Microsoft Flight Simulator...

[Yskonyn]

MSFS's core aircraft never were super high fidelity.
Only the General Aviation type aircraft could be considered proper sinulated models, but their airliners never were.
MSFS has always been more a platform for civil aviation rather than an all encompassing sim with high fidelity aircraft. Its the 3rd party developers that offered study sim quality material.

[Skoop]

Already have the PMDG 737for MSFS on order.  Just waiting for them to release it.  Might be months though.

[Pete Dero]

Already have the PMDG 737for MSFS on order.  Just waiting for them to release it.  Might be months though.

https://www.thresholdx.net/news/pmdg73
https://forum.pmdg.com/forum/main-forum/general-discussion-news-and-announcements/73673-30jul20-pending-updates-update-and-pmdg-737ng3-for-microsoft-flight-simulator-first-look

As for the rollout of the NG3, Randazzo says that beta testing is looking to be in Q4 of 2020, with a release hopefully around Q1 2021, although this is all subject to change :(.

[mbar]

I really can't believe that people expected FS20 to be the equivalent of XP11 or P3D or FSX right out of the box.  Those games had over 10 years of development in the bag.  IIRC, FS and XP had pretty limited stables of native aircraft on launch.  In fact, FSX on Steam has about 30 aircraft included.  And the FSX non-Steam and Steam versions are somewhat incompatible and have split the market.

Keep in mind that FS20 has been out for FOUR days.  My son and I have been flying it every day for several hours.  In fact, he's a pilot and went out and flew his C172 then came back and flew it in FS20.  He said its the closest he has ever felt to flying on his PC.  Now he has a full Honeycomb-based cockpit set up, so its really not fair. 

His standard is XP.  And for anyone to even consider complaining about FS20 compared to XP is either not being honest or has not thought it all the way through.  I spend, on average, 1-2 hours a week helping him tune his i7-9XXX, 1660 Super system to squeeze fps out of XP.  The Vulcan-based XP 11.5 (non-beta) was only released very recently and has improved it somewhat, but he still gets about 35-37 fps maximum over loaded cities and in clouds.  And its somewhat unstable.  Austin continues to promise all kinds of optimization and upgrades on the roadmap, but it'll take years.  And compared to FS20, it looks like crap.  Because FS20 has his main airplane, he said he'll most likely switch to FS20 as his standard.  btw, he has always thought the 172 in XP was way too responsive to roll input.

So my verdict:  I probably won't ever again fly another civilian flight sim.  There are performance issues and a bunch of small anomalies in the scenery.  But no other sim has made me forget reality as I'm playing it.  It is only the start of it development and it already exceeds XP and FSX in the "feel of flight" category.  I have never play P3D, so that might be closer.  But my son stated that P3D can only complete with FSX in very specific locations where 3rd party development has created very good airports.

Oh boy. I was thinking wait for sale but you're tempting me with this verdict. Wish I could port my F-106 over to 2020.

I think I'll go for the base game unless you want to talk me into an upgrade.

[Yskonyn]

The upgrade is a very good deal if you like the extra airports it gives.
One 3rd party airport module goes for 40 bucks easily.
If you don't care much, go for the base game. There are no features locked behind the upgrade paywall aside from some aircraft and airports.

[Bardolph]

I just flew around a couple places I used to live, both fairly out of the way, and while it is by no means a 1 for 1 representation the terrain matches better than anything I have seen in a flight sim before. Granted, I never sprung for any of the addon terrain stuff for the last Flight Sim or X-Plane. It was good enough to do basic navigation, and there were usually buildings where they were supposed to be, and rivers and streams and roads where they were supposed to be. Even things like small ball fields and riding arenas and such. Was funny seeing an 18 wheeler on the dirt road to my house though. That ain't happenin ;)

Was just messing around using an XBox controller to check it out, so no input on how it feels to fly or anything. Might be worth dragging the old CH Pro stuff out of the closet for a run.

[RyanE]

The bizarre part is that even with the new 11.5 XP with no add-ons, I get 45 fps at best over NYC at 5000 ft. on a cloudy day.  Thats not quite on highest settings.  And people are screaming about FS20 at 35 fps on High settings.

This is on an i7-10980HK and RTX 2080 Super laptop

[Yskonyn]

Anything from 30 fps and up is fine for civilian flightsimming imo.

[Pete Dero]

The bizarre part is that even with the new 11.5 XP with no add-ons, I get 45 fps at best over NYC at 5000 ft. on a cloudy day.  Thats not quite on highest settings.  And people are screaming about FS20 at 35 fps on High settings.

This is on an i7-10980HK and RTX 2080 Super laptop

https://www.tomshardware.com/features/microsoft-flight-simulator-benchmarks-performance-system-requirements

Microsoft Flight Simulator is one of the most demanding games currently available.

If you're a flight sim enthusiast, the latest version of Microsoft Flight Simulator is certain to keep you busy for many years to come. It's also likely to put a massive dent in your wallet, particularly if you want to run at higher quality settings. We're used to seeing the GPU become the main bottleneck at higher graphics settings, but even a Core i9-9900K couldn't quite keep up with the fastest Nvidia GPUs right now at 1080p and 1440p. If you have anything less than a Core i9-9900K, you won't even benefit from a GPU faster than the RTX 2070 unless your resolution is at least 1440p.

[RyanE]

My point isn't that FS20 isn't demanding of hardware.  It is.  My point is that using XP as a comparison isn't being fair.  XP's performance has sucked for decades and has only recently started getting better.  It completely failed to take advantage of modern hardware.  It was only when the hint of a relaunch of FS and some real competition from P3D that finally got them moving to modernize the architecture.  And even then, they went the Vulcan/Metal route instead of DX. 

The 2nd point is that we are still less than a week into FS20 release.  Austin has had years to do better and got too comfortable and too focused on the tiny Mac audience.  I hope Laminar can survive.  My son loves them.  But they absolutely no one to blame except themselves and some very poor marketing choices.  Laminar is the BFC of the flight sim world.  Great product, a core hardcore fan base, an out-of-touch owner, and a slavish devotion to supporting a Mac customer base with OpenGL.

[Skoop]

Loved the "laminar is the bfc of flight sims".

[IICptMillerII]

Having had some more time to play around, I'm starting to notice a few issues. Take the following with a hefty grain of salt. I'm still learning everything, and I have by no means dedicated myself to actually studying before flying. Plus, I am most certainly not a civil aviation grog. This is my first civil aviation sim in at least a decade, if not longer.

The autopilot is fickle at best, and many times is either just broken or does not function according to documentation. For example, in an aircraft with a full suite of autopilot functions, none of the keyboard controls work. No changing altitude, speed, or even wing leveler. Maybe I'm just being a rock banger, but the only thing I can seem to get working is turning the thing on.

On the flipside, the autotrim can be maddening at times. Again, probably an aircraft specific thing, but there are times where I cannot seem to turn it off, and other times where it has a mind of its own. It loves to trim out a 30 degree angle of attack for example.

I've also had some issues with the "LIVE" feature, such as live weather and air traffic. Sometimes it seems to work, and other times not at all. Yesterday a thunderstorm came through IRL, so I loaded up MSFS to fly around and check it out in real time in the sim. Except when I loaded in, there was no thunderstorm or even clouds. According to the weather data, it was a clear sunny day. Any yes, I did make sure to set everything to the "LIVE" setting before taking off.
I was able to fly around tropical storm Laura today though, so who knows whats going on.

Last big thing I keep encountering is, no contrails! I know the devs have already confirmed that they will be added in a later update, but as someone who does appreciate a bit of eye candy, lacking contrails in a flight sim certainly hurts a bit. Again, that said, the rest of the sim is beautiful, and contrails will be added later on in an update, so this is a very minor gripe.

I'm still glad I got it and have it up and running, and my overall experience with the sim has been very positive. For those here who are still on the fence about picking it up, I would say it is definitely worth it, but there is no harm in waiting a month or so for an update or two to come out first to flesh out the base features a bit.

[Pete Dero]

https://forum.aerosoft.com/index.php?/topic/155563-for-free-airport-paderbornlippstadt-for-microsoft-flight-simulator-released/
https://secure.simmarket.com/aerosoft-airport-paderbornlippstadt-msfs-free.phtml

AEROSOFT - AS|AIRPORT PADERBORN/LIPPSTADT MSFS FREE   (3.6 GB !)

Visit Aerosoft´s home airport in the new Microsoft Flight Simulator!

Located in Germany, North Rhine Westfalia, Paderborn Airport offers a short hop to most central European airports and hubs or it can just be your home base for scenic VFR flights in the local area.
With a single runway of 2,180 meters it can accommodate most aircraft sizes. Regardless if you're practicing short field landings in a Cessna 152 or landing a fully booked Boeing 747 Paderborn airport should have you covered!

Features:

    Detailed recreation of Paderborn airport
    Custom aerial images covering the airport and surrounding area
    Current runway, taxiway and stand layouts
    Custom taxiway signage
    Realistic night time lighting
    Accurate depiction of the terminal interior
    Custom jetway models
    Custom windsock models

[steve58]

If this (Celera 500L) gets added to MSFS, it might make me buy.  Looks frackin awesome.

[RyanE]

Best to watch in full screen.  Gives some good insight into performance and settings.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjVS8nId9oA&feature=emb_logo

This is FSX vs FS20. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QClZWUdEXgQ