Any flight simulator players out there?

[Rising-Sun]

Just bumped into this while in beta and look really good and realistic. Not sure how far players can go with this sim, but i bet it gotta be fun as long have decent pc performance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5N1pxOd ... ntext-vrec

[GreyJoy]

I used to. I've been playing IL2 Sturmovick (and all its sequels) for 6 years.... Online, in full real servers it's a BLAST!!!!
The problem is that it's too time consuming... on those "full swicth" servers you need at least 2-3 hours of constant play in order to achieve something (take off, 20 minutes of fly to climb and get into the front, dogfight etc...)...and during that time you cannot asnwer the phone, you cannot pause, you cannot even go to the bathroom if needed (when you play in a squadron, you have a role (wingman, leader, whatever) and you cannot simply let alone the other guys because you have to pee...They count on you!
 
I remember playing in "ZekeVs.Wildcat" server...it was amazing...

[Apollo11]

Hi all,

I was involved (ALPHA / BETA / Development) with many significant flight sims in past 15+ years (Su-27 Flanker series, Falcon F4, MS Flight Sim series, MS Combat Flight Sim series, Il-2 series)!

Recently I don't have as much time to fly as I once had though... <SIGH>


This video is from upcoming arcade flight sim "World of Warplanes" from the makers of "World of Tanks" (they will be releasing "World of Warships" as well):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_of_tanks

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_of_Warships

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_of_Warplanes



Leo "Apollo11"

[Schanilec]

I used to do flights sims. I haven't upgraded for a long time to handle flight sims. Silent Hunter is as close as I get now a days.
There is a really good Japanese video called the Battle of the santa Cruz Islands. The animation is great. The sound is kinda lacking (might be on my end, but I don't believe it is. And some of the commanders are okay. But check out the video via google. I enjoyed it.

[Fallschirmjager]

I still fire up IL-2 1946 every now and then. The game has held up well over the years including the graphics. Too bad the sequel was DOA.

I also 'play' DCS Blackshark, A-10 Warthog and P-51. And by play I mean struggle mightily to do even the most basic flight functions and then smash my head into my desk repeatedly out of frustration.
But they are all three excellent simulations. They just demand a lot of time and excellent hardware both PC wise and control input wise.

I also used to play Rowan's Battle of Britain, the Lock On Series and one of my all time favorites and one of the most underrated sims of all time, MiG Alley. Still the only game I know that simulated the Korean War air war. Unfortunately the graphics have not held up well and while the dogfighting is still excellent, it was never a great game in terms of ground support modeling.


I also play driving sims, GTR 2 and Race 07. F1 2012 and when I want something more casual but still fun Forza 4 on XBox.
Forza is one of the finest driving games I have played, the graphics are superb and the physics are good but still forgiving enough to be fun. And it is as close as I will ever come to seeing or driving some of those cars.

[crsutton]

Il2 has been around for a decade. It is still one of the best in my opinion. The greatest thing about it is that you get to fly literally hundreds of different aircraft. Many never seen in any other flight sim. (IAR-81 anyone!). For that reason alone I find it to be fun. I see there are some new user add ons that I have yet to fly. Have to look them over.

[janh]

ORIGINAL: Fallschirmjager
I also used to play Rowan's Battle of Britain, the Lock On Series and one of my all time favorites and one of the most underrated sims of all time, MiG Alley. Still the only game I know that simulated the Korean War air war.

A looooong time ago there was Chuck Yeagers air-combat, which offered many planes and bridged many decades of conflicts including korea. Wasn't great, though.

I used to play flight sims a lot until about 10 years ago, when I switched to Operation Flashpoint and strategy gaming. I have been planning on getting into the IL-2 series, though, and bought it a while ago. Just need new stick/throttle/pedals gear, that together with TrackIr ought to be fun.

Back in time, I loved "Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe". Not only because of topic and the plentiful plane types, but also because of the strategic component and the industry/building part. The catch was the AI and flight models were poor, by that was more or less the standard in those days. Beyond that, Falcon 4, the old "Aces over..." or the "Jane's" series come to mind. Ah, and of course "European Air War", that was pretty good.

One of my all-time favorite remains a chopper sim, though: "Jane's Apache Longbow". The love of detail and realism (nothing beats digesting a 400 page handbook during christmas days) was just stunning back then. Too bad no one really picked that up for a sequel.

[Rising-Sun]

There so many sims i use to play back then, like some of you guys mention here. I still love my Falcon 3.0 and before that, Jane's Apache Longbow, etcs. I havent been flying since late 90's, now stucked into grand scale strategy wargames mostly on my time.

[Fallschirmjager]

I forgot to mention all the hours I have sunk into Falcon 4.0 Allied Force
http://www.lead-pursuit.com/products.htm
It is a massive commercial upgrade of the original Falcon 4.0
The graphics are pretty poor but still get the job done and the flight model, weapons modeling and dynamic campaign are still superb.
It is the only hardcore flight sim that depicts a modern fighter jet that I have been able to master and enjoy.

DCS sims while being excellent I just can't spend enough hours with to master.

[TheLoneGunman_MatrixForum]

There's also Free Falcon.

[Sakai007]

I am a current flight sim guy, been at it since I was 10 (29 now) and still love it! Currently, I am really getting into Rise of Flight as my rig will finally run it after upgrading the graphics card. IL2 is my WWII fix, Strike Fighters 2 does the Cold War, and FreeFalcon and/or Flaming Cliffs 3. I tested this game with my old gfx card and my rig couldn't handle it. The graphical quality is near to Rise of Flight so you can bet I will be giving it another try in the near future.

[sanch]

I used to play one called "Their Finest Hour", by Lucasfilms Games. An old DOS program, but I spent a lot of hours rattling around in Hurricanes and Spitfires.

To get an idea of how old this was, my wife, after watching me being frustrated with the keyboard controls, went and gave me, for my birthday, a ... mouse!!! An amazing improvement in gameplay.

[Erkki]

RisingSun: unfortunately the War Thunder is unlikely to be a simulation... But rather a multiplayer action/role playing game with flying elements and some physics. I guess the eye candy helps it a alot. Its sad how during the last 10 years(literally now!!!) the only WW2 flight simulators published have been the original Il-2 and its add-ons and and the new Il-2 CloD. In many ways the classic wargaming scene is doing better than the flight simulations. [:(]

Been playing/flying Il-2 and other flight simulators, mostly online and full difficulty/realism, since the year 2000 myself but I have been busy lately with little free time... But I hope that to change at some point! I probably know many here better by some other names, but myself I use the same name here as in the HyperLobby(http://hyperfighter.sk - free multiplayer lobby for il2 and many other sims), just without the squad prefix.

[LoBaron]

Erkki said it already. Not a flightsim but an arcade shooter with great graphics.
Nothing bad about it, only not my taste.

Vintage combat sims there is nothing better than IL2 for WWII and RoF for WWI.
Cliffs of Dover sadly is a nice demo, but is so bugged and incomplete that I shelved
it (IL2 was bad on release as well, but not this bad).

I do hope that Battle of Mocow, the sequel to CoD, will have the lessons learned included
from the catastrophic initial release. Then there might again be a WWII simulation to talk about.

[janh]

ORIGINAL: Fallschirmjager
I forgot to mention all the hours I have sunk into Falcon 4.0 Allied Force
http://www.lead-pursuit.com/products.htm
DCS sims while being excellent I just can't spend enough hours with to master.

ORIGINAL: TheLoneGunman
There's also Free Falcon.

Ok, got to look into those. The first impression is that Free Falcon could be a worthy successor to old "Jane's Fighter Anthology". DCS focuses only on Hinds and Hokums, right?

I recall "Their finest hour", also a pretty addicting game in the 90s. What I like most about those titles was that the game ideas back then involved more than just the core flight part, but also dynamic campaigns or other gimmics.

In the late 90s early 2000s the flight simulations kinda dropped a lot of the gimmics and focused only on better cockpits, flight mechanics and stuff. While that was great, I still need some story or bigger picture to drag me in.
Does someone remember "Strike Commander"? The story behind that one was just awesome. I'd go for a sequel, if anyone would ever do it.

[ilovestrategy]

I used to play the Jetfighter series, even though it was a bit "arcady". Jetfighter 4 bombed though in quality. The series never recovered after that.

[Rising-Sun]

ORIGINAL: Erkki

RisingSun: unfortunately the War Thunder is unlikely to be a simulation... But rather a multiplayer action/role playing game with flying elements and some physics. I guess the eye candy helps it a alot. Its sad how during the last 10 years(literally now!!!) the only WW2 flight simulators published have been the original Il-2 and its add-ons and and the new Il-2 CloD. In many ways the classic wargaming scene is doing better than the flight simulations. [:(]

Been playing/flying Il-2 and other flight simulators, mostly online and full difficulty/realism, since the year 2000 myself but I have been busy lately with little free time... But I hope that to change at some point! I probably know many here better by some other names, but myself I use the same name here as in the HyperLobby(http://hyperfighter.sk - free multiplayer lobby for il2 and many other sims), just without the squad prefix.

Believe you are right, just like Battlestation Pacific and wishes it was realism. Just not many good flight sims that i like in the Pacific during WWII. I played a few, but didnt feel right. Believe my first, favorite flight sim was Falcon, before 3.0 came out. Also remember playing F-19 stealth fighter by micro prose and joint strike fighter is pretty good too. There are so many of them i havent played yet. Here it is, found it on ebay...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Falcon-A-T-F-16 ... 588a4a5865

[Reg]

ORIGINAL: sanch

I used to play one called "Their Finest Hour", by Lucasfilms Games. An old DOS program, but I spent a lot of hours rattling around in Hurricanes and Spitfires.

To get an idea of how old this was, my wife, after watching me being frustrated with the keyboard controls, went and gave me, for my birthday, a ... mouse!!! An amazing improvement in gameplay.

If you had an Amiga it came with a mouse and the graphics in the Amiga version of "Their Finest Hour" were better too......

Spent many an hour on this one.

[Fallschirmjager]

ORIGINAL: janh

ORIGINAL: Fallschirmjager
I forgot to mention all the hours I have sunk into Falcon 4.0 Allied Force
http://www.lead-pursuit.com/products.htm
DCS sims while being excellent I just can't spend enough hours with to master.

ORIGINAL: TheLoneGunman
There's also Free Falcon.

Ok, got to look into those. The first impression is that Free Falcon could be a worthy successor to old "Jane's Fighter Anthology". DCS focuses only on Hinds and Hokums, right?

I recall "Their finest hour", also a pretty addicting game in the 90s. What I like most about those titles was that the game ideas back then involved more than just the core flight part, but also dynamic campaigns or other gimmics.

In the late 90s early 2000s the flight simulations kinda dropped a lot of the gimmics and focused only on better cockpits, flight mechanics and stuff. While that was great, I still need some story or bigger picture to drag me in.
Does someone remember "Strike Commander"? The story behind that one was just awesome. I'd go for a sequel, if anyone would ever do it.

Sorry, I should not have put those two thoughts together.
DCS has nothing to do with Falcon 4.0 Allied force.

Allied Force was developed by a company called Lead Pursuit. If you are looking for a bigger story and 'context' to your missions then Allied Force is great for that. It has two completely dynamic campaigns that simulate a real war extremely well.
One campaign is set in a fictional Korean War and the other is set in a Fictional Balkans war that is similar to the Nato action against Serbia in the late 90's.

[Lokasenna]

There are at least 2 new WW2 Pacific flight sims coming out on Steam in the near future...