I've been a flightsim junkie since an early age and even now pretty much the only games I have for my PC are flightsims of one sort or another.
I now however have a PPL with 200hrs behind me and am just about to sit my ATPL Tech exams so I've got a much better idea than I used to of what's realistic and what isn't.
My opinion is that there are a number of good simulators out there but I've not found one yet that has everything.
To me these would be the pick of the bunch:-
Flight Unlimited 3 - For me this gives the best feel of flying a light aircraft VFR, both on the ground and in the air. The external visuals, handling, turbulence and weather effects are truly excellent. The only snag however is that the cockpit panels are a bit naff and not very realistic.
FLY! - Just doesn't feel right to me I'm afraid however it is very pretty. The best thing about this sim is the attention to technical detail. I used the 737 and 767 add-ons whilst studying my ATPL techs to play around with things I'd just been reading about. You can fiddle around with bleed air, hydraulics, electric's, fuel, pressurisation, start sequence etc to a much greater extent than on any other sim. (Other than 747-PS2)
Airline SImulator 2 - Having never flown a real big jet I can't really testify to its boasts of being the most realistic handling sim on the market. I have however spent a couple of hours in a well know Trident sim and it feels very good to me. The main thing I like about this is its simulation of the Automatic flight and EFIS systems.
I tended to find myself studying a bit from the OATS stuff and then playing with it on this sim. Modes arm at 1500' RA as the book says they will and everything else works just as I'd studied right down to a full autoland with GPWS etc. My only gripes would be that the graphics are pants and the FMS is a bit simplified but still not bad with both LNAV and VNAV availiable.
Just my thoughts anyway, if there is a sim I'm missing out there that has everything then please let me know !
Regards
Des
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Something will always spoil your fun.....
Beer has the Hangover, Sex has the STD, GA has the CAA !