RobT,
You seem compelled toward the negatives for G3. I'd like to respectfully suggest that you've actually not used it by your own admission and the load failures you have witnessed seem out of the norm from what all the guys at my field have experienced. None of them have had the least bit of trouble installing and there are some who have no experience with computers at all.

From using G3, I would have taken the list of positives you've attributed to AFPD and used that for my description of G3. I got G3 when it was new too, at least my box was one of the originals the LHS received. But then, I got it to install without a problem, and my pc was good enough to run it without a hickup. And of course, all the updates dl'd without a problem and installed in a snap for me. And I've helped a couple of pc-challenged guys update theirs, and seen old pc's suck that stuff right in.

Since I have experience with G3's simulation this might be a pertinent substitution:

G3 Positives
1 - Closest to the real thing I have flown.
2 - Turn on wind and turbulence and they are very realistic feeling. Slope and thermals as well.
3 - Obstacle course = great torque roll practice.
4 - Plenty of downloads - both planes and fields
5 - Eye candy.
6 - Ability to switch from an interactive 3d environment to a 3d photo = best of both worlds
7 - Moderately easy graphical interface to modify plane size, shape, weight, strength etc.
8 - 40% feel like 40% and foamies feel like foamies.