Am new to MSFS and am debating whether to use a yoke or joystick for flight control.
What is recommended - yoke or joystick?
What brand/model would be good for a beginner. I have quickly found out that attempting to use the keyboard is dicey at best. Have done a fair amount of digging dirt or taking out a house or two.
Thanks for the recommendations - Ken
kencooperjr@hotmail.com
If you are using your PC for other things as well, a joystick is the much more convenient option IMO.
The Thrustmaster T16000M is a very precise joystick with rudder and throttle control.
If you go for a yoke, you need to buy rudder pedals as well.
Fighters, bombers, airliners, business and GA aircraft, in many of them you will find a stick, yokes not so much.
Iâm sure you will get a lot of opinions but for me, I like and fly GA aircraft and have the honeycomb alpha yoke. I absolutely love this yoke and highly recommend it.
I would say whether you get a yoke or joystick depends on the type of planes you want to fly and whether you will use it for other games besides flight simulators.
The PC I am using is not just a gaming PC. It is used for web development, Microsoft Office tasks, etc. It is certainly a general purpose desktop. I did acquire it however for its gaming capabilities. In the future probably will play other games but probably never as a serious gamer - just for some fun.
What lookup I have done on this I find it interesting the primary joy stick is a Thrustmaster and as per the other reply a Honeycomb alpha yoke. These two seem to be the most popular control devices.
Many years ago I did have a pilots license and learned on a 172 and 152 - hence the yoke. But that was probably 25-30 years ago so have lost a lot of what I did know. Can a Thrustmaster joystick effectively fly a 172/152?
THANKS for the help - Ken
Please see my reply to a prior reply.
Thanks - Ken
Of course. You could equip a 172 with a stick and a DR400 with a yoke. Not much difference.
Again, if you buy a yoke, you need to buy rudder pedals as well.
The Thrustermaster 16000M does not need pedals?
No, because the twist grip serves as rudder axis.
Another advantage compared to other joysticks is that you can configure it for left hand use.
Not concerned with L/R as will only be using R. But does sound like the Thrustmaster is the best way to go especially if will be playing other games.
My tuppence worth before you decide.
Many people [me being one of them] will tell you that for greater âimmersionâ the yoke is the right
way to go.
But at this, the fledgling stage of a burgeoning and I hope lifelong interest in the genre, It is
worth pointing out that such a purchase need not be as expensive as you may think.
You can pick up the occasional, cheap but cheerful, Saitek [Logitech] Pro Flight yoke and throttle quadrant, brand new for a little over ÂŁ100 on Amazon.
And though it is no match in quality to the widely praised, aforementioned Honeycomb Alpha yoke, it is certainly good enough [even without any pedals] to see for yourself if a yoke can work for you.
Especially when compared to the Honeycombâs relatively hefty price tag! After all, you can always upgrade.
Personally, I couldnât, now, imagine âflyingâ any other way.
But of course, other equally valid arguments championing the merits of a good Stick, as also mentioned here, are worthy of due consideration too.
Ahhhhh! Choices, choices.
Good luck.
Oh man thats not easy. A Joystick when you only fly Stick Planes, Yoke when you fly Yoke Planes but when you want to fly both types? I always had a better feeling while flying Yoke Planes with my Joystick than I had flying Stick Planes with my Honeycomb Yoke.
Of course its better to fly Yoke with Yoke and Stick with JoystickâŠ
So for a good Joystick take that one Amazon.de (Its sold out)
For high quality Yoke ALPHA FLIGHT CONTROLS â Honeycomb Aeronautical You can find some of those on local stores, in Germany eg. in Mediamarkt
Hope it helped! Kind Regards Florian 
I suppose it depends on what you feel is best suited to your needs. I ordered a yoke because I thought it would be more authentic, particularly when flying starfighters in Star Wars: Squadrons.
Iâm a fiend for realism, so, I have both. For yoke controlled A/C, I am currently using my old CH Products yoke and rudder pedals (waiting on both my Alpha & Bravo setup and will get Charlie when released). I prefer a yoke and enjoy that for all of my favorite GA as well as Boeing once PDMG all hit the sim. For the Airbus, I sprung for the Thrustmaster combo stick/throttle and I love it. So, Iâll use a stick in stick-driven A/C and yoke in yoke-driven but overall like the yoke concept better.
My 2 cents: A joystick. And I am partial to VKB. There new NXT Gladiator is (dare I say) perfect. I can go on and on about all the features and quality of there products. Do yourself a favor and at least check em out before you pull the trigger.
See ya in the Skyâs.
To add to the posts above:
Seeing as Helicopters will be added in the future; a stick fits those a lot better. So if youâre interested in flying those, the stick might be the better choice.
As many have commented here, they say both. I have an old Logitech Extreme 3D Pro. Itâs about 10 years old now. I donât recommend this product, not that itâs not good, itâs that over time (for 3 years it was in box), it has gotten so sloppy, and is almost useless.
What I would recommend is get a decent JS, which has rudder capability built into it. The TM 16000M (I think) Find out if you like the simulator, and give it a year. After a year, if you like it, then consider upgrading to quality equipment. Lots of excellent companyâs who make good stuff. Virpil bases are backward compatible to Thrustmaster grips, something to think about. VKP is also excellent stuff. Thrustmaster Grips have a joint at the bottom of the grip based on YouTube videos on ratings, that can loosen over time and cause unnecessary sloppy movement. I cannot verify this, as donât own their stuff. Logitech is a place to start, but quality is not there over the very long term, I have been flying since FS-98, so that tells you. Although put it away for a few years in mid-2000âs.
If after year, you really like this simulator, and realism is important, you can have it all, yoke, throttle quadrant, rudder pedals, joystick, the whole ball of wax so to speak. Each plane lends itself for the type of controls needed. Most (not all) large planes have yoke, fighter jets and many GA smaller planes have Joystick or stick type controls, that is why I will have both. Now, you also need to consider down the road, how all this stuff is going to hook up to PC. You will not have enough USB ports to plug it all in, so I recommend this hub, upgraded version is shown here, as it will run one 4K monitor (this unit needs to be powered-not included) so I have also included those items which will work on that feature. See these links:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07X8V3SLM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B085FWH399/?coliid=I2KO3JV0403JEC&colid=3IC8HMCL0A3CO&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it
Food for the wise, donât be in hurry, investigate thoroughly all your choices, use YouTube to help you check on quality and how well the products you finally decide on work and last. Remember this last point, manufacturers improve their stuff, release new models, etc. And it never fails, you buy this âthingâ and a newer model is released the next month. You cannot stay on the cusp of technology every day, unless you have lots of money, investigate, check, and then bite the bullet so to speak, and get stuff. Realizing, as soon as you do, a new thing is coming out.
Agree with those who say both. I have an X56 HOTAS, a CH eclipse yoke, CH rudder pedals, CH throttle quadrant, and use some combination of those depending on what I am flying. It can mean X56 stick to the right and X56 throttles to the left in a fighter-type aircraft (including warbirds), X56 to the left and throttles to the right in something like a DA40, yoke with its built-in throttles for a C172 or Caravan, yoke and throttle quadrant for a Baron or King Air or airliner.
Will get the Honeycomb Alpha/Bravo/Delta once available and retire the old CH stuff that served me well until now.
Would be great to have an affordable vernier throttle setup, but Iâm not paying $500 for that.
And the Xbox controller is awesome for the drone camera.
The discussion that h as been in this thread has been invaluable! I am most appreciative for the time you have put in. I had not really thought about a JS AND a yoke - definitely food for thought. As is the names of various products.
I believe what I will go for is a JS now and then a yoke depending how âcarried awayâ I get with MSFS!
In looking at the Thrustmaster line of JS controllers I find these three that am looking at:
Thrustmaster T-Flight Hotas X Flight Stick
Thoughts as to which would be preferable?
THANKS - Ken
Bonjour Ă vous tous. Je suis nouveau ici sur le Forum, il me faut donc un peu de temps pour en comprendre un peu le fonctionnement. Avant de poser ma question, jâ ai pris soin (comme recommandĂ©) de regarder via le moteur de recherche si pas dĂ©jĂ posĂ©e ⊠et je suis arrivĂ© Ă votre post qui a partiellement rĂ©pondu un peu Ă la question que je me posais Ă savoir si " Joystick Ă©tait le Yoke " mais de toute Ă©vidence, non. Je dispose donc du Yoke. Par ailleurs, je me demande pourquoi jâ ai constamment un message (que je ne comprends pas ) qui mâ indique "joystick axe GX " " joystick axe GY " aussi, je ne sais pas pourquoi, dĂšs que je lĂąche les freins, dĂšs le dĂ©part de lâ avion, il part directement sur la gauche et ce mĂȘme si jâessaie de rester droit avec le Yoke, rien ne fait ⊠je nâ utilise que FS que depuis 3 jours, il faut aussi le temps que je comprenne, que je le âconfigureâ ⊠pas Ă©vident. Pour le moment, je commence doucement avec le Cessna (car je vole un peu en vrai sur Cessna ) Merci Ă tous pour vos Ă©ventuelles rĂ©ponses.