I have some Christmas money left over, and want to buy a simulator. My question to you is what simulator do you believe replicates 3D best? I want to be able to learn 3D and perfect the moves I already know. I also want it to be able to simulate the feel of larger aircraft, which I eventually want to get into.

Thanks for your help,

Jack

I have reflex and really like it. I cant compare because thats the only sim I own.

Tony

AeroFly Pro Deluxe. It's based on all big planes

They only drawback is you have to use your transmitter so make sure you buy the adapter for it.

Look though the videos at the beginning of this thread, they are from AeroFly

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_44..._1/key_/tm.htm

Most folks are using AFPD and G3. I hear that Reflex is also a very good sim. I can only speak for my personal experience and I can guarantee you that if your PC is setup and capable, you will not be disppointed with G3 or AFPD.

Mike

I think I am going to go with G3, considering I can get it *used (slightly)* with 2 add-ons for $200 from a club member, just saw it on the site today.

Thanks all for your help,

Jack

P.S. Is there a function that allows you to download user created models or make your own models in?

*2nd Edit: I found out that it is all brand new

Go to Knife Edge Software at knifeedge.com. They have updates and downloads for the G3. (swap pages) and update to G3.5 for free.

You can also download the T-rex 450X from trextuning.com.

I have flown AFP, AFPD and G3 .... AFP(D) all the way!!!

In what ways is AFD better than AFD.? I have AFD and wonder what I would get if I went to AFPD.

very little diference, it is the adition of foamys and VPP

I have Aero Fly Pro Deluxe (AFPD) on my computer. I use my JR8103 TX.

Computer:
CPU-P4 Prescott 3.0ghz w/800mhz FSB, 2mb L2 cache and Hyper Threading
ThermalTake solid copper Silent Tower with dual 114mm fans
MB-Gigabyte G1000-Pro w/800mhs FSB, Hyper Threading, 4 DDR slots- 4gig total capacity, OB sound, 1 AGP 8X 5 PCI
HD-Dual SATA Seagate Barracuda 80gb Raid/0
Backup HD-single IDE Maxtor 250gb
Ramm-4 sticks DDR400 512mb each--2gb total ramm at 200mhz clock
Video Card-Nvidia 7800GS w/1.4ghz CPU, 1.2gb DDR3, single 90mm fan

Thats the main hardware. I'm running XP Pro. It's got 3 sony CD/DVD drives and burners. There are dual 80mm intake fans in the front panel to blow on the hard drives. There is a single 80mm fan sucking in through the side door. Single 120mm fan exhausting out the back of the case--and a single 90mm fan in a blowhole thats exhausting out the top. All my cables are round and tied out of the way to improve circulation.

It runs totally flawless. Needless to say, it better. [8D]

I like the simulator because you can download just about any plane you can dream up for FREE. I did have to tweak mine to my liking, and I was frustrated for the first couple months I owned it. But, once I learned how to tweak the user settings to my taste, I really like it. The planes fly very realistically. You can snap a plane. You can snap the wings off if you pull too hard or overspeed the airframe. Landings are very realistic.

I've flown the realflight software on a friends rig that is very similar to mine. The computer is not even breaking a sweat to run the simulator--trust me. I just didn't care for the way the simulator feels. It just doesn't feel "REAL" I flew a few planes that just would not snap. You should be able to snap a Cap or Extra right out of the sky and waste it on the runway. I can't do it on realflight. It's not free to upgrade.

I'm a bit of a snob. I like to fly only a couple different types of airplanes. I like stuff that goes fast. Pylon fast. I like 40 size 3D planes. And I like Giant Scale aerobatic gassers. Thats it. I could care less about flying a Cessna 182 on a simulator. I couldn't care even less than that for the idea of flying a warbird on a simulator.

The idea that you have to PAY for an upgrade with realflight--AND you get all kinds of planes that I will never fly. I don't like the idea of paying for G3 to upgrade and I get 2 aerobatic planes and about 35 other general aviation and military planes that I'm not interested in flying.

With AFPD, I can just download a million aerobatic planes and fly the ones I like. I've probably dumped 100 planes off my hard drive after downloading them and flying them. I keep the ones I like. And they're FREE to download and test out.

Well, I am an AFPD guy too really. I have had it since December of 2005 and it has totally changed my 3D skills and my confidence level.. I got most use out of it during the first 6 months or so but now,, if I want to work on a new maneuver I can always crank it up and fly on a moments notice. As has been said, free upgrades and patches are nice as well. And really the physics engine on AFPD is as good as it gets right now,,,, but G3 is right there with it. G2, that is old technology and although EXCELLENT for learning to fly it does not even come close to the realisitic qualities of the latest versions.

Also, you do not NEED a super fast computer to fly these programs. I am using a 2GHz Pentium 3, 1gb of RAM and a $150 NVidia GeForce 6000 graphics card with 256mb of onboard RAM.. The frame rates are about 75-125 Frames Per Second but that is plenty fast to run AFPD.

I have tried AFPD once... and I have AFP and G3/G3.5.... before the update (G3 to G3.5) I
thought it was just a bit better than AFP, but since the update to G3.5 I liked it a lot better...
Not sure how that compares to AFPD... There are still some things that needs another update
for G3.5 but that should be coming out soon.. At first G3 had little choice on planes unless you
bought the add-ons which for me added to the likes of "free" planes for AFP... But now through
knife edge swap pages and other sites the plane lists are growing quite rapidly and you now
have a bit of a choice of a few free planes/airports etc.... I think most the newer Sim's are
pretty close... So I guess it's just like models... If you can try them, then you can see which
suits you the best.. Computer req. are tough on the "all on" new sims... But I'm using a 5yr.
old computer and it's hanging in there, but I do have the program trimmed down a bit.. I
have most my slow downs while in the online player mode.....

I have had Realflight G3 for over a year and have enjoyed most of the free patches/updates they have done. The problem is that awhile back they made some major changes to the flight model and ground handling, and things have not been the same since. I don't think it's realistic to be able to knife edge and drag a wing tip on the ground at 75 mph in a 40% plane and recover with no problem. In real life, of course, just skimming that wing tip a little bit on the ground would cause the whole plane to auger in. Also, like someone pointed out, there are no realistic snap tendencies. Just try using elevator and rudder only to do snap rolls or spins, and you'll find that G3 (or G3.5) simply doesn't have realistic snapping. You can mimick a snap or spin by adding in ailerons, but you shouldn't have to.

There ARE a lot of free planes to download for G3, just check www.knifeedge.com and go to the forums, then the swap pages. There have to be over a hundred now, and the folks that are making them are doing excellent work.

I'm thinking about selling G3 and trying out AFPD or FS-One. I NEED to have realistic snaps to practice high alpha flying realistically...

AFPD will do it, I guarantee you.. All of the stock planes have very realisitic snap tendiencies, may even worse than the real thing.

Well the G3 deal fell through, so looks like AFPD it is. Is there a site you guys could reccomend that I could buy AFPD with a interface for my 9C?

Here it is:

http://www.aerofly.de/www/how_to_buy.html

Home page:
http://www.aerofly.de/index.html

On AFPD if it is not snappy enough, just start add more weight to the fuse.[8D] For some reason a bit of turbulence helps also.[&:]