Vintage Sims Compared To New Machines

By P.L. Blankenship (18 September 2007)

I just wanted to add a new perspective as to what we have had to adapt to in regards our latest edition of Flight Simulator. I am a real time pilot and my friends and I have enjoyed flying for years. I use MS flightsim whenever I want to try a new route and, of course, when I can't fly with them (i.e., fuel cost + rental + post 911). I have over 3000 hours flying and I wouldn't trade any of those hours for the most luxurious vacations anyone could offer. Flying with my friends and family has been the most satisfying and rewarding times of my life.

Enough said... I have noticed throughout the course of the history of "Flight Sim" that we have always had to deal with upgrading, "all of our machines", to accommodate the newest version due to enhancements via what we requested from Microsoft to improve on their software. After years of following, I decided to stop at FS2000 Pro to see what would happen next. I recently upgraded all of my machines and after this, I fired up FS2000 and experienced a 100% increase in performance and graphics to the point that I was stunned to see not only frame rates increase to +30, but also scenery that was never seen before. I tried FSX on the same machine it choked so bad that I would rather be flying in "0" vis. at 400 feet... I am not trying to put down Microsoft, but I would like to ask them to give us all a chance to "catch up and afford" a machine that they require to accept their new code. So far, I feel that (1) machine would have to cost around $1200.00 (base) to be acceptable for rates and graphics (i.e. +10). Now, If you have multiple machines for instance with WidevieW this could get very costly.

In conclusion: To all of us out there who have built, "home built cockpits", like I have, try a new upgrade to your machines and don't throw away your old software in order to utilize the new flightsim version until you have evaluated. Trust me... I have been using flightsims since FS5 and FS2000 "really" made a significant difference after my upgrades. Honestly, Microsoft, you can keep the "autogen" in the new version. Try real flying and see if "autogen" measures up. I have never experienced 2000' trees and 1000' buildings in retrospect of terrain compared to real flight. Microsoft is off to a good start on improving the next generation of flight simulation software and I am sure it is promising but I feel they have much to improve on before I am willing to commit a MAJOR investment on my hobby.

Thanks for reading.

Sincerely,

Phil Blankenship
R&D Electronics
rdinfrasystems@yahoo.com

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