Can someone advice which flight sim is the best to learn on and closest to an electric heli? I was looking at RealFlight G2 but it seems a bit pricey and don't want to make the mistake to buy and find out is no good.
Thank you

I cant tell you which one to buy.
You have to decide that your self.
What i can tell you is the realflight is a
very good sim. I like it a lot.

I guess what Im looking for is a simulator that is the closest to the real flight experience as possible and acurate. I have read somewhere that some sim programs are not that acurate and therefore a waste of money. Thanks for the advice! It seems like more and more realflight G2 is the way 2 go...

Looking for a fligh sim software package on a search engine I stumbled upon FMS FREE flight sim.!!. I downloaded it and it looks great ! well the price is rite! but I don't have yet an interface Im planning on building one tomorrow for my Hitec Laser 4. Has anyone had any luck using this Flight sim? I have the diagram to build the paralell LPT interface it looks simple enough...anyone know if it will work with XP?
Thanks

I have Realflight G2 Lite, which I've been using to learn to hover before going out with my Shuttle. There are subtle differences with the real thing but I can honestly say that the sim has helped me beyond measure. Yesterday was my first session and in less than two hours I was able to hold a steady tail-in hover - all thanks to the sim.

When I was reading around I felt the choice was between Realflight or Aerofly, but I'm sure others will feel differently.

Flyflie

Regarding whether a sim will work with XP when you use the parallel port - I had some problems with this because the sim had to be activated using DOS/command prompt and the XP overrides DOS's ability to utilise the LPT port.

There is a very easy solution to this (which worked for me): create a DOS system disc (using XP) and then reboot the computer using this disc - you will be in DOS mode. You can then run the program from the A: drive or C: drive if you have copied it onto there.

There was also the more complicated solution of downloading some patches to make the software XP compatible, but I could not get it to work.

Hope this helps

Another good "FREE" sim is PRE-FLIGHT more realistic than FMS as far as Heli's, as far as an interface there's some out there for PRE-FLIGHT. for me I went with a game pad with 2 analog sticks like the Logitech one or an interact axis pad to simulate a radio control (cheaper than an interface)http://www.preflightsim.com/ here's the site, check it out

Well Im very happy right now.. I ran into a webpage which showed in great detail how to make a PC-RC cable interface for FMS. I went to Radio Shack today bought the compenents which came up to 8 bucks and It works great with my Hitec radio through the paralell port on my Win Me machine.. Good thing I didn't get rid of that old PIII-800Mhz! ....
My Local hobby shop has real flight G2 in stock for $265! ...I can buy nice heli with that kinda money!

Yeah G2 is a little pricey but if you get a chance check out PRE-FLIGHT you won't be dissapointed the sim is more realistic than FMS

Thank U I downloaded it but I can't play it with the RCbox yet, I need a serial interface.. helihobby has them I'll order one tonight,,, Looks very cool.. and I tried it with the keyboard,

On the heli training scenery go to scenery edit and check the time factor the default setting is 3 set it to one and it will be real time instead of slowed down, seems all the training sceneries are slowed down for training but the standard sceneries are at real time

What is the difference between the Realight and realflight lite in terms of heli functions?

The big difference is the level of model customisation, I think. On G2 Lite you have a choice of two helicopters and can select beginner, intermediate, or advanced. I believe this sets the sensitivity of the model, essentially altering the setup. As I understand it, you can fully adjust various properties of the selected model on the "full" G2.

For me, this wasn't important. As long as there's a heli model that's a reasonable approximation of a .30 and the flight model is good then it will be useful for learning.

Maybe in the future I'll regret the choice, but for the moment I see no advatage of the full version while I'm learning.