Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 65
 Well-refined leader of the genre March 20, 2009
Jon L. Albee (Houston, TX)
122 out of 126 found this review helpful
Flight simulation for your PC just doesn't get any better than this. Microsoft has been at this for a long time, and they make it better with every release.
A few things seasoned flight simmers will know that new users will certainly WANT to know are:
The system requirements to really make this software work well are dauntingly advanced. You'll need something approaching a top-level gaming machine, with a huge video card, to get the full benefit of the entire visual, audible, advanced controls experience. Got a laptop you think is pretty smokin'? Forget it.
Microsoft follows every release of this product with massive service packs you must download and install, and each one takes a huge chunk out of your hard drive. Be prepared with LOTS of disk space. This particular release (meaning, the "Gold Edition") includes service packs one and two, so you won't need to download them.
An internet connection is required to register the product.
A note to real pilots (I am also a pilot): Keep in mind that this is a $30 product for a home computer, not a Flight Safety training machine. The flight model is basic and stable, and is not intended to simulate extreme attitudes and emergency procedures. If you're looking for a realistic spin trainer, or a procedural instrument trainer there are expensive add-ons that will get you CLOSE, but you should generally be looking elsewhere.
Bottom line is that this is, hands down, the best of the lot, but you really DO need vast hardware resources to run it. If you own those resources, be prepared for a real-time, audio-visual feast.
 Dumbed down to dumb January 8, 2010
Maine AV8R (Maine, USA)
45 out of 46 found this review helpful
As a Pilot, I bought this version because it included the G-1000 glass cockpit. The G-1000 simulator from Garmin is $119, FSX was only $34.95.
So, overall, I got what I wanted. I was very dissapointed that MS decided to dumb down the flight physics even more than in FS9. Lot's of silly things too: For example, the left turning tendency is pronounced in a single engine propellor aircraft. This is caused by Torque, P-Factor, Gyroscopic precession and slipstream. Why do the 2 and 4 engine Commercial Jets in FSX also require heavy right rudder on take-off? They are immune to these forces. (They don't have props!) Stalls are so subtle and gentle as to be pointless, FSX wings never drop and full recovery is possible without relieving back pressure on the stick. FSX Planes will not spin, even when forced into cross-controlled flight. It's impossible to get the spin started and spin recovery; one of the most important basic flight skills to master, is impossible to properly simulate in FSX. Forward slips don't work properly and the glide ratios (at least for 172's) are ridiculously exaggerated (maybe I'm flying really "dirty" planes in real life?). I was also disappointed that there are no physics included to simulate the F-16 breaking the sound barrier. :(
It's great for learning instrumentation and navigation, but as a simulation of flight; it is pretty useless. The things this simulator lets you get away with (Yes, on Full Realism) would kill you several times per day in a real aircraft.
Graphics are good, but not the quantum leap you would expect from FS9-FSX (I'm running a quad core i7 940 at 2.93ghz, 6mb ram and a nVidia GTX-260 and have pretty much everything set to medium. Even set that low, NYC can knock me down to 6 FPS.
Buy it for fun, or to experiment with cockpit instumentation (it's really good for that, especially for student pilots training in G-1000 equipped aircraft), but don't fool yourself into believing that it is as Real As It Gets, because it flys like a video game.
First time for Flight Simulator [Played Three Days Straight] January 3, 2009
David C. Richey (Anderson, SC USA)
51 out of 53 found this review helpful
Fun once you've downloaded the three disks. There are over 5,000 Airports, 30 planes plus three if you buy The Gold Version, and Loads of Missions to fly. My Favorite Feature is Free Play. You can take off from your Hometown Airport or any other and vist landmarks like The Egyption Pyramids, The Leaning Tower of Pisa, and Niagra Falls. You can download any plane you want online like UFO's, Futureristic Fliying Cars, and my favorite, a Thunder Bird version F-16. I love this game. Make sure you buy a controler like A Saitek X52 joystick and throttle. This game is unplay able witout one.
Training aid for pilots! March 13, 2009
J. Cardenas
20 out of 22 found this review helpful
If you are a student pilot you are going to love this game! It helped me on my VFR pilot training. Now that I'm thinking about getting my instrument rating, I know this software is going to help me a lot as well! You have to have a very good graphics card on your system to fully enjoy it.
 Beware January 9, 2009
K. E. Perrins (S. Calif)
109 out of 138 found this review helpful
The graphics are awesome. The simulation is great. Lots of fun.
You get all that....if it works.
Beware, if you do not have a stable, up-to-date, top of the line system, it will not work. If you have a computer over 1 year old running XP or Vista, it is most likely will not be stable. If you cannot or do not do windows updates, you are not current. All your drivers, video/audio cards need to be current.
Your video card needs to be at least 256 Mb, 512 Mb is best. You need at least 2 Gb of memory, 4 Gb is best, with dual core and at least 2 GHz speed.
If all of that fits your situation, and you are still interested, make sure you get it with the Acceleration package. It has the SP1 and SP2 updates and some fixes not available anywhere else.
Hint.If the short-cut icon does not appear on your desktop after the install, you may have problems. Also, if your do an uninstall, even a REVO uninstall, it will not be completely uninstalled. Microsoft should give you a complete list of the things you need to do to do a complete uninstall, because each time you do a reinstall, it will just make things worse.
I got my FSX and ACC package for XMAS along with a new Saiteck top of the line joystick and pedals. Along with the FSX book for pilots. An outlay of around $200.
I installed the FSX package and not the Acc package, It installed ok, but would not start up. So, uninstalled it (MSFTs recomendation and my first mistake). Installed it again with the Acc package, this time it started up but I would get a fatal windows error when trying a few things.
My computer is a Notebook and is a 'gamer' notebook. Pretty much top of the line in terms of performance. Got it in March of 2008.
After doing several uninstalls and reinstalls, I called MSFT support and paid the $39 fee for help.
After about 10 days of trouble shooting and trying this and that, MSFT finally told me I would have to do clean formatted reinstall of vista.
MY registry was so contaminated with FSX entries that it would take a life time to remove them all. The REVO uninstaller, which is the most complete freeware uninstaller in the business (even used by MSFT), could not clean up everything.
Not doing the Vista reinstall, now haggling with MSFT to get a refund.
Good luck,
Kent
Showing reviews 1-5 of 65
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