it’s more about what devs are doing with the flight model rather than the flight model itself and I should just be patient, and that when e.g. the Fenix is released, or the FBW gets a little more advanced people won’t be talking about the vastly superior X Plane model any longer.
Experienced users of both sims - what do you think? What is the big difference in the experience of flying planes in X Plane? If there is currently a huge difference, what is it and do you think it will still pertain 6 months from now?
I can’t tell you anything about the flight dynamics, but you’ll really notice the difference in visuals. As someone with exactly 30 minutes of time behind an actual yoke, I can’t really say much about how accurate any of the sim’s really are, but these visuals are leaps and bounds ahead of everything else on the market.
Hi, check out this thread → Is the Flight Model of the MSFS 2020 realistic or do we need a completly rewrite?
Hope it answers your questions. I own both sims, and especially now, knowing that X-Plane will undergo some next-gen treatment, certainly won’ t abandon it. MSFS has a lot of potential of getting even better, so I will definitely stick with it too, for now mainly for VFR flying with Piper Arrow/Turbo Arrow from Just Flight.
Regarding realistic flight model: for me, it’s not only the aerodynamics of flight, its also a realistic behavior of the engine which prompts you, as a virtual pilot, to abide by certain limitations. I.e - not to overboost turbocharged piston engines, unless you want them to overheat and eventually fail midflight, etc. Also - a realistic behavior of turboprop engines, good propeller slipstream effect simulation (or as its more commonly called - a propwash) and similar stuff.
Because MSFS is only a year old, there still aren’t too much aircraft models which support this complex behavior, but from what I can see and feel - they are definitely coming. You will see models in which even the movement of hydraulic fluid to the control surfaces is precisely calculated. You will see models which will bring realistic engine behavior. And so on, and so forth. X-Plane, being more mature, already has some really amazing models, such as the REP expansion for C172, Airfoillabs King Air 350 and some others, of course.
Current version of X-Plane is lacking in ground textures, atmospherics and clouds (I am talking about vanilla version, without installing packages which improve the experience). So maybe, you should wait a little bit until more is known regarding the next-gen version of X-Plane, and then decide whether to wait, or purchase the current edition (11.55).
Good luck and happy flying 
According to this forum’s rules, we can’t talk about non-MSFS businesses, organizations, or websites.
X-Plane is a non-MSFS business.
So I don’t know how to answer your questions related to X-Plane without violating the forum rules: Code of Conduct - Microsoft Flight Simulator Forums
As for MSFS 2020 flight model, to me it feels gamey, arcady and twitchy. It feels completely wrong, and there are several things totally wrong with it. It gives me a mickey mouse experience and not a “flight simulator” experience. All aircraft, be it default or 3rd party, feel like they are toys and made of paper. Messing with control sensitivity settings kinda helps, but that’s not the best way to go about it.
Even FAA officials agree with me on this:
FS2020 (flight model) was more “arcade-like” (i.e., slightly more rubbery and forgiving).
As for Fenix, FBW, PMDG etc, people can make whatever claim they want about the future. Sometimes their predictions turn out to be true, and sometimes they turn out to be completely wrong. But an incorrect and inadequate environment will only produce an incorrect and inadequate result. No amount of FBW, Fenix, PMDG or A2A can fix that.
After a year of using MSFS 2020, all I can say to those who developed MSFS 2020’s flight model is: Unconscious incompetent doesn’t help anyone. You can’t fix something if you don’t know what’s wrong.
Thank you for your reply! Yes, I’ve followed that thread and the main conclusion seems to be that MSFS is potentially just as good as X Plane, though, as you say, the 3rd party planes aren’t there yet.
Are you saying, though, that the main difference right now is that failures are baked in to the better planes available for X Plane? I try to fly within limitations so that probably wouldn’t be a huge difference for me.
However, one other area where MSFS is possibly lacking right now is in atmospheric effects - updrafts, downdrafts and others turbulence related. How do these things feel in X Plane? Is there a big difference currently?
Just don’t listen to some trolls / hardliners in this forum when it comes to X-Plane vs whatever. Find an real Pilot of your favorite Aircraft (e.g. via YouTube) and listen to what they say. And test both simulators.
Example: I follow some A320 pilots, and they seam to be very happy with MSFS.
Most of the atmospheric effects are supported in X-Plane, including icing.
I do strongly believe that MSFS will expand its possibilities, maybe not immediately, but it will definitely happen. However, I do not think that the default models provided in the sim are going to be improved too much.
I don’t think that ASOBO/MS created this project only to appease ‘gamers’ and ‘arcade-style’ users, even if some people do get this impression.
Lets not forget - flight simulators are extremely complex pieces of software, and it takes time and patience to make them work as they are supposed to, even when using modern build tools and rendering/physics engines.
The simple truth is there is not one flight simulator that is good at everything.
Realistically I would rather suspect we will not see the true quality third party developers can start achieving with regards to flight model for 2-3 years and once the SDK has matured and allows them to innovate and push themselves and the sims capabilities to their limits.
There are multiple threads on this that eventually were closed. Let’s please focus on MS Flight Simulator, thanks.
https://forums.flightsimulator.com/search?q=X-plane%20vs%20msfs