Any decent flight simulators

GhengisKhan

GhengisKhan

Supreme [H]ardness
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May 16, 2005
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That won't break the bank?
I have a joystick/throttle combo that I bought back when MechWarrior was coming out, only to find myself at a huge disadvantage when I tried to use it. I don't remember the brand or model, it's not high end.
Last flight sim I messed with was MS FSX, so I have no clue on what a decent one would be now.
Current rig should be able to handle pretty much anything consumer level.
I'm hoping there is something F2P out there, but I'm willing to pay a little bit if it's really worth it for a casual gamer.
 
Oh, and I'm more interested in smaller aircraft. I want something fun to fly, and airliners just seem slow and lumbering to me.
 
I'm a pretty serious flight-simmer, but I really just run Digital Combat Simulator World. I also have IL-2 but haven't really gotten into it. Never played any commercial aviation sims, other than Aerosoft FS2. That one is pretty fun and accessible, but at the end of the day I want a combat flight simulator. DCS pretty much has the market cornered for now. It is free to play, at least at first. You will get the Caucus region to fly in and two planes. The TF-51D and the Su-25T Frogfoot. The Frogfoot is pretty damn awesome, it's Russia's A-10 equivalent.

That'll certainly give you enough to chew on for free. If you have any questions, let me know. I fly on the weekends and if you want any help or a wingman, just holler.

Total side-note / pro-tip: If you get into DCS, buy direct from Eagle Dynamics, not via Steam. Nothing against Steam, just long story short you want DCS straight from the source.
 
Thanks for the recommendation. I'll keep it in mind to try it out, but does it have any non-warplanes? I'm kinda interested in something like the RedBull racing. Like stunt flying, racing... Something like that.
 
Kinda/sorta. They just released the Yak-52 (a Russian flight training plane) and very soon the Christen Eagle 2 will be released, a purely aerobatic plane.

There is at least one MP server that is aerobatics only, but I don't know that it is organized in any way. You just jump on and fly. I have seen people discuss RedBull style racing, but I don't know much about it within the scope of DCS. Once the CE2 drops I fully expect there to be something aerobatic/racing oriented by the community but it isn't my cup of tea.
 
Keep your eye on "Deadstick." It's an upcoming flight simulator designed around bush flying, i.e. flying in rough country like the Alaskan wilderness doing things like delivering cargo or ferrying passengers. Last i heard it wouldn't be out until next year, but it's pretty much the only civilian flight simulator that has an actual game built on it instead of just being a big sandbox like X-plane or Prepar3D.

Microsoft Flight Simulator X has some game-like activities (individual missions that are scripted and have voice acting, objectives to reach, etc) but it's a very dated engine at this point. It's still worth checking out if it goes on sale for under $10 again (which it frequently does.)
 
mnewxcv said:
not to steal the thread, but anything good for helicopters?
Click to expand...

If you're talking civilian, then X-plane has some really good add-on helicopters to choose from. If you mean military/combat, then DCS is definitely the way to go.
 
Microsoft Flight Simulator X should still be $9.99 on humble bundle. At least for a couple more days.
Also, check out FlightGear. It's pretty good, and it's free. Worked as good with my yoke and rudder pedals as FSX does.
 
Since it was so cheap, I picked up FSX on Humble Bundle for $9.99. I'm loving it so far. I just got finished flying around over where I live. I'm using all 3 of my monitors so I have an awesomely wide view when flying. I get really good fps, with all graphics options maxed out. And the airplanes that come with it are varied, and plentiful. And to top it all off, there's apparently still pretty popular multiplayer modes, and racing leaderboards. This is pretty much exactly what I was looking for.
 
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