A "What simulator should I try?" Guide
r/flightsim sees a lot of threads by people wanting to know about what simulator to use, so I thought I'd write up a general overview that should help guide people to a sim that suits them.
Disclaimer: These are my recommendations, not necessarily those of the r/flightsim community or moderators. These are my own opinions, which contain small parts and are a choking hazard for children under 3 years of age.
Civil Aviation
Microsoft Flight Simulator X (Windows)
- Great for beginners and experts alike
- Massive community
- Huge third-party addon ecosystem
Microsoft Flight Simulator X, or FSX, is by far the most popular flight simulator. It features a wide variety of content and the entirety of the planet Earth as a sandbox. It caters to both newbies and experts alike and has a thriving third-party addon ecosystem. Microsoft no longer supports FSX, but the community is as strong as ever. (If you are able to obtain Prepar3D, you may want to use that sim instead. Prepar3D is technically superior, but is more expensive and has more restrictive licensing.)
Lockheed Martin Prepar3D (Windows)
- Actively developed fork of FSX for educational use
- Backwards compatible with FSX addons
Prepar3D (pronounced "prepared") is Lockheed Martin's update to FSX. It's backwards compatible with FSX and has graphical, interface and performance enhancements.
X-Plane 10 (Windows, Mac OSX, Linux)
- Great for engineers and power users
- Advanced "Blade Element" flight model
- Mac OSX and Linux support
X-Plane 10 (XP10) is notable for its advanced flight modeling and support for OSX. XP10 includes tools for engineers, pilots and hobbyists to design and test airplanes built using their Plane Maker app. Like FSX, XP10 includes the entire planet and a variety of aircraft, although the community and addon market is not quite as large as FSX. However, many FSX addons have been ported to XP10 with more in development.
FlightGear
- Free and Open Source Flight Simulator
- Terrain streaming feature
- Mac OSX and Linux support
FlightGear is an open source flight simulator that is making great strides with every release. It is not comparable to any of the commercial simulators on this list, but is definitely worth keeping an eye on. One of it's cool features is that it can stream terrain data from the internet, so you jump in after a small download and the sim will automatically download the terrain you actually use when you use it.
Buyer Beware There exist scam companies that repackage FlightGear, give it a different name and attempt to sell it for profit. This is not against FlightGear's terms of use and therefore not illegal, so keep an eye out for these scams.
AeroFlyFS (Windows, Mac OSX)
- Realistic VFR flight model
- High graphical fidelity
- Mac OSX support
AeroFlyFS is a relative newcomer to the genre, but has made a strong showing with a realistic flight model and beautiful graphics. Unlike the other civil aviation simulators in this list, it only includes the Switzerland area. It focuses on enjoyable VFR flight and pretty scenery - great for quick, relaxing flights.
Combat
Rise of Flight (Windows)
- World War I
- Free to Play, with DLC and microtransactions
Rise of Flight is a Free-to-Play World War I combat sim with a great flight model and multiplayer dogfighting. While the microtransactions system has been criticized as a cash-grab, the core simulation is still worthy of praise and worth a try. You can often find the Channel Battles Edition for an inexpensive price, which bundles much of the core content at an incredible value.
##IL-2: 1946 (Windows)
- World War II
- Massive amount of content
Despite its age, IL-2 1946 remains the king of World War II sims. It includes a massive amount of content, with over two hundred aircraft for less than the price of a 3D movie. This deserves a spot on every simmer's shelf.
##DCS World (Windows)
- World War II, Cold War and modern day (focus on modern day)
- Extreme level of realism
- Best helicopter simulation
- Free to Play, with DLC
DCS World is easily the most realistic simulation on this list; The A-10C Warthog module is based on a US Air National Guard simulator, and the UH-1H module is officially licensed by Bell Helicopters. DCS is also arguably the most advanced combat simulation to date, with highly detailed flight models and avionics fueling intense multiplayer scenarios.
Hoggit, the DCS series subreddit
##Falcon BMS 4.32 (Windows)
- Modern day F-16 combat
- Amazing dynamic campaign system
- Huge online multiplayer campaigns
- Difficult to set up and learn
- Freeware
Falcon BMS is a standalone modpack for Falcon 4.0, widely lauded for an incredible dynamic campaign that no simulator has matched since. As an F-16 pilot, you fly missions as part of a massive fully simulated war in the Korean Peninsula in single-player, co-op and PvP. Falcon BMS brings the campaign into the 21st century with updated graphics, avionics and multiplayer. This simulator is not straightforward to install and set up, but is one of the most rewarding and unique experiences in gaming today.
Posted Oct 15, 2013, 6:09 AM UTC · edited