Question - flight sims

[More Right Rudder]

Afternoon,

I'm looking to buy a flight sim, but really don't know where to start.

- Am CPL student with 140 hours
- Have an iMac
- Am something of a techno-bimbo
- Budget, around $500

Would appreciate any advice....

[Lasiorhinus]

X Plane and a joystick.

[Jay Bo]

for xplane

[startingout]

x-plane, and the free x-737 and teh pipers by jason chandler

SO

[PyroTek]

+1 for XPlane. + Joystick

[More Right Rudder]

X plane it is, then.

And do I need the rudder pedals and throttle quadrant?

Cheers guys!

[Antsl]

Hi ... I have got X-Plane v8 and found that I really did need to get the rudder controls ... it makes it a lot easier to steer on the ground and general flight and landings a lot easier too. I bought the CH-Products rudder pedals on eBay for about $105... they are a couple of hundred new.

[Hasselhof]

And do I need the rudder pedals and throttle quadrant?

Yes. I got the Saitek yoke which came with a single engine throttle quadrant, then purchased a second quadrant and stuck them side by side to make it a twin. The knobs are interchangeable and setting up the software is pretty straight forward. I also got the Saitek rudders and they work very well. I'm not sure what era iMac you have, though if its only got integrated graphics then don't expect it to perform well in anything other than solid IMC (and as a home IF sim is where XPlane really comes into its own against FSX). I have XPlane 8.6 and some of the Australian wayponts / navaids are a little out of date, however they are all contained in a config file which you can easily edit yourself when you find an error and update it to the lastest info.

[The_Pharoah]

*cough* Flight Sim X *cough*

yes for flight yoke and rudder pedals. An important piece of equipment is the Track IR (it allows you to look around the cockpit as IRL)

if you are going to do some VFR flying around Oz, I highly recommend the Orbx software (makes Aust look like Aust!).

Enjoy