Well, I was able to fly FSone at my LHS earlier today. Thanks to www.linvillehobbies.com for the time on it! So, I'll attempt to share what I know with ya'll.

First off, I do have G3.5 installed on my computer. I'm not paid, bribed, an employee of, a beta tester, or anything else related to G3 or Great Planes. I've been flying G3 for maybe a year. It, like most "real" sims, has helped my flying skills tremendously. But, how does it stack up to FSone? Second, I do have a bias against the Horizon group. I'm sick of the "You're the first person to have this problem" lines and many other things. So, naturally I don't like FSone. However, my perception of FSone changed by Michael Selig's willingness to answer my tough(at least I thought so) line of questioning. So, I can guarantee you that the kind of people behing FSone are decent people and I would consider buying FSone if I needed a new sim.

So, how does it stack up?

To start off, FSone has doen a great job! It is a pretty realistic sim. There are problems, however, it's a first offering and it just came out, so give it a break. I'm sure it will be fixed very soon. When G3 came out, there were more significant problems, so all's fair there.

In my limited time on FSone, I quickly saw how great of a sim it is. It rivals or surpasses G3.448. I only flew the Edge, so that's all I can speak on. I look at the flight characteristics of planes the most. That's what I'm gifted at and what I like to do.

The Edge flew very well according to my standards. However, the ploblems with it, IMO, is that the spins aren't quite what I like them to be. Maybe it's because I like to fly my real planes without the rate switches, expo, mixing, etc.(yes, I'm a freak)
The rates weren't quite what I like as well. Maybe some IMAC only pilot set the plane up I don't know. The plane seemed to be out of trim though, so probably not.
The CG was too far forward, so it didn't allow for spectacular 3D performance.(3D was good though) Other problems that I found are that in G3.5, you can rip a wing off. In FSone, I tried, but I could only crash the plane. Sometimes, the plane would just cartwheel in one piece.
FSone has this nice feature where the gear flexes, but when I pancaked the plane, those CF gear should have broken off. So, the moral of this story? FSone doesn't crash a plane realistically! (who wants to crash anyways........) Not a major problem there, but the "accurate flexing" isn't so accurate. Realflight will be bringing this out in the next update I believe(post G3.5), so time will tell if they can one up FSone there or not.

One quirky thing about FSone is that the motor doesn't run until you put the throttle up. I found that to feel weird.(could be that I'm just used to G3)

From what little I know about the editor features of FSone, G3 seems to be much more user friendly. However, I can't say this for a fact as I didn't mess in the editor.

The view that I used seemed to be nice, but I like to see the ground.

G3 has a nice multiplayer function where I literally fly with folks from all over the world every day I want. Many top rated pilots fly online with G3 as well, and I can pull up their sticks in real time to see how they fly.(I've learned a lot) From what I can see about FSone, only two people can "play" at one time. I thought FSone had a similar setup to G3, but I guess not. Maybe I missed something. Since I did not experiment with this on FSone, I cannot say for sure what the deal is.

One thing that I didn't like about FSone is the limited selecton of models. All the planes are, I believe, Horizon's. I like 3D and warbirds, but I don't fly that exclusively.

Another thing that I didn't like was the controller. It was really fat and I could not get a good feel on it. Also, the sticks were rounded off on the top. I love the little grips on my G3 transmitter as it replicates the grips on my real transmitter.


So, here's the breakdown as best as I can think about it from my limited trial:

I have thousands of hours on G3
10 hours on G3.5
and 30 minutes on FSone
(just so you know my perspectives)


Spins:
G3 and FSone are about the same
G3.5 is much better

Knife edge:
all the sims are pretty accurate, however G3/G3.5 seems to need more correction.
(this could be because I only flew the FSone Edge)

Fields:
G3.5 has many good fields. G3 has fewer. and FSone has about the same as G3.
The FSone field that I flew at was really good, so I'd say that all the sims seem to be good in this area.

Computer use:
G3 uses a heck of a lot of computer. My vid card is pretty bad, so in G3, I'd get from 15-20 FPS. In G3.5 I get 20-30.
The LHS get's 60-70 normally on G3(occasionally 100) and 90 on FSone.

G3.5 wins the ground handeling issue.
FSone didn't really replicate the grass in the photofield that I flew at. This is much like in G3. G3.5 is a little better as far as rolling on the ground.

Crashes:
FSone's Edge didn't break unless you hit hard enough.
G3, would break a little bit better, but it wasn't realistic.
G3.5 had additional pieces that get scattered on the ground when you crash.

"games"
G3 has more events that you can do and this is really fun in multiplayer.
FSone only has two according to the hickeydo that I'm reading.

Controllers:
G3/G3.5 feels much better to me than the FSone controller does.

planes:
FSone has a limited selection, but that is to be expected with a new sim. Good grief folks! It's only been out for a few days.
G3.5 has more planes with plenty of types of planes.



So, how would I rate FSone? I'd give it an 9.25 out of 10.
I'd rate G3 an 9 and G3.5 a 9.5
Either way you look at it, you can't lose with any of these fine products.
FSone has been out for only a few days, so don't be holding it to G3's standard. It took G3 a while to be a decent sim.
If you want a new sim, I prefer G3 because of all the aformentioned reasons, but give FSone a try. FSone is a pretty darn good sim. Since you're probably not as much of a freak as I am, you'll love FSone a lot. No matter which product you buy, you'll be thrilled with it.(I hope) I hope this sheds some light.

Sincerely,
Chris Todd