It’s been a year and a half since I first sat down and attempted to learn a high fidelity DCS model: the harrier. Since then, I have played almost 1400 hours of it and I’ve not played any other game for a second. Having even booted anything else up. I could never get into any flight simulators for more than a day or two. I just “knew” it wasn’t real...I was never immersed. It was quite an epiphany when I discovered that the problem was lack of realism and complexity. Feeling like I’m doing what a pilot would have to do in real life to make things work completely immersed me.
At first it was the modern fighters: f-18, then F-16 and then the F-14. I found out though that I really enjoyed the 2nd gen aircraft even more: mig 21 and mig 19. The more archaic switches, buttons and dials there are, the better. Hell, I even enjoy the Mig 15 and P-47!
I find myself REALLY looking forward to the A-7 and praying at night for the F-4 Phantom. These modules for DCS are all fantastic. If you are kind of “on the fence” about trying DCS, I’d recommend setting aside 2 hours, sitting down With a YouTube tutorial and learn to cold start and fly a plane. If you’ve tried and it ain’t your thing....try an older plane: like the Mig 21 or mig 15. For me, those planes are so different from anything else; they fascinate me.
Just hoping there are a few more of you guys out there who read this thread, toss around the idea of learning it but decide not to. Give it a shot. I went from hating flight sims to not touching anything else but DCS, listening to fighter pilot podcasts and reading everything I can on it. Just sit down, and give it a few hours