Anybody have any opinions of what is the best simulator for practicing airplane hovers and torque rolls? I have Phoenix which I have been practicing on. I find that the airplanes are very easy to hover and I'm not sure how realistic it is. A few weeks ago I tried G3.5 at my local hobby shop and found the airplanes were more difficult to hover - it seemed more realistic. Any other opinions?

I like my new G4 very much. It really feels realistic, especially when you fly big planes. What I really like is the difference in hovering between the big guys and the smaller planes. Obviously big planes are easier to handle because of more mass. And that's exactly what G4 gives you. You can feel the difference. With FSOne and AFPD everything feels kinda the same. At least that's was my impression.

What models do you hover now? Or wish to hover after getting the feel on a sim?

I've found that having the same model and paintjob in the sim as my flying model helps A LOT when learning maneuvers before trying them at the field.

Well, unfortunately I don't own any of the models available for Phoenix, but I'll give you an example of what I mean. With the 2 foamies available for Phoenix, I can hover the Yak30 very easily. It is almost a joke it is so easy to hover. The Yak55 is a bit more challenging but I can still hover it without problem. Now when I try to hover my own real life Flatana, it is much more difficult to hover. I can only keep it hovering for 5-10 seconds at a time. When I tried G3.5 with the Flatana model it was also quite challenging to hover. I think it was far more representative of my Flatana than either of the 2 foamie models in Phoenix.

Another option is Reflex XTR . . .
And you can input your own plane and flying field into the program. . .