I bought Ver. 6 and was satisfied enough that I bought Ver. 7 as well.

What I like about X-Plane:
- The price is terrific when you consider that this is not only a
flight simulator, but a plane and scenary builder, too (but see below
what I don't like about it). When you add up those additional
software programs with MSFS 2002, etc, X-Plane is much more
inexpensive.
- Flight realism seems good to me, a pc pilot only.
- Free upgrades within the version.

What I don't like about X-Plane:
- The onscreen manual is very sparse. Figuring out how to set various
console switches, flight computers, nav aids, etc., is very difficult
for a pc pilot.
- The plane builder is almost useless to me. It is very unforgiving
and a bit complicated. I fly planes on my pc for fun only. I would
like to "build" a favorite plane and fly it around, inputing that
plane's flight characteristics. But X-Plane is so realistic that you
must design the plane as best you can and X-Plane will decide how if
flies, if it flies at all. For example, in MFSF, you can make a craft
that looks like a Trident submarine and instruct it to fly like a
F-16. Not so with X-Plane. In X-Plane, if you want to design a
TriStar L-1011, go for it, but unless you have a ton of design data,
it probably won't fly at all like the real plane. I HOPE I AM WRONG
ABOUT THIS PLANE DESIGN STUFF, BUT I DON'T THINK I AM. PLEASE CORRECT
ME IF I AM.


Sam Kramer

On 19 Sep 2003 22:54:10 -0700, (Sam) wrote:

I saw This simulator being shown on Screen Savers and purchased it the
same day. For 50.00 I wanted to compare it to MSFS 2002. After flying
a while I can honestly say the flight Dynamics are much better in
X-plane and that this sim would be great for engineers wanting to try
out there ideas for plane construction. A part I am not familiar with
at all not being an engineer or know too much physics. but the part I
did try the sim itself with all the planes was good. The ONLY Downside
to this sim is that I wish it had better scenery. HOUSES... Landmarks
etc..but like I said it's more of a teaching tool and flight sim than
a flight sim game.
If you like all the eye candy that MSFS Has stick with that ...
If your a plane builder / engineer and want to test out and try your
ideas buy x-plane.