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 The control surfaces are something to smile about. They respond smoothly to the pilot's commands. |
hen
it comes to commercial products for Flight Simulator, there are
always the same arguments against them. Mainly: "Why should I pay
for add-ons when freeware is just as good or even better?" For some
products, that's true. There is always an exception, and Concorde
SST is it. Granted, there are freeware Concordes and panels for them
out there. They fall short in one area: flight dynamics. It's not
easy to accurately model FS aircraft and the Concorde is even more
difficult. With this product, however, you will wonder why you
haven't gone supersonic before!
 Moving parts fans will be very pleased with the smooth movement of the landing gear. If you have a 3Dfx based video card you're treated to a moving visor and nose! |
If you choose to uninstall Concorde (why?), it's as simple as other
programs. Just select from the Add/Remove Program window from the
Control Panel. This removes everything that was installed: the
planes, adventures, and the two mini sceneries (more about those
later).
 Two custom sceneries are installed with the program. This is the FlightSim Developers Headquarters in the mid-Atlantic. Beware, the island is a frame rate eater, if you can get it to work. |
The next section is devoted to the pilot. This section needs to be studied well before your first flight. It is fair to assume that the flight model is highly accurate as two Concorde captains were in on the development. Some might wonder just what they have gotten themselves into when reading this part. One must remember that this isn't a Cessna!
Equally important is the panel. In addition to the flight portion, this deserves study as well. All the gizmos are explained here. Where they are, what they do, and how to use them. Even the experienced simmer will need help, but that's part of the fun!
Lastly, there are a few pages devoted to the adventures. Mostly just descriptions, special key functions are also included.
 The main panel. Please note that this screen shot was taken in 800x600 resolution. This is the absolute minimum! Very well done indeed! |
Approaches and landings were equally fantastic. I have often used the ILS hold on the autopilot to determine just how good a flight model really is. While a full autoland just isn't possible (real flight crews don't do that anyway), the rest of the approach is stable if you follow the guidelines in the manual.
Part of the FS experience is the instrument panel. The real panel is
very complex without the fancy electronic displays found in today's
"advanced" aircraft. I have never really found a photorealistic
panel, payware or freeware, which I really liked. The panel included
here is one of the finest panels I have ever come across. The high
quality workmanship makes you feel as if you were looking at the real
thing. The manual is once again very helpful here. All the gauges
are custom and are unique to Concorde. I truly felt as if I was in
the cockpit.
 The INS is included on a separate window from the main panel. Fuel read outs (in Liters), comm and nav radios, as well as throttle and re-heat "piano keys" are visible here too. |
To help you learn to fly Concorde, adventures are available. The
only one I flew was FSD1. In this adventure, the new pilot is talked
through all aspects of operation. From push back to the landing roll
out, you are under the watchful eye of the British Airways Senior
Training Captain. I recommend this one to everyone as it helps you
to practice the skills needed for proper Concorde airmanship. FSD2
is a round trip adventure from London to New York and back. The last
two, FSD3 (London to New York) and FSD4 (New York to London) simulate
the usual "Speedbird" runs. All the adventures come with essential
ATC chatter.
 The white area just below the pilots windows is not part of the Pepsi/Air France color scheme. Noticeable on all Concordes in this package, there is a bleed through problem when the visor is down. |
The other island was the FlightSim Developers Headquarters. Once again frame rates were mind numbingly slow. Worse, this island worked for about two to three minutes, just long enough to test frame rates and take a screen shot. The sceneries were not needed and I would have rather saved the space on my hard drive. Secondly, while the panel includes the INS, it does nothing but display latitude and longitude coordinates. Although there is a patch to fix this (conc_ins.zip), I feel a functional INS should have been part of the deal. When you pay for something you expect a little bit more.
[Note: Since the initial posting of this review, Mungo Amyatt-Leir of Interactive Associates (CDC) Ltd and Graham "Dotcom" Waterfield of Flightsim Developers have each informed me that a re-mastered version of Concorde SST, which became available on January 20th, contains a complete INS system with pre-programmed transatlantic routes. Registered users of the previous versions have already been contacted regarding the update. The file to update the INS is conc_ins.zip which is available right here at FlightSim.Com. Also, "Dotcom" informed me that the complete INS was not included in the initial released due to deadline pressures. I apologize for any misunderstandings.]
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