Aircraft used: Default 32N and 781, LVFR 320, ATR
Live weather: on
My local airport! I’m surprised it took me so long to buy and subsequently review it!
DETAIL
This airport could be considered old in MSFS terms, being released at the beginning of 2021. Worth beating in mind before you go any further…
It’s a mixed bag for detail. There’s some truly excellent texturing but some key buildings/features look as though they belong in FSX, or have been omitted completely. The jetways are amazing, they look photoreal with plenty of rust and general wear and tear. It’s rare to see jetways this detailed in 2023! The ground textures are also incredibly sharp and the apron accurately shows signs of weathering, stains, etc. There’s a really good variety of ground clutter, some of it custom and specific to EGCC. The custom vehicles feature very high-res texturing, which is in stark contrast to the low-res found on the more generic stuff.
Terminal 3 looks great; Macco have managed to nicely reproduce the corrugated steel used extensively on this building. T2 also looks good, however its new extension/pier and T1 look like afterthoughts, modelled and placed in a hurry. The T2 extension/pier looks a bit pristine, despite the fact that it’s brand new. Oddly, though, it’s this new part that features the most detailed interior, although it is very basic by today’s standards.
The old tower looks pretty plain, although the very top does feature some weathering. T1’s multi-storey car-park also looks a bit generic but, again, does have reasonable texturing on its top floor. All landside buildings that aren’t part of the terminal look equally bland and many haven’t been modelled at all, being either default structures or 2D satellite imagery. I know landside areas are less relevant to pilots but the lack of modelling away from the main terminals is disappointing.
Perhaps surprisingly, some areas well away from the main terminals HAVE been modelled, including the road tunnels that take the A538 road under the two runways, the famous pub at the end of the runway, and the fire trainer next to Jetparks 3 car-park. The pub is little more than a basic polygon but it’s good to see it there, and the garden does at least feature some nice detail. I also like the fact that they’ve accurately done the perimeter fence here, the base of which is in large concrete blocks, as it is in reality. In fact the entire perimeter fence is pretty true-to-life, featuring the correct type of razor wire across its top. Another key EGCC ‘landmark’ can be found in the vicinity of the pub: the huge concrete blast wall that runs between the eastern edge of T3’s ramp and the apron vehicle storage building.
Other areas that have seen some attention are the Jetparks car-parks (one of which is directly under the approach for 23R) and the tram line that runs the length of Shadowmoss Road/Ringway road on its way to the central station. Unfortunately the station is yet another structure that failed to make it into this rendition of EGCC.
Less surprising is the inclusion of the Runway Viewing Park, which affords spectators excellent views of both runways and the taxiway that carries traffic between T1/T2 and runway 23R-05L. The DC-10 forward fuselage is modelled, as is the BEA Trident, albeit both without textures. The RJX is also present, but as another plain Trident! The now defunct Premiair terminal is well done but the Concorde hangar, although custom, doesn’t look anything like it does in real life. The terrain in the park is accurate, though, with the inclusion of the raised viewing areas, and there are picnic tables dotted around. No people unfortunately.
Finally, the jewel in the crown of Macco’s EGCC: accurate terraforming that includes the infamous ‘hump’ a third of the way down runway 23R. Care must be taken when landing on this runway — land too early and you’ll hit the face of the hump with more force than you’d like; but flare excessively and the runway will be rapidly dropping away from you!
PERFORMANCE
Before I bought this airport I suspected it would likely run well, because the promo images on the Marketplace give the impression that the whole affair is somewhat basic. In reality it’s a more complex scenery than those images would have you believe, and thankfully performance is stellar, despite a few early reports of PC users having very low framerates when close to the Radisson Blu hotel. I can only assume it’s been updated a couple of times since then as I get no drops in framerates, and it doesn’t black screen or CTD at all.
VERDICT
I’ve been extremely impressed with certain aspects of this airport that are right up there with the best 2023 can offer. Conversely, there are also aspects I’ve not been impressed with, such as the omission of some very important parts of the airport and its landside. Macco made numerous promises to keep it regularly updated, few of which were honoured. Now they claim a massive update is in the works, however there’s some good evidence for this and I imagine they’ll pull it off at some stage early next year. Therefore, I’d advise people to buy it now, because a) the price has been slowly creeping up this past 10 months, and b) I’m certain the price will jump considerably once the full v2 arrives. Macco have promised existing users that the upgrade will be free, but that it will come incrementally.
So, do I recommend Macco’s EGCC in 2023? Definitely. Some aspects of it haven’t aged well but others are still as fresh as the day it was released nearly three years ago. I wasn’t using MSFS in 2021 but I imagine some features of this scenery would have been quite innovative back then!
IMAGES
The famous ‘bump’ partway down runway 23R can clearly be seen in this image.
Unfortunately the old, decommissioned tower looks very basic. A shame as it’s a very prominent feature of T1.
The ‘I love MCR’ painting faithfully recreated on a taxiway island opposite T3.
The Thomas Cook hangar is now the STS facility. Macco should update this in their EGCC v2.
The Jet2 hangar is particularly well textured.
There are some great examples of terraforming here, this being the dip in between the runways, through which the A538 road runs. The tunnels have also been modelled, much improving the default area.
The pub beer garden looks good but the pub itself is perhaps the scenery’s most basic custom building.
The areas away from the main terminals look pretty sparse, with default ground textures and the odd stock MSFS building.
The apron textures are one of this airport’s strengths. Very well done.
The cargo area looks alive, featuring a huge amount of ground clutter.
Unfortunately the new T2 extension and pier look far too pristine, with absolutely no texture variation. The pier does, however, have an interior but it’s basic by today’s standards.
The jetways look absolutely fantastic — flaking paint, rust, scuffs and general weathering, all done in very high-res!
