Don Presten

First a little background. I have owned G2 for quite awhile and have flown that simulator for a good 100 hours at least. I also own a Hobbico NexSTAR and have flown it for months. I have at least 20 hours on that aircraft and feel I am an expert on its flight characteristics.

I was amazed at how close the NexSTAR’s flight characteristics were between real life flying and flying the like airplane in G2. They were VERY close with stability actually leaning more to the real airplane than that of the G2 simulator…but only by a small margin.

Today, I had the opportunity to try out the NexSTAR that comes standard with G3. Note that in G3, you have the option to fly with or without the AFS active (as you do in G2) and I flew without it (as I do in real life).

I was amazed at how far off the G3 simulation of the NexSTAR was from G2 – in G3; the NexSTAR was a COMPLETELY different airplane…NOTHING like the real thing. The G3 NexSTAR flew like it was spinning a .30 engine rather than the standard .46. In G3, you could barely keep the plane in the air at anything less than full throttle. Anything less than full throttle, and the G3 simulated NexSTAR flew like a pig… Try to make a sharp turn and while in the bank, the elevator became useless.

I flew the G3 NexSTAR for about a ½ hour before I gave up in frustration… Needless to say, I am staying with G2… I also flew the Cessna 182 and a couple of the aerobatic planes in G3 – at least I could keep the Cessna in the air (it was very mushy too, but flyable)…the aerobatic planes would stall or snap at the slightest control movement. I never did manage to complete a successful flight on any of the low wing planes.

Sorry RealFlight...but G3, while very pretty in the graphics department, is a total bust in my opinion when it comes to real flight characteristics.

Ken Morano

Your timing in posting your observation is perfect.

I just got back from playing with G3 at the local hobby store. I found the PT-40 to have horrible flight characteristics. The glide ratio was terrible and it was waaaaay too unstable when flying inverted. Chop the throttle and the nose dipped "below the horizon" and there was no way I could keep it up for a main gear landing.

I just got home and tried the PT-40 on G2 and confirmed that it flew, well, like you would imagine a trainer to fly - not on rails but still stable and gentle.

I was not impressed with my short demo of G3.

Ken Morano

Okay, I retract my earlier comment about poor flight characteristics in G3.

I just tried G3 on another computer and I've concluded that my earlier test is a throw away. The computer either was not powerful enough or the software was not configured properly.

Just wanted to clear the air....

Cougar-RCU

My Feedback: (2)

Ken.. I am glad to here you found the Right Computer
to run G3 on.. (You MUST have A STRONG COMPUTER)
I also have G3 and Always will keep G2, (G2 Is pretty kewl running it with G3)
The G3 Is far Superior I think!
Jeff

doja93

Have you calibrated your controller (access through the Controller menu)? Also, you might want to check the physics settings in the Settings dialog (access through Simulation menu). You want the airplane and heli physics to be set to highest to get the best simulation.

vikram

I am a current user of G2 and just bought the G3. While I still like the G2 , I am beginning to appreciate the G3 . I am sure there is a lot of debugging and fine tuning that will be required as in all new software but I feel that the platform is great.

G3 as expected puts far greater demand on the computer system than G2. I had to chose low settings for graphics quality to get acceptable frame rate (free of jerky transition). I have not been able to simulate gusty conditions through turbulence layer settings. Also can't get the shadow of the plane . I am not able to figure out how to minimize real flight G3 if I have to do some other work on my computer.

I wonder if I will be able to use the add ons 1 , 2 ,3 &4 that I already have . I have not been able to load Real flight Add on 1 which I bought with my G2 . I have not tried loading the other Add ons (2 , 3 ,4 ) yet.

Seems like we cannot change the color scheme of the model in G3 as of now . I am eagerly awaiting an upgrade to enable change of color scheme.

I am loving the Sierra Nevada terrain especially Buena Vista and the Cliff . Flying the Hawk (is it the simulation of a live Hawk ?! ) and the Mistral sailplane there is like dream !

I like the way a model actually breaks on a crash and also how the structure of the aircraft actually fails when sustained stress acts on it for a while .

I am sure Real Flight will get over with the minor glitches with the live updates that they provide and I am sure that the journey from G2 to the G3 will be exciting ! Though I am holding on to G2 for some more time !

I do wish that Real flight G3 would be able to accept the Interlink controller of G2 so that my son and I could fly together on the same screen and in the same field !