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Old October 3rd 06, 04:31 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
nimbusgb
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Posts: 82
Default Best Soaring Simulator??

Paul, as a Condor affectionado I will respond with the following.

Paul Surgeon wrote:
Hi Gary


Cons :
- Scenery doesn't depict the real life features. No rivers, roads, quarries,
mine dumps, etc. (I tend to view it as "candy land".)


Oh yes there are. Some of the privately ( and free ) sceneries mix
vector buildings and satellite immagery so you get the best of both
worlds.

- The trees are way too big (about twice the size of the real ones).


So the virtual world has bigger trees! Who cares! If you are that low
you have over cooked it anyway.

- Scenery areas are small so if you want to do a nice 1000km+
distance-to-task flight you can forget it. I think the limit is 512x512km
IIRC.


You can't do a 1000km triangle on the default sceneries but bigger
sceneries are available. There can only be a handful of nutters that
want to sit in front of a PC for 9 hours plus anyway! You can always do
a non IGC compliant star or other shaped 1000! At the moment there is a
permanent server up with a multiplayer 1000k task set on it.

- You didn't mention your OS but Condor doesn't run on Mac or Linux.


Not a problem unless you run those OS's I'll agree.

- Glider packs cost extra money.


What glider packs? They may do but its not certain yet since none have
been released!

- Major upgrades like version 2 will require a new purchase (I think).


You think ....... Say no more; anyway euros 40 spent ( what, the cost
of one real life aerotow? ) for what must be several hundred hours of
'flight time' I will have no problem with outlaying the same again if
and when a version 2 comes out.

- Aerotow and winch are scripted and are not modeled too well. Rope doesn't
seem to stretch and the winch operator will pull you along at 200km/h if
you let him instead of regulating the winch speed. Tug plane isn't affected
by the environment.


Some truth in this but its minor, Condor is race training / XC
focussed. The petty stuff is on the to-do list for the future.

- No trial and doesn't seem to be any money back guarantee which is really
daft in my opinion. What if it doesn't run on your PC or you don't like it?


I have spent a lot of time with the developers. If you had a genuine
case I'm sure you would get either all the help in the world to get it
working or your money back. The user forums are full of very helpful
people. The software runs on a fairly low spec. machine. There are
videos on the website and all involved say that what you see is what
you get.

Ian M