AllardX

When does that happen? I have seen this behaviour in some aircraft (esp. the DA40) only when autopilot is on an switched to Heading mode. In Roll or NAV mode it doesn't happen, or is hardly noticable. Since it also happens with zero wind and gusts its probably not turbulence related but a bug in either the autopilot or flightmodel, or possibly a combination. Some aircraft don't have this problem, so it is doesn't seem to be a generic issue.

You might be able to replace a gauge with another one of the exact same size and shape, but otherwise it would be similar to replacing the radio in a modern car where everything is integrated: it will probably look ugly. The difference with the older sims is that panels were often just 2D graphics, or 3D but so low-res and ugly that it didn't matter much what you did to it. The current sims, and especially this one, have interiors looking so realistically that you can't get away with a quick fix and you need designing skills to pull that off.

I too prefer 'steam' gauges to a glass cockpit, at least in flightsims so I understand your worries. If I was be a real pilot I might be of a different opinion. The type of avionics is fixed for each aircraft but the Cessna 172 is available in both glass cockpit and steam gauges version. The latter is only available in the deluxe or premium version though. There is also the Cessna 152 with steam gauges and the Robin DR400. There might be more, I haven't checked all of them. Third parties are going to deliver other aircraft with steam gauges for sure, I think a few of them are already in the works. PMDG is also making their DC6 available for this sim and I am pretty certain it won't have a glass cockpit.

MSFS comes with a base scenery that is on (almost) on par with Orbx scenery. That alone is worth hundreds of dollars. For MSFS to be cheaper since it has less aircraft that's quantity thinking instead of quality. I'd rather have the ~14 aircraft MSFS has (sofar) than these ~26 toys that FSX had. This time around it seems as if the default aircraft will stay interesting, while with FSX they were soon replaced by payware versions. That's another moneysaver. I am guessing that MSFS will cost somewhere between $60 - $99, but anyone's guess is as good as mine.