I was trying to get a plane (GP Venus) to trim out and have good power and handling on the RealFlight G3.5. I found it very difficult to fly even the sportsman schedule on the simulator. Judging distances was very difficult and judging altitude was next to impossible.
I've tried turning off the auto zoom - helped a little.

I'm using a 20" monitor at 1600x1200 resolution.

Question - does anyone use the simulator to help their flying skills in precision aerobatics or is the sim just for 3D stuff?

Also - if anyone has edited a plane on G3 that resembles 2 meter flying characteristics could you please export it and post it here?

You are right about altitude and distance, not very handy for that. Also no good when you are trying to get your lines right. However, I think the sim is great to get your thumbs working in the right direction for each manouvre and co-ordinating the sequence in your head. Most recently I have found that the sim (I use AFPD) really helped me with my snaps, horizontal eights and hour glass; they are pretty life like and I can see the difference when I am at the field. You can also use the compass and altitude indicators to help a bit with lines.

Jeff,

I have setup a 2m plane for realflight and it does fairly well.

I turn off the autozoom as well. I also use the nav guides with the distance out from the flightline and heading listed in the box. I also drag the nav guides box close the center of the screen so it usually right next to the plane. If start flying the sequence with a heading of 0°, you should be flying at 180° after a turnaround manuever.

PM me your email and I will send you the file I have for the 2meter.

Mark

p.s. Also, I changed the camera lag to 10% in the settings menu (under the "simulation" tab), that way the plane stays fairly centered in the screen.

For Pattern, the only pluses I see to a simulator, as I had the same problem years ago, is memorizing the sequence, slow rolls, point rolls (as stated previously, getting the sticks in the same direction), defining direction of rolls on vertical manuevers (3 of 4 pt roll on top hat etc) and probably the biggest thing it helped me with is rolling circles (can crash and just hit the reset button

Ed

I've got an Ikarus Aerofly Pro Deluxe I find a valuable investment. The stock Smaragd that comes with it is quite realistic and you can get a freebie overlay for the FAI box. It's not perfect, but once you get used to it you can learn a lot.
Ditto Divesplat: I also found it great for working out difficult maneuvers like rolling circles.

Grotto2 - you've given me a great idea... Build a custom airport with the FAI box clearly marked and place a mountain range off in the distance for an artificial horizon.

Also, thanks to flyintexan for the tips!! (I've PM'd you for the file).

There was a pattern land airport with the box available for earlier version of realflight. I don't know if it'
ll work in the new version.
You might give it a try before attempting to make a new one.