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Introduction
The new version of RealFlight® was just recently released; to say it was greatly anticipated by many would be an understatement. Right off the bat I found that it certainly lived up to my expectations. In fact, if you don’t want to read the rest of the review simply read this: THIS SIMULATOR ROCKS! There, now you know everything you need to know about it, go buy it! OK, for those who want more details....Forty-one different aircraft and ten different flying sites! Complex wind, moving/breathing/living backgrounds -- 5000 square miles worth! Superb collision detection and exploding airplanes, an easy to use new airplane editor, multiplayer on a single PC screen, and more, lots more. The helicopter part was not ready at the time I received my copy. However a form was in the box that, when returned to Hobbico, entitles the buyer to receive a free helicopter upgrade as soon as it’s available. I’m anxiously awaiting mine. My original version of RealFlight was the very first version, so the jump to G3 was huge for me, as such I may talk about features that were available in G2 as new features, because they are new to me.
Whats in the box?
G3 has not only greatly upgraded software but also some other pretty cool additions. The most noticeable was the new Interlink™ Plus controller. This was housed in a Futaba transmitter case so the feel is, well, like an actual transmitter. Adapter cables for most popular transmitters were included in the package. So, everything I needed was in the box! The Interlink cables hooked up between the transmitters buddy box connector and the one on the back of the Interlink controller. The really cool part was that the new Interlink Plus controller also served as a connection point for my own transmitter...and...new to G3...provided the ability for 2 people to fly at once!!! (More on this later.) Also included was the 2-CD set for the software, an installation/quick start manual, and the warranty registration card. The box itself was quite attractive and should be great for the hobby shop shelves. Colorful, it also has a flap that opened up to reveal some of the features the simulator has going for it.
New features:
I found quite a few new features in this simulator. One of the neatest was the virtual flight instructor. While not a brand new feature (G2 had it), it has been expanded and remains a really great feature. This was not some machine talking to you, it was in fact several top ranked pilots, in their own voices and images, flying the aircraft and visually instructing you how to do it. Frank Noll Jr. and Jason Schulman are included for the airplane side. I couldn't have asked for better flight instruction than this, and I don’t mean just basic flight instruction (although it does that very well too). If I wanted to know how to do a harrier, I just clicked on Frank’s name and asked him to show me! The ability to modify or even design my own aircraft within the simulator and fly it was greatly enhanced over previous versions of RealFlight. I was able to view a wireframe model and make almost any modification I desired, and see the change in realtime on the wire frame. Want to fly a competition? How about a Scale Aerobatics free style event, a fun fly limbo or many others? G3 can do it, and does it more capably than G2 did. Fly the contest by yourself or go online and fly against others. How cool is that? But the cool new addition....is to fly against someone on the same computer! G3 can do that too. A split screen feature allows two people to fly. I had to use the Interlink controller and my own transmitter; one controlled one aircraft the other the second aircraft. It was a lot of fun, formation flying anyone?
Installation:
RealFlight G3 is not capable of running on an old 286! This is serious, graphic-intense software that needs some processing and video power. The good news is that almost any of the current crop of computers out there have at least the minimum requirements. For the purpose of this review I utilized a Compaq Evo, with a Pentium IV processor running at 2.6 GHz. The machine had 512 MB of RAM shared with the video card. I was thrilled that a machine without a high end video card or dedicated video RAM was able to run such a graphics-intensive simulator! I had been prepared to have to buy a high end card to add to this machine, but it wasn't necessary. The simulator ran very well unless I got crazy and turned up the terrain and other graphic features ridiculously high. During installation the software ran its own tests to select the settings that worked best for my computer and gave me the most from the simulator. Both of the CD’s were needed for installation as well as the case the CD’s came in and the controller. At the end of the installation I had to input the serial numbers found on the CD case and controller for the software to function. Installation began by inserting the first CD; with auto-run turned on, a screen came up and prompted the beginning of the installation. After part one was complete, I was prompted to insert the second CD. Total installation time for my machine was less than seven minutes. Once RealFlight was installed, the install program asked if I wanted to install DirectX 9. Version 9 or higher was required for G3 to run. I allowed it to install this as well as I had not taken the time to see what version was on the machine. This took another two minutes. At that point I was prompted to allow the machine to restart. Once restarted I plugged the controller into the USB port and started the software. Under 10 minutes, and we were ready to fly!
First Flights:
G3 suggested I make my first flight with the default Great Planes NexStar trainer. This was to ensure everything was functioning properly. I gave this a shot and was immediately rewarded with a very nice flying aircraft. One of my biggest criticisms of the simulators I had flown in the past was the lack of peripheral vision and overall un-natural feel. Somehow, G3 overcame most of this. You, as the pilot, stay in a fixed spot; however, the software pans and zooms for you and does a much better job of it than any other simulator I’ve used. I can remember with past simulators, when trying to land, having to pick out landmarks so that I could determine when to make my turns. I didn't have to do this with G3. It also seemed to try to keep the ground in view for the pilot. This is a huge improvement. I was able to guide the trainer right to the center of the runway with no problem and an overall very RC like feeling. Sound effects have always been good with RealFlight and G3 continues this with Doppler effects as the aircraft travels across the virtual flying field. Sound level, of course, increases and decreases depending on how far away the model is from your virtual location. Just to see what was back there, I flew behind the flight line (Please don’t do that for real!), I was surprised to find shade canopies set up, airplanes sitting on the ground, an anemometer, a wind stock, and a very large house (among other things at this particular flying site).
More aircraft:
Well, since I had a huge inventory of aircraft available, I might as well start at the beginning. How about the 1903 Wright Flyer? I had always wondered how well or how bad that aircraft really flew. When I selected the flyer I was presented with the model as if held in my hand. I used the mouse to aim my launch and then a push of any button or click of the mouse launched it. Well, dumb me, I clicked the mouse right away and watched the Flyer fall to the ground a very short distance from where it was launched. The next time I actually advanced the throttle to full (instead of idle). I got a little further that time before it bounced off the ground again. Hmmm, what’s up with this? Next flight I decided I’d better try some up elevator and this proved to be the trick. Full up in fact was required to assure a good launch. As soon as the model began to climb I was able to reduce the elevator. The Flyer did not fly all that bad, but it was pitch sensitive, especially in down. I’m not sure I’ve yet mastered a really good landing with it, but it was great fun to attempt to fly. This gives you a bit of an idea of what the Wright’s were really up against. It also tells you just how ingenious they were! Other aircraft included were everything from a simple park flyer and a hawk (yes the actual bird) to an L-39 Albatross turbine powered jet. I had the opportunity to see a full size L-39 once, it was owned and flown by none other than the owner of Hobbico! Do you suspect that fact may have impacted the selection of this aircraft for the simulator? Several aerobatic ships were available as were scale ships, sport aircraft like the Super Sportster, an IFO, and much, much more! If you can’t find an aircraft you want to fly here you can purchase one of the add-on packages and increase the number of available aircraft exponentially. I must admit the big YAK-54 became one of my favorites. This huge bird was extremely capable and actually flew very easily. Of course, I found that if I really wanted to play I could kick the controls into the high rate and get into some serious 3D stuff. As I browsed through the various aircraft, I was presented with a thumbnail picture of the aircraft and a short description about it. In some of the descriptions the full size aircraft’s history was talked about. However, each told me about the model as well and what special features it may have, such as smoke ability.
Breaking StuffNow I had heard that if you hit something with G3 the aircraft will break. You know I had to try that. So I picked the biggest object I could find (Hey if you are flying behind the flight line you might as well go for it!), the house! I ran that nice trainer right into the side of the house. Yes it sure did come apart! The wings came off and the whole mess slid down the side of the house to the ground. Pretty cool! Later on, I inadvertently hit the tail on the ground with a different airplane while torque rolling, half of the stab broke off. However, unlike many other simulators, the airplane did not automatically crash. I was actually able to keep it in the air for a while. The controller has a little red button on the front panel, if I pressed this I became the fastest person in the world at rebuilding a crashed airplane. The space bar also served this purpose as well, both put you right back on the center line of the runway with the engine idling. Here's a series of screen images to show just what a crash really looked like. Note that these screen shots are on a very average machine set at very 'normal' flyer settings, so the graphics are not at their optimum.
Interlink: Using My Own Transmitter ... And Multi-Player on a Single Screen!
As previously mentioned, the controller allowed me to link an actual RC transmitter (almost any popular transmitter) to the software, and I could not wait to give it a shot. My old version would do this but I don’t feel it did it very well. I’m very happy to report that G3 did it very well indeed. I plugged my Futaba 9C transmitter into the Interlink controller and selected the 9C as the controller I wanted to use. Right away I found that the elevator and throttle were reversed. I simply changed this in my transmitter and took off! No other changes were needed. It was great being able to use my actual transmitter. As good as the controller supplied was, it was not as comfortable as using my own. Setup tools were available to me if I had any trouble at all using the Interlink feature.
Setting up my own radio also meant we could do multiplayer on a single screen. With a 50/50 screen split, we each had half-monitor-space to view. I got to use my beloved 9C; my son used the stock Interlink, and we had a blast!
Other cool stuff:
I did not get much of a chance to play with the design features due to time constraints for the review. However, they were very powerful; there was little I could not do with this feature. I also found that if I wanted to view one of my flights after it was over I could record the entire flight and play it back. The more than 5000 virtual square miles of flying space will certainly keep me interested for a long time to come. For those who didn't know G3 was coming and just bought G2, don't fret! Great Planes hasn't forgotten you. There's a $25 cash or $50 merchandise rebate available to you if you choose to buy G3 now. Even for those of us who have owned RealFlight for more than 3 months...there is a rebate to thank us for our past purchase, and also to encourage us to purchase G3 by 1/31/05.
Conclusion:Wow, what a system! There may be another simulator out there with better graphics, but I doubt it! And I sure don’t know of any that flies better than this one, nor do I know of any with the huge amount of features G3 has. Flying G3 seemed very natural and that was, of course, what I wanted in a simulator. G3 would be an invaluable tool for a newcomer learning to fly. In fact I’d go as far to say that many people would be able to move right from this simulator to RC flight. As always, I’d recommend a qualified instructor be there to help and a trainer such as the NexStar be utilized, but G3 would sure give them a heck of a head start. G3 proved to be an equally capable tool for an experienced pilot learning new maneuvers or keeping his skills up in the cold season. After many hours of use, I’ve only scratched the surface of what was available to me in RealFlight G3. This is a simulator with a lot to offer. Perhaps the only criticism I had would be the instruction manual. Actually not the manual but the way it was presented. The manual was found by clicking the help window. Once clicked, I was presented with a very nice online version of the manual. However the manual is in HTML format and is not indexed for searching. It was possible to use the browsers “find” feature to look for whatever I needed. However, I felt a more standard index like used in most software applications would be better. Eventually, while exploring the first CD I found that there is a Word file of the manual! This allowed me to print it. I'm surprised this is not mentioned in the Installation Guide. That said, the manual itself was excellent and should prove to answer most any questions. At a street price of about $199 RealFlight® G3 is a super value. I highly recommend it! Note: Special thanks to Dave Lauck for using his more graphics-card intensive machine to provide additional screen images. Thanks to Knife Edge Software for supplying videos of the product in use. |
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Dec 25, 2004, 10:04 PM
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#2 |
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Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Elmhurst, NY (Queens in NYC)
Posts: 3,114
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G3
Sad to say, I had a look at G3 today and I will stick with G2.
The computer I was on runs G2 smoothly even in cockpit views (where the amount of scenery visible is tough on computers and graphic cards) it bogged down to an eyeball jerking frame rate in G3 anytime there was any ground scenery visible. Some of the G2 airfields are there, like Fun Fly, and they run more or less the same as on G2. I did fly a couple of sailplanes, but the very low frame rates made it difficult to control the plane. (launching took a while to learn) The computer I was on has a Pentium 4 running at 3.2 gHz and an nVidia (sp?) G force (or some such video card) that has no trouble with G2. The sailplanes look great overhead, where the frame rate gets normal, but if the slope is in the scene your eyeballs get a workout. The friend who got G3 for Christmas has nothing to complain about. His wife also got him a Cermark Pitts! He was last seen flying the G2 Pitts at the snow park field, trying to get the four point rolls to look smooth. I guess we will have to see who has the best game machine in the neighborhood and test G3 there. Pete |
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Dec 25, 2004, 10:17 PM
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#3 |
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Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Elmhurst, NY (Queens in NYC)
Posts: 3,114
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G3, an added comment
I will have to add that the wind in the G3 slope simulation seemed MUCH more realistic than the wind in G2, and the slope simulation was the only one I have ever seen that was worthy of being called a slope simulation, but I guess we will have to cut all the extras (like trees) down to zero to use it on our feeble little 3.2 gHz Pentiums. (Hmm.. I wonder if I can get dual Pentiums and dual graphic cards?
Actually, I should try it on my own computer, I have twice as much video ram as my friend has. I think mine is 128 mbytes. Whatever, both machines run G2 super smooth. Pete |
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Jan 03, 2005, 11:47 AM
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#4 |
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Registered User
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Sadorus, IL
Posts: 139
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G3
Pete, as you may have noted the machine I did the review with was not a real high end machine, as least as far as video cards go. However it did have 512 MB of RAM. I expect this may be key to making G3 perform well. I'm not big on all the extra scenery stuff that so many sims now have (including G3). I just want the aircraft to fly very realistically and give me the best possible feel. Like the zoom modes that try to keep the ground in view. This seems the most realistic to me. G3 also flys like a model, not like a sim IMHO.
Over the weekend I had an opportunity to fly another high end sim...no thanks, while the graphics were certainly good. it did not fly anywhere near as realistically. That said, everyone is going to have perferences. That's what's great about our industry. You can almost always find a product to fit what you feel is the best for you. We certainly see that daily with the transmitters available to us. What you love may not be what I like and so one. Have fun! Steve Kaluf |
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Jan 03, 2005, 11:57 AM
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#5 |
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Registered User
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Sadorus, IL
Posts: 139
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G3 Follow-on article
In case you are interested, I'll be working on a follow-on article to the original G3 review. Hopefully I can get it done in the next couple of weeks. This will be centered around the helicopter side mostly since I now have that upgrade, but will also include features I've had more time to play with since the original review.
Steve Kaluf |
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Jan 04, 2005, 06:43 PM
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#6 |
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Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Elmhurst, NY (Queens in NYC)
Posts: 3,114
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G3, yet again
We ran G3 on a 3.2 gHz Pentium 4 machine with a half a gigabyte of ram and an nvidia G-force graphics card with 64 meg of video ram. (my own, similar computer has a slightly faster processor and double the video ram. My friend increased the ram to a full gig to no avail.
Bear in mind that we fly G2 for practice daily and know what we want. The best we could get out of G3 did not approach the quality of G2. They also left the landing difficulty slider off of G3 and almost anything you do leads to a "good" landing. In G2 we fly with the slider at the most difficult setting and you have to work to get a good landing. I consider that a big plus. We flew with minmal scenery etc. Nothing helped. I am not going to run out and buy a $3,500 computer just to get G3 to run as good as G2 already does. I think Great Planes or Knife Edge sold themselves a bill of goods and G2 will become a collectors item unless they get G3 working a whole lot better. I don't disagree with your review, it's just that we both fly G2 almost daily for practice and it is the better program for what we need it for. I wish that G2 (or anything else) had a slope that worked as well though. I do look forward to seeing how G4 works. I expect a revised version of RealFlight RealSoon. Pete |
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Jan 05, 2005, 08:37 AM
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#7 |
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Registered User
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Sadorus, IL
Posts: 139
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Wow, certainly don't blame you for not wanting to purchase another machine. However the machine you ran it on is quite a large step up from what I was using. I can't help but wonder if something else is going on. Maybe the owner of the G3 should contact their tech support. Maybe they can help. I've never played with G2 so can't comment on it. However I've found G3 very realistic. I don't know why you'd need a landing difficulty bar if the sim is doing a realistic simulation which I feel G3 does.
I've been told there are other G2 users out there that don't like G3 most of these were people that did more sim flying than actual aircraft flying. G2 is, as reported to me, easier to fly. I appreciate the comments. I always find it interesting to hear how other folks feel about the same products. You have a product you enjoy and I have one I enjoy. What a deal! Steve |
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Jan 05, 2005, 06:22 PM
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#8 |
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Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Elmhurst, NY (Queens in NYC)
Posts: 3,114
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Concerning the machine we ran on. We used AdAware and SpyBot to clean things up and then, not satisfied, we reformated the drive and reinstalled everything. As before, G2 was beautiful and G3 was a slug.
As far as the landing stuff. The landings in G3 are not realistic, they are way too easy. That's why we looked for the slider. I suspect that they left it off so that people flying on a slow machine would not get discouraged by frequent crashes. Also, when we installed the extra airplanes and airfields (all five disks) the planes did not work as they do in G2. You would probably have to make copies of each airplane and re-adjust everything to get them to even resemble their counterparts in G2. The business of having more realistic crashes means nothing compaired to more realistic flight. Since you have not flown G2 you really ought to give it a try before getting carried away by how good G3 is. I suspect that even with an ideal computer G3 is not as good a simulation for actually practicing RC flying. That is what we bought both G2 and G3 for. As far as I am concerned it is not only a disappointment, it is actually inferior as a practice simulation. I had the original RC simulation on the Apple ][ twenty or so years ago and I've been flying RC for at least forty years. I am no expert, but my experience goes way back. This is not bragging, just descrbing the base that I am viewing G3 from. Pete |
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Jan 08, 2005, 01:55 PM
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#9 |
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Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: San Jose, Ca.
Posts: 777
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subbing to thread
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Jan 18, 2005, 01:30 AM
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#10 |
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Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 1
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Machine Performance
Pete,
Have you made sure you have your graphics card driver installed? The problem is when you don't have the drivers installed and just use the default drivers that Windows would assign, when G3 tries to render it doesn't use the hardware on the graphics card, but instead tries to do software rendering which is VERY slow and slugish. Try installing the driver or goto nvidia.com and download the drivers and install it. Hope this helps. I have a 900 MHz machine with 500 meg ram and an Nvidia G Force 2 32 Megs. I was looking at G3 and would love to get it, but if it doesn't perform well with these higher end machines, then forget it, I'll go out and get G2. Thanks, Matt |
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Jan 20, 2005, 06:06 PM
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#11 | |
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Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Elmhurst, NY (Queens in NYC)
Posts: 3,114
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See Mattfair quote below
Yes, as mentioned G2 runs flawlessly. I don't know how to check the frame rate, but even in the cockpit view where there is a lot of scenery to update the thing runs flicker free. Almost certainly over 30 frames a second. In G3 on the other hand the animation is smooth until there is a lot of ground scenery then things slow to a crawl. We wiped the hard drive and reinstalled _everything_ from scratch. Same results, G2 vs. G3 Our dealer took it back. Not the usual thing for open software, but we are good customers and clubmates and our business is welcome even with an occasional hitch. It might also have something to do with all the planes we buy. I am curious about how G3 would have run on my machine and especially how it would run on another friend's AlienWare. His machine has two 3.2 gHz Pentium 4's and whatever is the hottest graphics card AlienWare can stick in a machine. I was going to get the same computer, but that one costs as much as several very good airplanes. Maybe next year. I do look forward to seeing G3 demo'd at the WRAM show and asking what they are running it on. Despite all the raves, I have to say it doesn't feel as "real" as G2 to me. That may be because it lags a bit and feels like you are not tightly connected to the plane. That feeling would probably go away on a really fast machine. Pete Quote:
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Jan 20, 2005, 11:12 PM
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#12 |
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Registered User
Join Date: May 2001
Location: Providence, RI
Posts: 378
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G3 works great on my computer so I'm happy, it's a pretty basic computer with only minor hopups. 2700 AMD processor, 1 gig of ram, Nvidia fx 5700 Ultra 128mb graphics card, I built this computer for under $600 so it doesn't take an expensive machine to run G3. (of course if you bought it premade from some computer company it would probably be around $1500, why people do that is beyond me, it takes about 30 mins to slap one together)
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Feb 12, 2005, 12:57 PM
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#13 |
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Registered User
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Alabama, USA
Posts: 2
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G3 runs great on my machine also. I don't think the processor speed is the biggest issue here though. It seems to me that the biggest problem is the video card. I have an ATI Radeon 9800XT 256mb card in mine and I don't have a problem. I also found that if I use the maximum refresh rate, it is even smoother.
If you get G3 running right it is much more realistic than G2. |
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May 16, 2005, 09:09 PM
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#14 |
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Registered User
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 38
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The size of the computer is not the issue nor is processor speed it is the size of your graphics card!!!!! If you dont have a 128mb card you can have 4 gig of ram (the most a 32 bit processor can have) it will still run like crap.
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Jul 15, 2005, 05:49 PM
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#15 |
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Registered User
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Rochester, NY
Posts: 15
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Bayou and alf are correct in that it is most likely not a processor issue. The G3 system requirements as stated on the Great Planes website are:
1 GHz processor DirectX 9 compatible video card 3D Accelerated video card with at least 32MB RAM 256 MB RAM The problem I believe most of you are having is that you do not have a directx 9 graphics card (at least not cards that support these features in hardware). These cards have only been out for about the last 2 years or so, but they are available for less than $100. If you do not have a DirectX 9 card, then your computer will attempt to provide similar visual effects using the driver software; however, this requires significantly more processing power. Even with a high end processor you will not likely have smooth framerates. In most cases, if you meet the other minimum requirements, by simply upgrading your video card these performance issues can be resolved. -Jim |
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