Which Simulator?
 

I'm relatively new to R/C (still haven't soloed yet). What is the best R/C simulator available, both from the perspective of usability for a novice and advanced capabilities as I get better and want to learn more advanced techniques (aerobatics, 3D, etc.)?

These are the sims I'm considering:

- FS One from Horizon
- RealFlight G3.5
- AeroFly Pro Deluxe

I have a very high-end computer, so I won't have difficulty running any of these.

RE: Which Simulator?
 

Oh, forgot to mention: I'm planning on asking my wife to get me one of these for Christmas, so time is of the essence! Tnx.

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I REALLY like Realflight G3.5

It has about 100 -150 aircrafts, about 30 fields, and you can adjust things on your plane as well as things like wind and wind speed. Its pretty accurate as far as how it feels. It has trainers to show you some arobatic stunts like hovering.

You can go online with it too and fly with others!



I really like this product!

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When you end up getting one practice practice over and over till you can do almost anything. Get a second nature feel you shouldnt need to think about what you are doing in the end, Iv racked up around 60 hours of flying on my sim Realflight G3.5 and its great. Im fairly new as well and its a God sent.

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A lot of folks on the forums have bashed G3 in the past, but I've got to recommend RealFlight G3.5. Knife Edge Software has done a great job continuing to add aircraft and flying fields, improve the physics, and improve the training modes as they've updated the program on a continual basis since I bought it last year. Last night I was watching the Frank Knoll tutorial on doing inverted flat spins, and earlier today I was watching Jim Bourke's tutorial on Knife Edge manuevers.

I don't think you can make a mistake buying any of the major flight sims. Aerofly Professional Deluxe is really good, and I've heard a lot of good things about MRC's Reflex XTR simulator as well. FS One by Horizon Hobby is fairly new, but even if it's the worst of the four major flight sims for R/C (which I couldn't say), it's probably still really, really good. I enjoy flying APD when I get the chance, and Ikarus has been updating it with expansion packs quite a bit lately.

Real Flight G3.5 is simply the deepest flight sim available. The graphics are stunning, the sound is great, the controller that is included is made from the actual casing of a Futaba radio, and the seven available add-ons and expansions when added to the core product (which is expansive in its own right) provides you with hundreds of aircraft and scores of different flying fields. Knife Edge Software's online updating system is proven and reliable, and their product support is equally well regarded.

All of the other flight sims I've mentioned are excellent, and each has some unique features that set it apart from the rest. The bottom line, though, is that Real Flight G3.5 is the gold standard that all other flight sims are measured by.

Oh, my only caveat? I have an AMD Athlon 64 3000+ with 1Gb of Dual Channel DDR PC3200 memory and a 256Mb PCI-E Radeon X800XL video card that I run Real Flight on. If you don't know what that means, or you haven't spent at least a hundred bucks on your video card, you may have tweak Real Flight's video settings a bit to get it running smoothly. An Intel integrated video chip on your computer's motherboard simply isn't going to be able to dish out all that Real Flight can offer.

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No problem. My machine has two dual-core Opteron 285 processors, 16 GB of RAM, and a Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTX video board.

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OH.... i think i just came. AMD all the way :) just got me the new Amd fx-74, for my machine

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G-3

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I personally have G3.5 and i find it excellent and will be even better wen they fix some of the bugs

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Either of the popular ones will be good.

In the software industry, when there are popular competing applications, they all wind up giving about the same functionality. If one comes out with a new and attractive function, you can bet the other one will have it soon. They'll call it by a different name, but it'll be about the same function.... or better.

It appears that Phoenix has some serious proponents. They make a good case for it being a good value for it's cost. They also make a good case for it being a good simulation. It ought to be worth a look also.

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I’d recommend RealFlight G3.0.(448) the last update before G3.5. The physics in G3.5 aren’t as good as they were in G3.0. Just subtle things but it’s those subtle things that will bite you. Prime example is in RealFlight G3.0 as you apply power the planes would pull to the left, as they should and do in real life because of torque or P-factor (I don’t remember which). But, in RealFlight G3.5 the planes pull to the right! Practice with G3.5 long enough and you’ll compensate for a plane pulling to the right without thinking. Then when you get to the field and your plane pulls to the left – at the same time that your applying left rudder because that’s what you’ve been doing all the time you’ve been flying on the sim … your instructor, or you, will have to be pretty quick on the sticks to save your plane.

The planes also don’t stall anymore, or snap and they’ll keep running when you land upside down … funny as h&** to see a plane scooting along the ground upside down! Of course KnifeEdge has refused to acknowledge any problems. But, they did say that they were “looking into” the complaints.

With all of that said, I think that KnifeEdge Software will eventually fix the physics issues. If they don’t, sales will start to plummet as more and more people publicly complain about the poor physics.

RealFlight offers more planes, more fields and it’s helped me more then I can say. Get RealFlight and just don’t upgrade to G3.5 until they fix the physics problems.

One other tip … check www.knifeedge.com/ for their list of compatible video cards. Even with a system like your’s you may not get all of the features of the sim without a compatible video card, most notably shadows.

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I WOULD GO FOR Reflex XTR. BUT ITS UP TO U. CHECK THIS WEBSITE OUT AND U CAN DOWNLOAD A FREE DEMO. OF REAL FLIGHT.


http://www.realflight.com/free-g3-demo.html :)

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Ditto. With every update, some bugs are fixed, but others (equally annoying) appear instead.

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the only problem with XTR is that b****y annoying no fly zone.

and before anyone replies that "it helps you to fly safely",,,,,what a load of b*******s!!

having got fed up with the dreaded blue zone spoiling my fun I bought Aerofly Pro Deluxe and have never looked back.

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I used to like XTR but got fed up of the no fly zone spoiling my fun.

Before anyone replies that this fixture "promotes safer flying" I would have to say that I don't agree. We all do things on
the sim that we would never do down at our local field. A sim is for fun, not just practice.

After getting fed up of the dreaded blue "spoilsport" zone I decided to buy Aerofly Pro Deluxe and have never looked back.
I would advise you to do the same or go for the RealFlight sim but NOT XTR.

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My system dual boots Windows XP and XP 64-bit edition, but I prefer the 64-bit version. Do any of the commercial sims run in the 64-bit version of XP?

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You might want to visit the Knife Edge forums at www.realflight.com for specific technical information like x64 compatibility, Soda Ant.

Can I come over to your house and play F.E.A.R. on your 8800GTX? :D

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I have and use G-3.5. I love it ! It has saved me plenty of balsa too. My son practiced on it for a few weeks and he made his solo flight the second time he held a real TX. He was able to take off and land with relative ease.
The guys that train people don't like sims because pilots don't really learn how to fly a plane technically correct.
There is no substitute for landing a plane in a real cross wind.

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I have flown with both quite a bit. If you would have asked me a year ago I would have said AFPD hands down. Now I would say that G3 or AFPD would be equally as good. The key is to pick on and pull the trigger... BUY IT... Flight sims are worth 5 times what you pay for them and they will take your skills to otherwise unattainable levels if you will use the thing. Not to mention the fact that they will save you a ton in crash costs and disappointment. Just make sure that you have a PC that is capable. You need about 2GHz processor, a good fast open gl graphics card and 1gb of ram.

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I fly the AFPD and I love it. I even made a Arizona Dr-1 for it and it seems to be a hit. Just make sure you get the latest Patches and upgrades. They keep making it better and better. ;)


Peter Dowling aka Luftwaffe Oberst
AMA District II # 865404
Aero Modelers Club
Pulaski, NY

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Heads up fellow newbies! There's a terrific Real Flight G3.5 customization that makes this simulator unbeatable for beginners. Here it is. Edit the standard Nextar, increasing both Graphical Scale and Physical Scale to 200% (Will need to do Options -> Display Advanced Properties in order to get the opportunity to edit these two parameters.) This customization is flawed in G3, giving inexplicable crash events in unobstructed air when no maneuver is providing stress. But, in G3.5 this customization works flawlessly. Because the airframe upsize is not matched by a power increase, the result is a 'puff flier', probably much like a Senior Telemaster powered by a .46, but without the over-float on landing. Visibility is much improved (this customization produces >10ft wingspan), response to stick movement is soft/predictable and the aircraft flies in a very broad power range without getting speedy. This is just the ticket for giving rank beginners confidence building flight time with successful landings. Because of G3.5, and our giant Nextar, my six year old son and I are under way as sim fliers, and able to anticipate the maiden flight of our real trainer. I expect to be able to incrementally reduce our custom Nextar size back down to standard as we advance, though this will cause an unfortunate reduction in visibility. (Hey Knife Edge, if you start promoting the 200% Nextar, as well you should, throw me a bone, eh!)

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16 gig of ram??? may i ask one question.... why???

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Yeah, not to mention it must have cost a fortune!

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HUH? I said 1gb of ram not 16. Did someone else mention 16gb of ram?

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WHOA, there it is.... holy moly thats a lot of RAM!