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.