Most Realistic Simulator - Opinion

[RC_Flyer]

Hi all,

Can anyone give me your honest opinion about the simulators available in the market e.g. Realflight G3 /G4, Phenix, Reflex, AFPD, others

Considering that price, value for money, graphics, addons, gadgets ,etc. is not an issue the question is:

Which one is the most realistic in flying both planes and helis?

On a 1 to 10 scale what score would you give? and why.

I already have the realflight pro deluxe, running in an old computer and i'm willing to make an upgrade.

Thank you all in advance,

[Malc C]

I sure wish the mods would post one of these threads as a sticky...

Use the seach this forum option - the subject has been discussed a million times !

In a nutshell to save you wasting time - You won't get a direct answer as we all have different opinions, as we are all human, have different likes and dislikes, so what i think is the bees knees will be slated by someone else because they have a different view point.

If you really want to see what people think, do the search and read up on the reviews

[macr0t0r]

In a nutshell, each modeler believes that the sim they purchased is the most realistic one. :D

This has been discussed MANY times and there has yet to be a champion. For me, I just wanted "realistic enough" without busting the bank, so I got Clearview.

- Jim

[GallopingGhost]

I have bought them all, yes ALL with my money. No sponsors no deals to pay back just my foolish money bought me the right to make my claims. AFPD is the best sim on the market. Others have this and that, Refex is the leader in heli's, G4 is ok for all around stuff. AFPD Rocks! Those Germans are slicker than snot on a door knob on most every thing they do. No sim is perfect and what you want is what YOU want. Get what you want but if you want the best get AFPD....

[RC_Flyer]

Use the seach this forum option - the subject has been discussed a million times !

I did and i still could not find a strait answer. lots of opinions and no objective arguments to the fundamental question in a sim: Realism?
I'm just trying to "cut the crap", no ofense, in all the posts and just focus on the fundamental.

My opinion based in the ones I've used:
Realflight Deluxe 6/10
FMS 2/10.

Anymore opinions?

Regards

[RC_Flyer]

I have bought them all, yes ALL with my money. No sponsors no deals to pay back just my foolish money bought me the right to make my claims. AFPD is the best sim on the market. Others have this and that, Refex is the leader in heli's, G4 is ok for all around stuff. AFPD Rocks! Those Germans are slicker than snot on a door knob on most every thing they do. No sim is perfect and what you want is what YOU want. Get what you want but if you want the best get AFPD....

Thx GallopingGhost for your post,
Seen a lot of posts that refered to AFPD to be a good one, better than G4, but i've also read that they, like many others fail in the so called ground-effect, specialy on heli's. The reflex, in your opinion overcomes this better than the competitors?

[balesse]

I have bought them all, yes ALL with my money.

You don't mention Phoenix what is your opinion on it? Just curious.

[MCarlton]

does anyone know what this sim is;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LG897_V6Io&feature=related

Apparently its going to be freeware!

[flyx]

Nope..apparently it has't gotten release. When you find out ..let me know.

It say you can import Aerofly and FMS models.

Apparently, he imported a Realflight skybox too.lol
I think he did it on purpose.
You can get that scenery anywhere. Heli-x has a cleaner version
without the pasted in models and a complete bottom panel.
It looks good though...
Easpecailly the water option, it looks like it fades into the scenery alot better
than the G4.

All I know is the Pitt from FMS dose tip stalls.
And I know I can copy and paste that model's .par and use it
for other models and edit the files or perimeter accordingly.

[Malc C]

I did and i still could not find a strait answer. lots of opinions and no objective arguments to the fundamental question in a sim: Realism?

Thats my point. That is all you'll get, opinions.

I've tried XTR, and Clearview, both are good sims, but my preference is AFPD. No particular reason, but I just like it.

Also because everyone fly's differently, they look for a charactistic of a sim that matches this, so again, the recommendation will be biased based in this experience.

[darnoldil]

Maybe a more objective way of rating the sim's would be to take a par file of a plane (preferably two) that you have flown and noted its characteristics and then paste it into various sims and see how it flies. Rate the sims' based upon their flight renderings of that model.

If a number of people did this maybe there would emerge a small group of planes that a number of people have actually flown that they have also flown in the sim. Use a Likert scale (1-5) to rate the sim's realism and then start looking at the trends.

Regarding FMS, I think that some planes like the Pitts fly quite realistically and others don't. I think the reason for this has more to do with the fact that most of the FMS planes are made by everyday fliers instead of computer programmers. The programmers are able to gather quantifiable data on various performance parameters and then translate that data into a program that can then be flown by testers that are familiar with that plane to validate its realism I think.

Personally, I am not sure if the simulated environments of ANY of the sims' are really much different and have a sneaky suspicion that any differences in flight characteristics come from the planes' individual modeling parameters. If this is true then determining which sim is the most realistic is a mute point.
What does everyone think?

[flyx]

It's the mute piont.

An average beginner won't know much about how models fly or
will go into depth of how a sim function or are brave enough to
look in the programfiles folder and alter files.

Most people will just want to plug and play.

You can simply use NOTEPAD to adjust the parameter files. Some sim will
have a menu or a table/toolbar.

There's also par editor ADDON for FMS....it's in the programfiles/fms lmao
You can also use DirectX to view FMS models.

most simulator say you need directX.lol

[davereap]

Go into your model shop and try before you buy....read up on other opinions...check the rcsim site for free downloads...and buy what you think suits you best...

fms is good for free, but programs like the reflex are worth the money....I am a tight *** but this is one program that I dont feel Ive wasted money on...

Personaly Ive been using reflex xtr and am very happy with this one... you have loads of free downloads available ...you can convert models from fms(providing the construction files have been included)..also you can build your own models using metasequoia and get them flying in the program..

....dave

[Slyster]

After doing LOADS of research... I found that PHOENIX is definatly the best one out there. Runs around $150. (especially for helis... planes not as sure)

[macr0t0r]

:rolleyes:
Phoenix is a good sim, but don't believe for a moment that you've ended the debate with that breif post! ;) I am interested in what the "LOADS of research" entailed, if you're willing to share?

- Jim

[Slyster]

Just that. lots of googleing.. asking here on this forum... asking on Helifreaks and other forums... ends up Phoenix is the best out there for helis. As for planes I am not sure.

[jim_ag3y]

This is a loaded question, and the answers are largely going to be, "MINE is the BEST" ! The reason being that most of the "freebies" are probably not on a par with the more expensive simulators, and most people do not have untold numbers of dollars to spend on expensive sims.

If I had a couple of hundred dollars to spend on any R/C device I wanted, right now, I certainly would NOT be purchasing yet another simulator!

For my money G4 is a fine simulator, with plenty of different planes to pick from, and the ability to modify to your hearts content all those different planes so that even though they don't look any different on the screen ( is that all that important ? ) they can be made to fly, for good or bad, just about anything that is out there in the real world.

I have told how I used G4 to completely re-design an Eaglet 50. I tweaked the parameters of one of the supplied planes so it flew exactly like the "before" version, and then put in the changes I wanted to make to the plane, tested its flying characteristics, and applied the changes to the "real" model.

The modified plane flew almost exactly if not a little better than the modified, simulated one, and is a real pleasure to fly! Making the modifications to the real airframe, testing them, and going back to make more changes, would have probably cost me several months of frustrating fix, fly, fix, fly, etc. The plane I constructed using the changes suggested by the simulator, flew perfectly right off the drawing board !

I don't know how many other simulators out there have that ability, but for my money, it was an EXCELLENT investment!

Clear Skies, and light breezes ! Jim

[Slyster]

No mine was NOT best. (I had clearview).... I first found out what WAS best and then bought it.

[flyx]

FMS dose and it's FREE. :rolleyes:

wabeedaa beee doo...FMS has model collections up the wazzooo.
and sceneries you can load into it up the wazoo to.

Just becuase i own a most expensive sim dosn't mean I don't have to
use the freebie . heck I'll even load some sceneries from tge g4 into fms.


Why that woud be retarted if someone offer to give me a free .46 magnum
and i refues it....just becuase I have an OS .55 :p

it's that samething when i go to my LHS. he saids traxxas is the best.
I notice he dosn't stock HPI or Ofna though. :p

[MikeSt]

FMS dose and it's FREE. :rolleyes:



I use FMS, I like it, it's small, fast to load, many planes, and I just found it can load photo-real scenery : (though it takes forever to load on my ancient machine).

http://www.szenerien.de/FMS-Szenerien/index.htm

For BASIC flying and even some basic aerobatics it's great ....

But, it doesn't seem to be able to model an accelerated stall properly, ... or at least I haven't found a model / the parameter to do it right.

Yank back on the elevator at speed, and it just does smaller and smaller loops no matter no parm I've tried changing.

Mike

[MikeSt]

I dont' know if Clearview is the most realistic, but it seems to be realistic "enough".

Unfortunately I don't own any of the "cool" planes in the sim, but from what I've seen of videos of the real planes / helis, the physics seem to be fairly accurate.

$40, ~ 50 planes , ~50 helis, and more being added all the time, photorealistic scenery, time scale "slowdown", flight recording, ..... I'm happy with it.

The one main feature I wish it had was "FMS like" camera controls. It seems to me that the default camera is too low, where the "pilot's" eyes are almost at model level .... guess that's accurate if you're sitting down / lying down while flying :D

Mike

[macr0t0r]

I mostly use ClearView. Excellent price, doesn't require a heavy-duty system, and it has lots of models and scenery to chose from. It's a massive generation leap in realistic physics compared to FMS. The physics engine is comparable to more expensive sims, but some of the models that other people have made require a little tweaking to match the real thing. No biggie, really. My only real issue is the lack of a Mac version. :rolleyes: Yah, I'm sort of use to that situation.

For helicopters, there is a surprisingly realistic FREEWARE simulator that was released:
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=808297
Aaaaaand...they have a MAC version! I'm a bit biased, of course, but I'm becoming quite pleased with it. Like Clearview, you may have to tweak a couple settings, but then it works very nicely! I don't think it quite matches Clearview in realism, but it spanks FMS and SSS. It's progressing very nicely and you can't beat the price.

- Jim

[flyx]

what you you mean the heli-x ???

Have you flown the model i made for it ?.lmao
Martain say it's toxic. :p

what sims are these ?

[TachyonDriver]

With a minor tweak to the collective pitch range, the Raptor 30 sport in Phoenix flies almost like my real life Raptor 30 (I don't have a governor on my Rappy, but I do fly the Phoenix one with a governor). Graphically it's great too. Far better graphically than the Raptor 30 in aerofly pro deluxe. I haven't checked Reflex Xtr or Realflight yet.

BTW I use a universal dongle - it has a 4 position switch on its housing which selects the appropriate sim from those 4. £25 at Woodvale Rally. My mate gave me the adaptor lead so I can use my FP-T7UPS Futaba Tx with it.

Tach.

[Cheekers]

Thats my point. That is all you'll get, opinions.

I've tried XTR, and Clearview, both are good sims, but my preference is AFPD. No particular reason, but I just like it.

Also because everyone fly's differently, they look for a charactistic of a sim that matches this, so again, the recommendation will be biased based in this experience.

I too prefer AFPD, for plane simulation (I don't fly helis). One thing that may also be important is to make sure that whatever sim you decide on, you can find model planes that are the same or similar to the planes you fly in real life. While even the most rudimentary simulators like FMS can teach you basic skills like orientation, the quality of the immersion is important for developing and reinforcing skills that are more difficult to master. For example, the first time I flew a real plane toward the glare of the sun, I knew what to do because it was a very familiar scene, having dealt with it so many times in AFPD (which, BTW, has great glare effects simulation).

Another consideration is the availablity of a large library of models and some sims are better in this respect than others. www.rcsim.de is a good place to look at available models for AFPD and other sims (it's under the downloads sections, under IPACS).

[gjchester]

I've had Ripmax Sim, Reflex XTR, Reealflight G2, Aerofly Pro Deluxe and FS One, and sold on all bar AFPD and FS one (At the moment)

Each has it's own advantages, but I tend to use AFPD, because it has a Hype 3D in there modeled by the designers not a 3rd party add on. FSOne is a recent purchase to fly the F22 raptor PTS but I don't really like it as a Sim, once I get to grips with the F22 it will be sold. Reflex was OK, maybe a bit floaty in some cases, but I swapped to AFPD as it had planes I owned in it. G2 was OK, but at that time you were limited to what planes Great Planes chose to let you have. Ripmax just didn't work right on XP so I got rid of it...

Long and short, look at the models in the sim, if you want to practice a particular model, and it's designed into the sim by the manufacturer buy it, I'm not wishing to demean hobby sim designers but the makers iof each sim have paid good money to promote their models in their particular sim (RF is great planes, FS1 is hanger 9 etc) and I find they tend to be modeled best in the sim produced by the manufacturer.

And use a "real" tranny, most of the in box ones feel lousy compared to you own TX.

[raulhc]

does anyone know what this sim is;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LG897_V6Io&feature=related

Apparently its going to be freeware!

You can download beta 2 release from here:

http://www.leobueno.net/

It is made from a Spanish guy. You can request features in these spanish forum:

http://www.miliamperios.com/foro/viewtopic.php?t=84460

It's freeware.

Current features:


RC trainer for PC. Airplanes, helicopters and gliders
DirectX 9 needed. Not included in the installation. Go microsoft web to download Last DirectX runtimes
GM945 Chipset compatible. Tested in an Acer Aspire One 150.
Aerofly, FMS models importer. Two clicks importer for models.
G3X and aerofly photorealistic sceneries importer