Best Flight Sim ?

Friends and fellow pilots. I am 81 years old and have lost my medical. It is the right thing to have happened. After thousands of hours and a good many type certs I will now fly my computer. This way no one will get hurt including me. What I am asking is which simulator would I enjoy the most ? Thank you in advance for any help. God bless you and happy landings.

I'm sorry you lost your medical (many of us have), but welcome to flightsim.com. You'll find varying opinions as to which sim is "best," with some even feeling that fs2004 (released in late 2003) fits their needs best. Most folks here fly one of the Microsoft sims, but some prefer X-Plane and some will go with the free download called FlightGear (it's actually pretty good).

 

There are a number of long time flight simmers here, many real world pilots, both current and inactive, with a broad range of experiences, many of whom are likely to chime in here.

 

Since you have "a good many type certs" then the big iron was a goodly part of your career, but you might suggest what you have in mind, that is what your interests are, whether it's the big jets, the light singles and twins, aerobatics, corporate-style, or something else, perhaps even a combination.

 

The Microsoft sims, from FS98 to FSX (from 2006) are extremely popular, particularly FS2004 (also known as FS9) and FSX (FS10). After that, MS quit updating their sims, but allowed Lockheed-Martin to develop a sim from the same basic software engine as FSX, and they now are on version 5 of Prepar3d (the LM name). These sims all have a huge selection of freeware and payware add-ons, aircraft, airports and scenery, many of them excellent. Some others also have add-ons available, but not perhaps quite as big a variety.

 

This past summer MS released a new sim developed for them by a French company, and it is the Microsoft Flight Simulator (MSFS), but to avoid confusion many are calling it MSFS 2020. You'll find sections of this forum covering all of these, and a bit more besides.

 

Note that each of these sims "froze time," in terms of airports, navaids, charts needed, etc., at their release, so magvar, approach facilities, radio freqs, etc. on FSX, for example, are for late 2005 or so

 

Personally, I'm mostly using Prepar3d V2.4, since I'm still on an older computer and running Windows 7, which doesn't meet the minimums for some of the later sims. But with all of the North American scenery that ORBX developed it still looks mighty good and I have a variety of aircraft, both downloaded and purchased, that have been modified to give more realistic handling than a lot of those available, so my suggestion is that either Prepar3d or the new MSFS 2020 might be a good choice.

 

However your interests/expectations might not match mine, so watch for others to express their thoughts and ask questions as you need to -- most folks here like to help. So again, welcome, and good luck.

I'm sorry you lost your medical (many of us have), but welcome to flightsim.com. You'll find varying opinions as to which sim is "best," with some even feeling that fs2004 (released in late 2003) fits their needs best. Most folks here fly one of the Microsoft sims, but some prefer X-Plane and some will go with the free download called FlightGear (it's actually pretty good).

 

There are a number of long time flight simmers here, many real world pilots, both current and inactive, with a broad range of experiences, many of whom are likely to chime in here.

 

Since you have "a good many type certs" then the big iron was a goodly part of your career, but you might suggest what you have in mind, that is what your interests are, whether it's the big jets, the light singles and twins, aerobatics, corporate-style, or something else, perhaps even a combination.

 

The Microsoft sims, from FS98 to FSX (from 2006) are extremely popular, particularly FS2004 (also known as FS9) and FSX (FS10). After that, MS quit updating their sims, but allowed Lockheed-Martin to develop a sim from the same basic software engine as FSX, and they now are on version 5 of Prepar3d (the LM name). These sims all have a huge selection of freeware and payware add-ons, aircraft, airports and scenery, many of them excellent. Some others also have add-ons available, but not perhaps quite as big a variety.

 

This past summer MS released a new sim developed for them by a French company, and it is the Microsoft Flight Simulator (MSFS), but to avoid confusion many are calling it MSFS 2020. You'll find sections of this forum covering all of these, and a bit more besides.

 

Note that each of these sims "froze time," in terms of airports, navaids, charts needed, etc., at their release, so magvar, approach facilities, radio freqs, etc. on FSX, for example, are for late 2005 or so

 

Personally, I'm mostly using Prepar3d V2.4, since I'm still on an older computer and running Windows 7, which doesn't meet the minimums for some of the later sims. But with all of the North American scenery that ORBX developed it still looks mighty good and I have a variety of aircraft, both downloaded and purchased, that have been modified to give more realistic handling than a lot of those available, so my suggestion is that either Prepar3d or the new MSFS 2020 might be a good choice.

 

However your interests/expectations might not match mine, so watch for others to express their thoughts and ask questions as you need to -- most folks here like to help. So again, welcome, and good luck.

 

Stay away from FS2020. It's not ready for prime-time yet.

P3D is available in several different `flavours` to suit your hardare setup but I recommend P3dV 5.1 as the best of the current bunch, or the latest X-Plane version, which is updated every few months

 

Sorry you lost your medical but you can can maintain currency using a flight simulator. Just won't be the same!

The "Best" sim depends on your likes and expectations. Keep in mind, you don't have to limit your experience to just one program.

I strongly disagree with Mallcott as to MS2020. It has excellent GA aircraft and the scenery is by far the most realistic out there. It does not offer much in terms of variety yet, and there are no study level airliners. It does need a pretty strong computer to run it well.

FSX has a huge option of addon aircraft and the airplanes look good, the terrain not so much.

X-Plane has a modest selection of aircraft, but some are not very flyable. The 737-700 is excellent for a free airliner.

FS2004 has a large selection of aircraft, but the scenery is limiting.

P3D now offers some advanced features in the V5.0 &5.1 versions. I can't say much, as I have not tried those yet?

I run FS2020, FSX, FS2002, and X-Plane 11.5.

Edited January 4, 2021 by plainsman

The "Best" sim depends on your likes and expectations. Keep in mind, you don't have to limit your experience to just one program.

I strongly disagree with Mallcott as to MS2020. It has excellent GA aircraft and the scenery is by far the most realistic out there. It does not offer much in terms of variety yet, and there are no study level airliners. It does need a pretty strong computer to run it well.

FSX has a huge option of addon aircraft and the airplanes look good, the terrain not so much.

X-Plane has a modest selection of aircraft, but some are not very flyable. The 737-700 is excellent for a free airliner.

FS2004 has a large selection of aircraft, but the scenery is limiting.

P3D now offers some advanced features in the V5.0 &5.1 versions. I can't say much, as I have not tried those yet?

I run FS2020, FSX, FS2002, and X-Plane 11.5.

 

Then we will agree to differ.

MS2020 LOOKS fantastic, but falls substantially short in satisfying a REAL pilot. It's like they built a sim that meets all the wannabes, but systems-wise it'a no way near prime-time for ACTUAL pilots.. Great for eight year olds making Jet noises, but deeply dissatisfying for anyoone from ACTUAL flying.

I DO have real-world experience of MS2020 and P3d v5.* veresions, as well as v4.5 and earlier.

My flying club discounted MS 2020 from day one. Me? from Day Three.

But we can agree on FSX, FS2004 (not the junk that was FS2002) and X-Plane 11.5...

 

Don't know your hardware, but the software needs the right stuff, or you're stuffed!