Which is the best RC Flight Simulator

I am looking at purchasing an RC Flight Sim (figure it's cheaper option to get the basics down).

In everyone's expert opinion, which is the best RC Flight Sim and why?

If I am going to part with some hard earned coin, want to be informed.

Thanks

Reply to
Flash
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Ive tried a few of them and Aerofly Pro + RealFlight G3 are my favourites. Although, getting the basics down can be done with the free FMS sim and a cable purchased from Ebay for $20 AU.

I used FMS for a while to get my head around which stick does what so I never forget while flying the real thing. To do anything else remotely like the real thing (such as aerobatic manouvers) will require purchasing one of programs mentioned above.... FMS is only good for learning the sticks in my opinion.

Others will have there own opinions....

Regards,

Troy.

Reply to
Troy

Thanks for the info Troy,

I'll have to invest in the adaptor I think. Looks pretty good to get the basics.

Regards,

David

I used FMS for a while to get my head around which stick does what so I never forget while flying the real thing. To do anything else remotely like the real thing (such as aerobatic manouvers) will require purchasing one of programs mentioned above.... FMS is only good for learning the sticks in my opinion.

Others will have there own opinions....

Regards,

Troy.

Reply to
Flash

just remember to adjust the wind settings to make it a little harder than the default zero wind zero gusts which is to easy Kevin

Reply to
funfly3

| Ive tried a few of them and Aerofly Pro + RealFlight G3 are my | favourites.

Me too. RFG2 is just fine too, though of course the graphics aren't as good, things aren't as customizable and things don't explode nearly as satisfyingly when you crash. So if you can find RFG2 cheap, don't dismiss it out of hand.

I've not tried Reflex XTR, but it looks great too. And The FS One that's due to come out soon is probably fine too.

| Although, getting the basics down can be done with the free FMS sim | and a cable purchased from Ebay for $20 AU. I used FMS for a while | to get my head around which stick does what so I never forget while | flying the real thing. To do anything else remotely like the real | thing (such as aerobatic manouvers) will require purchasing one of | programs mentioned above.... FMS is only good for learning the | sticks in my opinion.

Again, I concur.

To be more precise, FMS will simulate the best behaved helicopter (or plane) ever -- perfectly stable, with the most magical gyro imaginable, etc. Real helicopters don't fly nearly that well, and much of the learning curve involves learning how to deal with little things that your heli does that you didn't tell it to do.

RFG3 and Aerofly Pro will simulate a perfectly trimmed helicopter as well, and they seem to give you an awesome HH gyro by default, so you end up with a helicopter that's easier to fly than the real thing unless you get something really good -- but even so, it's a lot more realistic than FMS.

Don't get me wrong -- FMS is great, and in some areas it even competes with the modern commercial offerings, but flight realism is not one of those areas.

For learning, it's helpful to customize the helicopter you're flying to turn the heading hold gyro into a rate gyro. You really need to learn to keep control of that tail, and letting a HH gyro do that for you while you're learning just means you won't be able to fly without one. It's sort of like learning to drive on an automatic -- perhaps it's easier, but if you never learn to drive a stick, you'll never be able to. But it's worse, because only two sorts of helicopters have heading hold gyros -- 1) expensive ones (i.e. not the low end, or even the middle-end), and 2) ones you find on simulators.

Reply to
Doug McLaren

People are different. Whats my best might not be anyone elses best, and bear in ming the PC you are running it on will affect your choice. G3 on mine ran but I had to turn most of the details options down to make it run at a reasonably true to life speed.

I had Reflex XTR, and Aerofly Pro Deluxe, and borrowed someones Realflight G2 and G3

My views were..

I started wtih FMS like most people try, but soon moved on, it's good for the basics but doesn't offer much fine control.

Reflex is good, but a IMHO bit more fiddly than anything else I tried.

Realflight (and please excuse this comment)I got annoyed by the inane american voice making comments can jokes, I know I can turn them off but it was just another thing that made me feel this was more of a game than a simulator. It works as a sim but feels more gamey to me.

Aerofly was what I got and use now, This is my preferred choice

One of the reason I like Aerofly is it has my plane in it (Hype 3d), so it behaves in the sim as the field (or as well as possible,) none of them seem to handle wind well it tens to be varying on a angle whereas out at the field gusts can be in different directions at different hights.

Something to bear in mind is Realflight g2 (not sure about G3) you cannot add in planes other than buying addons (and they were pretty much the Great PLanes range) Reflex and Aerofly you can download other peoples planes and sceneries without restriction.

Reply to
Gavin

For what it's worth, I used Realflight G2, and still do for a brushup of the finger skills. I think any sim where you can crank in some wind and turb is good. I learned on the G2, and when I solo'd, I found the real plane with real wind was much easier than the poor trainer and high winds in the sim.

You can change the planes in G2 to fit (somewhat) your own plane. I downloaded an Avistar 40 to mine, and it flew "close" to the actual plane. The graphics are not the greatest, and the perspective sucks, but I see it as a trainer, not a cool video game. I use it as a tool, I don't play games on it. ..... Well, sometimes after some serious training time. Then I use the P-51 to strafe the countryside! Many crashes, much destruction!

Hope this helps.....

Reply to
rich

I have similar experience with G2.

You an modify the planes they give you in terms of size trim and wingloading and power units..and even generate new color schemes for them.

I've got a speed 400 'ultimate' in WWI camouflage adjusted to fly like a balsa sopwith camel.

The only thing you can't change is the visible outline. I tried making the twin thing into a mosquito, but it was never very convincing.

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

FS One arrived Tuesday at our shop. The no controller version. S 179.99 stree price

Used a P-4 3.2 Ghz 2 Gb RAM Asus motherboard with a PCI 16X NVIDIA 6600 GeForce video card running XP Pro Corp.

The install takes up to an hour to load the 4 CD's and 4 Gb of HD space. Min equipment is a 1.8 Ghz 512 RAM NVIDIA GeForce 5200 with 2.8 Ghz P-4 and 1GB of RAM with NVIDIA 6600 GeForce or better recommended.

It installed cleanly the first time.

I used a JRP XP7202 TX as the controller. First attempt to calibrate the TX resulted in total chaos of the calibration and no control over the plane.

Three hours of calls to tech support and fumbling on my own finally got it working. The transmitter setup is probably the worst example of human interface programing I have seen. Horizon support did not seem to really have any experience rather he got a transmitter and we both walked the problem until we got it working.

Am told that the version with the dummey transmitter is the default setup and works out of the box according to Horizon.

One complaint, they used a straight out plug on the cable to the transmitter so with most transmitters having their slave cables on the back the cable is folded over when you lay the TX down.

If you have a programable radio best to copy a model and then change th copy to PPM modulation and no servo reversing etc.

Once working its a decent flight sim, Almost all the planes are related to planes and helo's they sell. Have not had any time to play after I got it running.

The only transmitter listed by model is the JR 9303 the rest are all generic more or less.

Set it up on a Compaq 2.5 Ghz laptop with ATI rage video. Some pauses but OK for a demo in shop use.

Appears to be lots of customizing you can do.

Hugh

Reply to
Hugh Prescott

Thank you all for taking the time to contribute to my request.

I have not made a decision as yet. It's a toss up between G3 and Aerofly Pro. Having a look at the respective web sites there appears to be more support for Aerofly from Ikarus and more from the greater community, so I am leaning this way at the moment.

Regards,

David

In everyone's expert opinion, which is the best RC Flight Sim and why?

If I am going to part with some hard earned coin, want to be informed.

Thanks

Reply to
Flash

I suppose you know you can download a free trial version of G3 - not sure if there is one for aerofly pro

David

Flash wrote:

Reply to
quietguy

Yup, thanks for this. I have just spent the good part of four hours taking it in turns with my father to destroy the test aircraft. It's good as a guide, but without the sticks, it's really just a game, but a good one.

David

Flash wrote:

Reply to
Flash

After owning a number of flight sims going back as far as the Dave Brown sim for a Commodore 64 ( whew.....telling my age here) and as new as the Real FLight G2 and G3 , my vote goes for the Reflex XTR. I like many things about Real Flight and it would be my second choice. I especially like the web site where you can download many different aircraft , color schemes and flying fields. Also many different add on's which aren't terribly expensive.

There are some free ones available for Reflex but not as many as RealFlight, or , I just haven't found them yet. Getting too early in the morning for me to go into detail about all the features I like and dislike Hard to keep my eyes open. Maybe do that tomorrow.

Ken

Reply to
Ken Day

Hi all my first post :-)

I have just got myself phoenix sim and find it better that G2 or G3 and for a beginer it has training modes for planes and helis

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Review

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If you can`t be botherd to read the review then this was the outcome........................

Conclusion Phoenix have clearly taken stock of what simulators are available on the market and analysed their strengths and weaknesses. In this regard Phoenix has improved on the other simulators in various different areas. When reviewing a simulator the easy thing to do is just to look at the flight model. If you take this approach with Phoenix then you can see that Phoenix have probably got the best flight model available. The difference between it and the next best simulator (if you are just comparing flight models) is not huge. However, just taking this approach does not do justice to the other improvements that Phoenix brings.

Phoenix to me represents the best simulator on the market. This is not just down to the flight model, if it were then owners of simulators like Reflex XTR would not have a compelling reason to buy Phoenix. When you consider the whole package, the excellent user interface, the ability to simulate helicopters and fixed wing extremely well, the training and competition modes, multiplayer features, model editing interface, in-flight model parameter changing, then you start to see why the simulator is a cut above the rest. Lastly Phoenix is two thirds of the price of its closest rival. If the features and flight model was not a compelling reason for placing Phoenix on your shopping list then the price tag should be.

Phoenix comes highly recommended by TrexTuning and my old faithful copy of Reflex XTR has been marked for an appearance on eBay.

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