Sulman

That is a pretty hefty spec. Can you say what actual numbers you are seeing? I'd think an i7 & fat GPU with that much resource on tap should be running much better.

I think most versions of X-Plane have been so very nearly there in many ways - just small continual improvements will give us a truly great sim. There's little that really bothers me, simulation wise. Ground handling can be irritating at times, but it's still an improvement over the polished-glass feel that MSFS has, and I do like the fact that the aircraft feel lively on takeoff and landing. Turbulence still bothersome, but these are minor things.

It's easy to forget that the global scenery project for X-plane was a massive undertaking - and the results really do show. I think FS9 has been surpassed for a while. It's never been great at high altitude, and FSX makes huge strides in this area. I love the Level D 767 for FSX but the control feel in the MSFS games has always been a little strange for me, in particular I've never liked the pitch behaviour in MS games, not since FS5. I suspect it is less the physic modelling and more the fact that you seem to get developers choosing very heavy damping to induce 'heavyness'. There are some incredible flight models for MSFS (I think the VRS Superhornet is amazing) so it is capable but I do like the engineering-led approach that X-plane takes. Flying X-plane craft feels a little more enjoyable to me.

Wow! I had no idea it's out. I will be purchasing. Products like this are not just giving simulation enthusiasts what they want, they are in lock-step with X-Plane's future. FSX is dead without addons. Once the market sees a top-drawer product like this and others, X-Plane (I believe) will really start seeing serious numbers. Congrats to all involved. This is a fantastic time to be into simulation.

My dad (a journalist) told me of this cartoon he had in this office, of a monk working on an incredibly elaborate tapestry. He's turning round with an angry face saying "Deadline? Nobody told me about a f**king deadline!"

Fair enough. That's what I was getting at. Something I've wondered about is the genesis of many MSFS developers. PMDG & Level-D produce incredible stuff, and it works very well. The systems modelling you speak of in MSFS is still something that keeps me there for large aircraft (it's half the fun, really) whereas GA for me is about flying the aircraft and enjoying the view; and I prefer X-plane for the latter. I'm assuming the method is in increasingly complex gauge programming; but aren't we approaching this level of fidelity with plugins? I know the level of talent is at least equalled in the X-Plane community, and I wonder if in X-Aviation and the CRJ guys etc we are seeing the beginnings of our own PMDG's and Level-D's. I'm really hoping for a landmark aircraft for X-plane, not least to show the FS crowd what is possible.

Cameron, Balance, in a word. Anything looks bad if one only focuses on weaknesses. It is entirely possible there may be $65 of value locked into the rest of the product. J

People are valuing the product here solely on cosmetic criteria. An interesting perspective, for an X-plane community. It is interesting - and rather worrying - to me that there has not been one comment in this discussion regarding flight model accuracy or documentation with the A380; the two other corners of the payware triangle, and an area that I hope the CRJ gets right. I'll buy it anyway; but you get my meaning. It is irrelevant whether there's a pretty VC and 3D model if there's scant documentation and you haven't a clue how the thing flies. When it comes to simming with performance-critical aircraft, one cannot have enough data. PMDG learnt this 13yrs ago (it is how they started in the FS community) and their documentation is still the standard, in my opinion. Peter Hager, as I understand it, is very thorough in this discipline. This is an area of X-Plane (and MSFS, but winds me up more with X-plane because I hold it to a higher standard) that continues to frustrate me; utterly fantastic models are released basically 'as is'; test flying - whilst great fun - is rapidly replaced with frustration when one cannot plan a flight regime thoroughly; it is actually far easier to learn the plane when you know the numbers you're aiming for in a given flight regime. Rgds James