XPlane 11 or P3D?

[JudgeDredd]

One last thing...didn't I watch a video once of some guy taking the piss whilst using VATSIM? I think he was a pilot in-game and he was asking for clearance or something and the ATC guy was proper, full-bore into his ATC stuff and being a complete dick about the request the pilot was making - which seemed reasonable, but apparently on the face of it wasn't the "proper" way to request whatever it was he was requesting.

I guess I'm asking if VatSim uses real people to provide ATC, is the experience that they are really strict? I don't know anything about requesting or any of the communications between aircraft and ATC so I don't want to interact with them through VatSim if it's just going to be frustrated by people who are going to demand that you use the correct nomenclature.

Actually, I think it was the other way...a pilot was asking the VatSim guy for clearance and the VatSim guy said, something like "Yeah, you're good buddy"...and the pilot went a bit mad about it.

[jomni]

One last thing...didn't I watch a video once of some guy taking the piss whilst using VATSIM? I think he was a pilot in-game and he was asking for clearance or something and the ATC guy was proper, full-bore into his ATC stuff and being a complete dick about the request the pilot was making - which seemed reasonable, but apparently on the face of it wasn't the "proper" way to request whatever it was he was requesting.

I guess I'm asking if VatSim uses real people to provide ATC, is the experience that they are really strict? I don't know anything about requesting or any of the communications between aircraft and ATC so I don't want to interact with them through VatSim if it's just going to be frustrated by people who are going to demand that you use the correct nomenclature.

Actually, I think it was the other way...a pilot was asking the VatSim guy for clearance and the VatSim guy said, something like "Yeah, you're good buddy"...and the pilot went a bit mad about it.

Not strict in my area.  Generally it should be a friendly environment.

From the Code of Conduct:
https://www.vatsim.net/documents/code-of-conduct

Since this is a learning environment, there are times when a pilot may encounter a new air traffic controller who is in the process of learning his airspace and/or general air traffic control procedures. The same may be true of the controller who may find himself issuing ATC to a pilot flying online for the first time. Everyone should remember to exercise patience and courtesy to these new pilots and controllers.

[jomni]

Cute.

Can I ask a couple of things about Xplane?

• I see there's a few DLC available, seemingly mostly airports. Does Xplane model all (most?) major airports in game "to a fashion" and these are very detailed DLC, or does Xplane not have all (most) airports around the world
• From a gaming perspective, what does a typical session in Xplane look like? Just firing up a plane, taxing, taking it out and landing? I see there's planes being pushed back from the ramp...is there any communication with the tower required? Do you communicate with the tower when landing or is it blind jump in, take off and land with no interaction with any tower for anything?

It looks beautiful, but it looks less than FSX (in terms of things to do, protocol etc)...is that fair?

I am very tempted to buy this...I'm just wondering what I'm going to have in terms of "gaming".

One last thing...are there any addons (like Air Hauler for FSX) to make it into a "business" game?

Not all default airports are detailed. Some are just runways by default at least for XP10. But there's a lot of free user content that looks very nice and payware quality.
No Airhauler but you can use FSeconomy.net.

Warning. XPlane ATC SUCKS!  Don't use it.  But downside is you won't get AI traffic as well. That is why I only do VATSIM. This might be the deal breaker.

[Skoop]

^ One of the best things about Xplane11 is they increased the number of default airports that have out of the box detailed scenery.  You can check the xplane website before you fly to see if it has a good detailed default airport, or it lists all the upgraded freeware available.

[JudgeDredd]

I just bought Xplane 11. What the hell 

[jomni]

I just bought Xplane 11. What the hell 

Enjoy.  It's visually superior to FSX P3D out of the box.

[RyanE]

My son sent this to me...

https://www.thresholdx.net/news/a218vm

I found it interesting that they model the electrical loads and fluctuating power delivery to simulate stressing the electrical system.  That is detail.

[Yskonyn]

I still find it strange that so little of the main addon studios still havent picked up on Xplane as a viable market, but at the same time it was only with XP11 that the sim made great strides to become more mainstream friendly.
Give it a few years still and it might very well replace P3D for many. But the addons need to get going.
As a fully licensed pilot myself I can attest to the great detail of XP's systems modelling and physics. Weather input is also much higher fidelity.
The actual player interface in the sim, meaning the cockpits, have long time been of sub par quality save a few . And still the big ones like the 737 still have unrealistic behaviour due to lacking autopilot features and such.

[Toonces]

If the airliners don't have a solid autopilot, there's not even much sense in flying them.  You guys don't hand-fly until you're on final, right?

I've heard that the Hawaiian Airlines guys hand fly entire approaches in the islands, but I don't know if that's actually true, or how common that practice is on the mainland (or in other parts of the world). 

I'm talking jets, here, not little prop puddle jumpers.

[Toonces]

I've always thought of the XP vs. P3D comparison as similar to the Woff vs. RoF comparison.

XP=RoF
P3D=WoFF

Meaning, XP is perhaps better at actually simulating flying, whereas P3D is a better simulation of the process of a flight.  XP better in multiplayer, P3D better for the offline player.  Something like that.

Flying FSX with some good add-on scenery, add-on AI real-world traffic and routes, and the stock ATC with a good PMDG jet can be a very challenging and satisfying experience.

[Yskonyn]

I like your comparison. :)
I don't know about how other (mainline) companies promote it, but at my company we still have freedom to just fly manual 'raw data' and if conditions allow I personally fly approaches without autopilot.
I firmly believe flying this way is a skill that needs to be honed.