I am 100% with you on this! In fact, all of these points can be put together on one heading: "airports". This is where xplane excels for me. You can also add airport buildings to your list too. I look forward to xplane 12 (using 11 now) and don't mind at all the visual limitations. Because there are things that sim does better too, I use both side by side. Airport environment is a bigger thing for me than world visuals
Hey Russ, I am in complete and utter agreement with all five of you killer points. Paving textures I can just about deal with but ground crew, vehicles and clutter really does bug me also. Thanks for pointing these out in great form and hopefully MS and Asobo will start to listen to us.
I’m sure they have a lot on their plate but maybe devote a whole update to solving many of these long-standing issues. The seems to be bent on adding more and more to fix.
Thanks for the video. What helps me as a student pilot that learns on msfs is the side view on airstrips and unrealisticly clear view of airport lights and rules to turn them on during IFR conditions. If you see things more like this please don't hesitate to do more videos!
Just discovered your channel thanks to a link someone posted on the official MSFS forums. Fantastic video and I agree with everything you said , was vigorously nodding "yes yes" at each one. The runway/taxiway/ramp textures bugged me from Day 1. They look like large beach stones flattened into the ground. This is one of the FEW areas XP12 does it better. Trees at the approach end of a runway are a real PITA , they need to fix that desperately. Engaging content we are very lucky to have a person of such vast experience give their input into this game. Misobo should hire you! Subbed!
Great video! The pavement texture size is a huge problem for me now with helicopters. It throws off your sense of height. The number of handmade airports is one thing XP12 has on MSFS, but Laminar Research needs to step up their scenery game for sure
Unfortunately XP is never going to compete directly with MSFS for scenery. I've heard the database of global scenery for MSFS is over 1.9PB, which is 1900TB, or one million, nine hundred thousand gigabytes. not likely anyone is going to be installing that on their gaming PC. The second thing microsoft has in their court is actual ownership over the underlying data, i.e. bing maps and all the satellite imagery, plus the server infrastructure to deliver that streaming to all the sim users. its a shame they couldnt have just contracted laminar to develop the core simulator engine and flight model.
well according to austin himself(the guy who make xplane) reveals that xplane will have a live scenery in the future although he doesnt mention when but he mention its on the top of his list
@@BruhBruh-mk5yg update: blackshark ai (the world generation engine from MSFS) just released a plugin for unreal engine. maybe we will see msfs-level scenery sooner than expected
Hello Russ, Just watched your top 5 list and am in total agreement with you but, for myself, MSFS is so much better than the original. I am thankful to be able to experience the thrills of flight with this program. I also wish when I was growing up in St. Louis and living 15 miles from McDonell Douglas where the jet engine was developed and tested daily that I would have realized that flying would become a passion in later years. With that said, I am both envious and excited to know people that have followed their dreams of flight and although the program is not perfect, it offers people like me a small thrill to experience the opportunity of sitting in an airplane. One other note, it is people like you who have the hours in these flying machines that will help make MSFS even better moving forward. I believe I also heard you flew in the military, so thank you and many others for your service to our nation.
Nailed it!👍 2 more true immersion killers are the trees when you fly close (with a glider for example) and the ash (and sometimes grainy) clouds and how they behave when they dissolve.
I agree with what you said on X-Plane 12. There's been a negligible improvement over X-Plane 11. If this is the kind of development pacing they're gonna take with the next iterations of X-Plane, Laminar is gonna fall out of the flight sim race.
I never thought I'd leave XP after XP11 came out. It was really at the top of its class until MSFS 2020 became seasoned after a year or two. Just looking at what I'm seeing with XP12, it just looks like they added a few features to XP11 that would normally be included with a free update. The graphics and eye candy haven't improved to the point where you would feel satisfied after purchasing the new product. MSFS 2020 on the other hand with update 11 really upped the ante. They added some great new planes, helicopters and updated world scenery and they're still improving on system features like DLSS and things to bring out the best of those expensive new GPU's many of us purchased. When you can fly over an area and easily find your home or other landmarks you're familiar with when flying VR, it's hard to go back.
Does Russ have a post where he lists his complete hardware setup anywhere? I'd love to know what he's using but cannot find anything as of yet mentioning it.
2 huge immersion killers for me are empty highways and no smoke effects. Flying into Ft Lauderdale in Florida or Pearson in Toronto you fly over some busy highways and yet in MSFS these highways are empty. Also when I start a propeller airplane I want to see some smoke. And when I rev the engines I want to see a cloud of dust blow out the back of the airplane. Great video as always. Thank you.
All the highways are empty for you or those in particular? Because in my case the traffic on roads and highways is more often even more than one would expect. But then all of the sudden some roads are sometimes empty on random, other time they are not.
Spot on! As a private pilot, I agree. MSFS is great in VR in my Aero. Much room for improvement, but overall it has exceeded my expectations. XP12 looks like a huge let down to me, so I have no plans to get it. The two immersion killers that bug me the most from your list are the glide path obstructions and the beacon and runway lights always on.
One huge immersion killer for me in MSFS is how GA aircraft behave in even slightly gusty winds. There are some forum threads that talk about it, but basically, gusty winds behave like a five year old is pushing on the rudder pedals. X-Plane is far superior in this aspect. I agree that visually they cannot compete right now though.
Solid list Russ. That last item is a bummer since it's technically an issue more specific to MSFS previous sims didn't struggle as much with. Two years later, quite sad it's still an issue but I will applaud the amount of progress the sim has made since I first tried it in alpha. Now developing for the sim, seeing it evolve behind the scenes, it's very clear that many of these items listed are considered small fish in terms of what has been a priority in improving. In other words, it's on the right track and eventually this will be dealt with.. just a different perspective from an end users standpoint though.
SOOO glad someone finally called out the glide path obstruction issue. My solution for this has been just having dead zones in front of runway thresholds, where foliage is not allowed to be drawn above a certain height. But I like your solution of using the FAA algorithm for it.
watching this video, I've realized how much I've become used to these immersion killers on msfs, that I just don't notice them anymore. Thanks for pointing them out, and I hope MSFS fixes them in the near future.
For serious flight training 3 monitor setups are still the best due to difficulty to interact with controls/checklists/charts/ ect and the scuba mask like Field of view BUT for the immersive feeling of being in the real airplane and in the real airspace you cannot beat VR. It cannot be explained in word, videos or pictures either. It has a way to go but nothing compares for the immersion.
On top of that list, my biggest immersion killers are the massive 6-story tall terminal buildings and the control towers that make even small airports look like they're trying to compete with KLAX. The former being very noticeable at places like KPHX, and the latter being very noticeable at a place like KOGD.
As a long time xplane user, could not agree more. Fs2020 is simply amazing. Just finished a cross country and the weather system is true to life. No harsh transitions, what you read in the report is what you experience. You can actually get trapped into IFR through gradual declining weather. I just love it. Love the Laminar guys, but there is a steep hill to climb to get back to parity.
These are valid points. On the plus side, they're almost all related to default airports, so installing custom airports will fix these issues. The only one I can imagine was intentional was the lighting issue. I wonder if MS/Asobo did it on purpose to help newer simmers find their way and have "more fun", but I can see what that might make it too easy for people who want more of a challenge and more realism.
My top immersion killer is in VR during aircraft shutdown. If one has their ‘end flight on aircraft shutdown’ feature turned off so as not to interrupt a complete shutdown - halfway through, there’s a position reset within the cockpit, open doors are closed,and all tool panels are shut - breaking any immersion you might have had. This has been a regression since the feature was first introduced A YEAR AGO and asobo knows about it but it seems like the lowest of priorities to them. I think the code fix would be a simple one as well.
I gave up on VR for (amongst others) this reason. I'm now flying with TrackIR, on a 49" curved monitor (picked up for cheap during a 24 hour sale). It's still crazy immersive, but things like overlays no longer rip you out of it.
@@jurrich Should have gotten yourself one with HDR support instead (even if not that huge). One of the reasons why "VR" is not worth it for me in its current state in whole and not just in this sim. There simply cannot be proper immersion in SDR.
@@aerospaceguy4639 that’s the problem. When it is turned off is when all that stuff happens. Resets your position completely (god help anyone flying in the right seat) and closes all tool panels. Closes doors. Texture problems even. It’s been this way for a year at least and is a logged bug. Easy fix and completely ignored. In VR.
The biggest immersion killer for me is they types of areoplanes you see parked on the apron. For example I bought the spitfire and concorde, 2 externally rare aircraft and yet I see them constantly parked at airports and airfields. Why is there a concorde, 2 spitfires and an f18 sat at Leeds Bradford Airport when I arrive or spawn. Totally kills the immersion.
Well said, I agree on all of your points, and your choice of number one is right up there with my biggist irritation too. I always imagine that I just flatten the obstructing items with my landing gear and then hope they don't show up again the next time 😀
Spot on! Not a pilot IRL here, but if I may add to your list, is the discrepancy between PAPI lights and ILS glide slopes in many airports where I usually fly. GS usually puts you way too high on approach so I have to disengage AP further out than where I would have preferred, especially on the Fenix A320.
@@a.nelprober4971 sad to hear that. For me this con list is not a show-stopper however. For the ILS vs GS issue, it only happens on some airports and if I use ILS, but I fly VFR mostly.
Hey man, maybe ground service is a really great job in the MSFS universe that has a really powerful union that requires personnel on duty round the clock at every airport you can think of. :D
Totally agreed, and as you said, many of these can be fixed with add-ons, however, the BIGGEST problem for me with MSFS is the ground physics or handling or whatever you want to call it. Aircrafts seem to be sliding on the smoothest surface that's ever created, and although it is a bit less exaggerated in some aircrafts, still when you turn to one side even slightly, the aircraft changes direction so quickly that my brain cannot comprehend it fast enough! Also agree with you that X-Plane is pretty much unusable at this point, unfortunately! By the way I wish to see you upload videos more often. Have a nice day.
Hey Russ...great upload !. Also a former Pilot here. I was surprised by your #1 Immersion killer. Aside from the few taxi edge lights just now and again. I have never seen larger clutter such as vasis lights on the taxi ways. Hopefully you are reporting them in a ticket. I find things, I report them, and seemingly they are gone on the next update . Good luck and enjoy the sim
For the computer generated airports they just need to tweak the algorithms to not place items on paved areas. Also to limit heights of obstructions on final approaches. While there at it deconflict ground vehicles with aircraft. Then turn off airport lighting and beacons in day VFR conditions. Fix the pavement textures and add wear to the pavement and runway markings. I now have no video!
I'm thinking of getting the pimax 12K when it comes out. How do you control the plane and all the buttons. Right now I use honeycomb gear for toke and throttle, and mouse for everything else. Thanks and appreciate your videos!
I must ask something, I tested the early versions of the MSFS but at the time I was practicing for my IFR check ride. I didn't have so much options about flying myself so I had to rely in the simulators, I even did a homemade yoke and everything and it helped me a lot. But, at the time, the MSFS wasn't so good for practicing IFR flights. I mean, I couldn't get the FD to work properly like in an airplane, I couldn't get VOR to work or do ILS approaches properly. How is it today? In X Plane 11 which is the one I am using, I could do everything I was experiencing in real life, but in the MSFS everything seemed to be so "VFR". And even though I was to do my check ride for IFR, I had a lot of experience in it, at least as pilot monitoring, as my father is a pilot and he was flying a Baron and after that a King Air. We usually flew to Congonhas (here in Brazil) so it is a really busy and subject to weather changes airport.
as a pilot in a country in the third world I was just cracking when you said about the texture of the pavement. It looked exactly as in real life to me (I have never flown outside Colombia)
I might be nitpicking, but why does the prop strobe with differrent rpms? That is an effect of the camera shutter not the human eye? It may be trivial, and I drive racing sims in vr a LOT, but I noticed it straight away
Great video and I agree with your list. My personal opinion, shoudnt it be all resolved with a payware dedicated airport such KLAX and with GSX to improve the realistic mecanisms of ground handling ?
I totally agree with you, but the good thing is that there are small add-ons to improve those things. And you also have the SDK developers kit. Where an exclusion BGL can be generated, and thus eliminate obstacles in the unreal approach or objects in the middle of the taxi ways.
Varjo Aero headset and a i(-12900k/RTX3080ti 32GB ram 2Tb M.2 SSD
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What an excellent video! All you mention is spot on and let's hope we'll see these issues addressed down the road. As for flying in VR using the Varjo Aero, I know what you mean. It's nothing short of amazing being able to enjoy this beautiful simulator in that headset! I'll post a link to this clip over in the official MSFS forum and keep my fingers crossed the right people will see your input. Blue skies buddy and thanks for all your experience and thoughts you share with the community 👍
That was pretty interesting. I just fly around casually looking at things and other than the lights everywhere i never noticed any of this stuff. Its neat to hear a real pilots opinion. Also, the way you talk reminds me of Kevin Costner.😁 thank you for the video. Peace✌
There is another major problem with airport lighting at auto-generated airports. Namely, for larger airports for which you don't have extra scenery and which would definitely be lit at night, there is simply no lighting on the apron, for example. This is also a big immersion killer for me.
Good point. I have noticed the totally dark areas on airports where it led like power was lost. I also think the other area lights are almost too bright in places. Bright like stadium lights on the ground.
Just a simple flood light on the FBO toward the ramp would be an improvement. Perhaps they need to flag the buildings that serve as FBOs and dress them up a little?
I'm super proud, that this game is being developed, only a few kilometers away from where I live, in a small german town. land at EDLP (the first free airport you could download). that's not far from ASOBO and my hometown Lippstadt ;-)
You nailed the list. I have all 5 of these in my top 10 killers. Actually, these 5 are in my top 6. Though, your lighting issue is PART of one of my top 5.. So this is also my top 5. LOL The one that's mixed in is I don't like that at night, at about 8000' in some areas you can see aiports 20-30-50 miles away. One of the issues of that is that many if not all regional aiports have pilot activated lights IRL. So you would never see them unless someone/you turned on the lights to land or takeoff. I hope MS or someone else makes that a reality. But as of now, where you would maybe see 2 major airports (say KCVG and KDAY from say 12,000' and you were between them you would not see the other 8 aiports that are between them at 3am. I have a friend that ONLY flys night flights when doing fun missions in his career mode addon software because he can easily find all the airports. Where those of us that fly day missions sometimes have to really look to find them.
Yep agree on two counts- the 5 issues raised as well as the fact these are endorsements of the product. Well done - appreciate what you do for the simming community
My biggest pet peeve is massive trees in general. But mostly on the approach to runways. Just simply adjust with a minor tweak. Also trees over obvious pathways, roads, railway tracks etc.
Another pilot here. It’s fantastic but it does need some fixes, even here in 2022. A feel like a lot of things can be fixed by the developers spending more time at FBO’s (both in the US and Europe) to get an idea of the ambience and setting of 90% of GA ramps in the Western world. Creating and adding more assets to improve the immersion, like country/region specific ground vehicles. It’s strange being in a rural airport in the Midwestern US and seeing a state of the art French/German fire engine cruising around the ramp. You’re absolutely right in stating that the sim is so immersive that these things really stand out. In a weird way, it’s graphics and success work against it in that regard. Airport fences are another one IMO that need more work. For my biggest gripe though, I have to throw the cartoon-like generic AI aircraft in there. For both static and in-air traffic they are such a bizarre choice for a simulator. They have have licensed aircraft in the game, so I have no idea why they added them. Hopefully a traffic addon comes out that removes these, but Asobo really should remove them from the base sim.
You're right about beacons...on at night, off during the day unless the field is IFR. Also, High Intensity Runway Lights (HIRLs) have 5 settings...from very dim to very bright that are set by a very specific formula laid out in the 7110.65...the ATC manual. MIRLs have 3 settings, also laid out by a formula. Strobe lights and approach lights also have very specific guidelines. It seems like an easy thing to fix if they would just give it some attention and look it up in the tables. Have to agree about the vehicles...if they meet an airplane RL, they pull off of the taxiway. The rule is do not ever interfere with aircraft. Taxiway clutter always leaves me shaking my head. As for my personal pet-peeve it's the obstruction lights which should blink on and off when outside the airport border. In X-Plane, ORBX had them working right and it was incredibly immersive...added a lot to night flying.
Fair call and I agree with your points, although I can't say I've seen signage and lighting on taxi-ways at airports. I might be lucky with where I fly in and out of course.
Hello Skipper, another great presentation, one related topic that needs a major overhaul with MSFS. Is their ATC, it tickles me pink when I am flying the 747 and request descent on a real time LHR/JFK flight, ATC requests that I report a traffic at my five o'clock position, (747's don't have rearview mirrors, LOL).
Approach lights, those strobes that lead to the runway, are they as bright IRL as they are in sim at night? It also seems like they are on on both ends of the runway at the same time, thats not how its done IRL is it?
No and the runway lights too are are directional and really only visible when you are mostly lined up with the runway. Approaching a runway from 90 degrees off heading you might see the "rabbit" but the runway and taxi lights are mostly invisible. Definately not realistic to see the strobes from 20 miles away either. The position lites and strobes on other aircraft are way too visible too.
After watching this video, I have to say that I agree with almost all of your points. The airport lighting does not bother me too much but then I am not a real world pilot. The oversized pavement textures are distracting without a doubt. The ground service vehicles driving straight through me are probably my biggest immersion killers.
I havent played MSFS at all, got this as a rekommendation for some reason. Interesting takes. You excuse yourself as everything being "nitpicking" which i definatley dont think they are, having cars on the runway, lights on taxi ways, no clear landing zones.
For me, my top 5 (ish): -No shared cockpit. -No damage model. -MP /AI aircraft appear as generic (eg Bonanza instead of a 747). -No water dynamics. -No way to quickly position aircraft where you want like in previous versions. -Pushback system is a joke. -ATC is a joke. -No post crash analysis. -Route plotter (main menu map) is a joke. -Severe weather is a joke with turbulence exaggerated on clear air and light inside cumulus. -Airports/taxiways doesn't match reality. -AI live traffic isn't live and has no livery. -No bird strikes? -No Voip/in game chat (zero interaction with random MP people) -No fires -TCAS doesn't work on MP
I'm just a casual gamer, but points 4, 2, and 1 are absolute standouts for me. In a game where the visuals are this realistic, it's surprisingly easy for something tiny to break the immersion.
Sometimes, we use MSFS and just 'accept' certain things. We aren't sure if our set up is unique or that we have the wrong settings - so it is very reassuring to discover we are all in the same boat! I agree with your 5 gripes Russ. But also agree that it is a remarkable piece of software and that XP12 always was going to have a real struggle to keep up.
Way to go Russ! I could not agree more. And while they’re fixing the airport Night via. Please add Pilot Controlled Lighting. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve flown into small airports and had to turn the lights on via mic clicks.
My immersion killer is xbox series s but so cool i can experience places flying the Tomcat everywhere even tho the world looks like post nuclear WW3. I once spent an evening zooming into random places in google maps now its a hole new level.👍
I tried flying with VR but i quickly stoped, the cockpits are way too blury for me to see anything and i can't manage to fix it. And as for lighting, i agree with what you say, but would add that some parking areas are way too dark with no light at all on the ground to folow.
my immersuion killer is the A.I traffic personally waiting in a line of different aircraft at a busy airport would add to the realism of the simulator everyflight its just empty taxiways. Also the A.I traffic has weird pointed noses on the aircraft which is another immersion killer for me. totally onboard with your immersion killers as well
Great comments! As a UK GA simpilot who regularly uses grass strips, I find the grass heights on runways and manoeuvring areas far too high. For me, this is the real immersion killer. Don't Asobo have any bloody grass mowers!
The terminal at my home airport is MIA. The jetways are jetways to nowhere. The other thing I find very annoying is the visibility just doesn't look correct to me from inside the cockpit. Jumping outside is looks just fine. Everything you mentioned is right on the money as well.
Very true about night flying. From the side during my night flying at KHIO we always look for the dark patch, which is easy(er) to see since it’s right next to the Intel factory.
I can't imagine 23000 flight hours! Wow! Great job and totally agree with your suggestions, and the objects in the taxiway are UNACCEPTABLE. Wish someone with Asobo's ear could see your video - then something might happen. Can you reach out directly to Asobo? Squeaky wheel gets the WD-40! Thanks Russ. Also are you thinking of the 2nd gen Hall Effect Honeycomb Alpha XPC yoke as an 'upgrade' for your setup? Have you looked at the Brunner Force Feedback yokes?
Good vid, good picks. I would also nominate the occasional little cliffs produced by the elevation mismatches between scenery tiles, especially when you get a 2-foot cliff that crosses a runway. It makes certain airports like Flabob in SoCal or Paine Field in WA unusable. Nothing quite so immersion breaking as making a nice landing only to have a 2-foot shelf across the runway rip the gear off your plane.
@@windsorspitfire If you do, you will notice anyway, so what's the point? Black screen is not a solution, especially that breaking your gear up doesn't instatntly end up with you blacking out and dying off tragically.
Hey Russ, I 100% agree with all of your squawks but the #1 for me is ATC. I don't even file IFR anymore because of the constant heading changes on approach and the total mismanagement of the descent to the field from cruise altitude, sometimes it's to soon and more often than not it is WAY to late. The whole thing needs to be scrapped and done over, it's a carryover from FSX and this sim deserves much better.
Glidepath obstruction is a particular concern for me, as I prefer bush flying. But it's a tricky one - there's a few fields which become basically inaccessible due to a tree right on the threshold, which in real life would be a small bush, or nothing at all - but some fields are one-way, where you'll get tall trees and vegetation right up to the runway on one side, but a clear entry on the other. I'm not sure how Asobo would go about dealing with this.
Great video! My #1 however, would be the lost connection popup that often arrives on short final. Information I don't care about blocking the screen at the worst time to do so! More annoying is that it's not my connection that is the problem - so there really is nothing to be done about it.
Agree wholeheartedly with your #1 and #4 immersion breakers. Stuff in the taxiway should just not be there at all. But personally I can't stand the stupid vehicles driving down the taxiway or in the parking or gate areas. It's ridiculous. Good video.
I haven't used MSFS 2020 so I can't speak from experience with the game but I would like to point out a couple challenges to fixing some of these issues and provide a technical standpoint as to how some of these things could be fixed. #5 Pavement: I think pavement is actually something that's very simple to fix, all you need is to add depth, bumps, cracks, etc. as well as make the darker patches more contrastive. This isn't hard to do at all and I saw somebody do it in blender so I know it's possible. The only challenge might be optimization. As for the pavement texture itself it could be downscaled but that may cause tiling issues, performance drops as well as not being visible. A fractile-like system could be implemented but I can see how that might cause performance issues. I still think it could be resolved via optional settings. #4 Ground Service/Support: This could be pretty easy to fix with a setting. In fact FSX actually has settings to control the amount of air, land and sea traffic so this not being optional here is stupid I 100% agree with you here and I can see no reason why they shouldn't be able to fix this. As for the standoff this pertains to the AI which controls the ground vehicles. This could be improved by having the AI actually use the locations of aircraft at the airport to know which taxiways are blocked and which aren't. This could be done using machine learning, but again may cause performance issues. An optional setting here would be very helpful. #3 As for this I think you're right and I can't see any reason why they wouldn't be able to implement this. I think there should be a setting though to increase the distance that the lights are visible from so that less-experienced players can still find airports easily if they need to. #2: I find this peculiar and I think I know what's happening. I believe MSFS uses google maps data to generate trees, lakes, rocks, whatever... and so since google maps is 2d all the trees are around the same height. There's really only one good fix to this and that's to clear an area around the airport sufficiently that it doesn't obstruct the glidepath. Another option is to have separate, smaller models to use close to airports. However this may cause another immersion killer in that you may end up with a stark contrast between the smaller trees and the larger ones creating an unrealistically straight line. Nevertheless I think this can still be resolved and even if it can't I think I'd still prefer an unrealistically straight tree line over glidepath obstructions. That's just my preference though. #1: This is something I'm just genuinely confused by. I've never seen this in any other flight sim so I really have nothing to say here... Anyway my point is not to criticize anyone here but to try and help show why some things might be more difficult than they seem to fix.
good points. I think all of these issues are surmountable but my propose was to highlight then since I am not sure Asobo, as game-makers and not experienced pilots, are even aware of them.
I know of no one else with the experience you have and, as such, I wish to put a question to you: The light planes in FS2020 bob around quite a lot, much more than other sims, and much more than I'd expect even when drawing from my limited experience in light planes. In VR it's quite uncomfortable (long time VR user in DCS, Elite Dangerous and iRacing, almost 10 years). So all that said, what is your opinion on the ways the light planes in FS2020 bob around while in flight?
My biggest pet peaves in unmodded msfs: 1)When you change anything from the default flight plan that was entered before loading into the flight, either through the flight computer or atc, ATC or autopilot gets so glitched out and everything breaks down terribly. Ex: Changing approaches in flight computer, then updating atc for a new approach. Yet no matter what, they classify you as missed approach or autothrottles don't recognize the new decent profile or ILS waypoint constraints, etc, etc. Maddening. 2) After flying for well over an hour, ILS or other instrument systems simply stop working and the whole flight is ruined. 3) Almost every part of the 747. SO glitchy 4) Spending +30mins in pre-flight and cockpit prep just to release the parking brake and find out the plane is perma stuck into the ground and even repositioning the plane manually doesn't do anything to fix it. 5) The entire ATC system
As a helicopter-guy in MSFS I would like to add another massive immersion killer: The massive lack of model matching. Not talking about liveries but the aircrafts themselves. Until today Asobo/Msfs were not able to integrate the helicopters fully into the sim. Whenever I fly with a Cowansim MD500E or the HPG Airbus H-145 all other players around me won‘t see a helicopter (only if they purchased and downloaded the same model). They see a generic Bonanza airplane hovering over the airfield. This is an absolute nogo. I‘d like to compare with Eagle Dynamics (DCS). They demand from the developers for each created aircraft a simple AI-/Multiplayer model that they use to show it up for the multiplayers. Only the liveries do not fit if you do not have downloaded the same.
Very good list. I had never rated them in my head but if I did I think my list would be very close to yours. The good news is that I believe all of these are fixable.
How about the performance? I don't really think that the stones in the cement beeing the wrong size is as bad as an initial climb with a rate of 6000ft/min.
I agree with you. I am a glider pilot in Europe. All that cars and people in small airports are really disturbing. I would add the french fuel stations put everywere even in small grass aurfield where no fuelmis avalaible, at least here in Europe.
For me, the biggest immersion killer is the ground handling of MSFS. rudder control is extremely touchy, the aircraft feel like they're skating on ice. I have never felt that flying with any airplane in the real world, and X-Plane gives the airplane more weight. The flare is still off for me in MSFS, and everything is still a bit "bouncy". If MSFS can fix that issue I would be a lot more into flying it, but for right now, I much prefer the slightly less appealing graphics of X-Plane for the more realistic feel I get flying the airplane.
I find the bounciness varies from plane to plane. As for the rudder have you tried adjusting the sensitivity of the yaw axis? Now that mine is dialed in I find it fine on the runway.
It kind of depends. I find an 8-knot right crosswind requires a lot of left rudder to maintain centerline in the 172 or any other single-engine piston. Nope.
Hello. Can you in FS2020 assign a buttom like in Flight Simulator X to restart you flight? It is namned Restart Flight in Flight Simaualtor X. I dont mean "Slew mode" i mean one push on a dedicated button and right back to you airport for a new start. Thanks for any information how to do och info taht it is not possible. Regards Carl / Sweden.
I am 100% with you on this! In fact, all of these points can be put together on one heading: "airports". This is where xplane excels for me. You can also add airport buildings to your list too. I look forward to xplane 12 (using 11 now) and don't mind at all the visual limitations. Because there are things that sim does better too, I use both side by side. Airport environment is a bigger thing for me than world visuals
xplane sucks
Hey Russ, I am in complete and utter agreement with all five of you killer points. Paving textures I can just about deal with but ground crew, vehicles and clutter really does bug me also. Thanks for pointing these out in great form and hopefully MS and Asobo will start to listen to us.
I’m sure they have a lot on their plate but maybe devote a whole update to solving many of these long-standing issues. The seems to be bent on adding more and more to fix.
That's exactly my point. Trees on short final, taxiway lights all over and vehicles running around. Thanks for voicing these annoying things.
Thanks for the video. What helps me as a student pilot that learns on msfs is the side view on airstrips and unrealisticly clear view of airport lights and rules to turn them on during IFR conditions. If you see things more like this please don't hesitate to do more videos!
Just discovered your channel thanks to a link someone posted on the official MSFS forums. Fantastic video and I agree with everything you said , was vigorously nodding "yes yes" at each one. The runway/taxiway/ramp textures bugged me from Day 1. They look like large beach stones flattened into the ground. This is one of the FEW areas XP12 does it better. Trees at the approach end of a runway are a real PITA , they need to fix that desperately. Engaging content we are very lucky to have a person of such vast experience give their input into this game. Misobo should hire you! Subbed!
Great video! The pavement texture size is a huge problem for me now with helicopters. It throws off your sense of height. The number of handmade airports is one thing XP12 has on MSFS, but Laminar Research needs to step up their scenery game for sure
Tough for LR to compete with the army of resources and $$$ that MS can throw at the development.
Unfortunately XP is never going to compete directly with MSFS for scenery. I've heard the database of global scenery for MSFS is over 1.9PB, which is 1900TB, or one million, nine hundred thousand gigabytes. not likely anyone is going to be installing that on their gaming PC. The second thing microsoft has in their court is actual ownership over the underlying data, i.e. bing maps and all the satellite imagery, plus the server infrastructure to deliver that streaming to all the sim users. its a shame they couldnt have just contracted laminar to develop the core simulator engine and flight model.
well according to austin himself(the guy who make xplane) reveals that xplane will have a live scenery in the future although he doesnt mention when but he mention its on the top of his list
@@BruhBruh-mk5yg update: blackshark ai (the world generation engine from MSFS) just released a plugin for unreal engine. maybe we will see msfs-level scenery sooner than expected
@@BruhBruh-mk5yg 😂😂 of course he did, just like all the other promises he made when developing XP12, in the wake of the release of MSFS.
Hello Russ,
Just watched your top 5 list and am in total agreement with you but, for myself, MSFS is so much better than the original. I am thankful to be able to experience the thrills of flight with this program. I also wish when I was growing up in St. Louis and living 15 miles from McDonell Douglas where the jet engine was developed and tested daily that I would have realized that flying would become a passion in later years. With that said, I am both envious and excited to know people that have followed their dreams of flight and although the program is not perfect, it offers people like me a small thrill to experience the opportunity of sitting in an airplane. One other note, it is people like you who have the hours in these flying machines that will help make MSFS even better moving forward. I believe I also heard you flew in the military, so thank you and many others for your service to our nation.
Yes I flew the F4E Phantom II … have you tried VR… talk about realism!
@@rbarlow
No, not as of yet as I am still learning to fly but I’m truly enjoying the experience just the same.
I bought add-ons to fix the trees and runway/taxiway quality, but I’ve had the same comments aligned with all of your points. Great video.
Nailed it!👍 2 more true immersion killers are the trees when you fly close (with a glider for example) and the ash (and sometimes grainy) clouds and how they behave when they dissolve.
Agreed! One of my top killers is that aircraft external lights are just to dim. Beacon's, Nav lights, and Strobes. Especially at night.
I agree with what you said on X-Plane 12. There's been a negligible improvement over X-Plane 11. If this is the kind of development pacing they're gonna take with the next iterations of X-Plane, Laminar is gonna fall out of the flight sim race.
I never thought I'd leave XP after XP11 came out. It was really at the top of its class until MSFS 2020 became seasoned after a year or two. Just looking at what I'm seeing with XP12, it just looks like they added a few features to XP11 that would normally be included with a free update. The graphics and eye candy haven't improved to the point where you would feel satisfied after purchasing the new product. MSFS 2020 on the other hand with update 11 really upped the ante. They added some great new planes, helicopters and updated world scenery and they're still improving on system features like DLSS and things to bring out the best of those expensive new GPU's many of us purchased. When you can fly over an area and easily find your home or other landmarks you're familiar with when flying VR, it's hard to go back.
@@RKDriver Yup better believe it, after MSFS2020, xplane is dead to me.
Does Russ have a post where he lists his complete hardware setup anywhere? I'd love to know what he's using but cannot find anything as of yet mentioning it.
I have a few sims operating but the VR sim I use most is a RTX3080ti/i9-12099K 32G 2TB M.2 SSD
Someone walking into your room and asking an errand is the biggest immersion killer.
Hahaha or the neighbor dog barking right outside
2 huge immersion killers for me are empty highways and no smoke effects. Flying into Ft Lauderdale in Florida or Pearson in Toronto you fly over some busy highways and yet in MSFS these highways are empty. Also when I start a propeller airplane I want to see some smoke. And when I rev the engines I want to see a cloud of dust blow out the back of the airplane.
Great video as always.
Thank you.
All the highways are empty for you or those in particular? Because in my case the traffic on roads and highways is more often even more than one would expect. But then all of the sudden some roads are sometimes empty on random, other time they are not.
Great video! I’m in total agreement with your list. The taxiway intrusions is my #1.
Quick cuts:
2:43 5. Pavement
3:32 4. Ground Service
4:47 3. Airport Lighting
6:23 2. Glidepath Obstructions
7:28 1. Taxiway Clutter
Excellent job! Hit the nail on the head (5 times) in a very soft and understanding manner. Hopefully MS will take note.
Spot on! As a private pilot, I agree. MSFS is great in VR in my Aero. Much room for improvement, but overall it has exceeded my expectations. XP12 looks like a huge let down to me, so I have no plans to get it. The two immersion killers that bug me the most from your list are the glide path obstructions and the beacon and runway lights always on.
I almost want to say the beacon and lights always being on is a gameplay feature done intentionally
@@moonasha yes possibly but why not make it an assistance setting to turn on or off.
Same here!!
One huge immersion killer for me in MSFS is how GA aircraft behave in even slightly gusty winds. There are some forum threads that talk about it, but basically, gusty winds behave like a five year old is pushing on the rudder pedals. X-Plane is far superior in this aspect. I agree that visually they cannot compete right now though.
@@joelv4495 Seriously? In xplane an A320 bounces around like a GA aircraft
You can turn ground vehicles off or you can set a % 1 to 100 so you can control the amount of cars at the airport.
But I want 1% at podunk airports and 100% at big mega airports…. I just want them to yield to aircraft
Solid list Russ. That last item is a bummer since it's technically an issue more specific to MSFS previous sims didn't struggle as much with. Two years later, quite sad it's still an issue but I will applaud the amount of progress the sim has made since I first tried it in alpha. Now developing for the sim, seeing it evolve behind the scenes, it's very clear that many of these items listed are considered small fish in terms of what has been a priority in improving. In other words, it's on the right track and eventually this will be dealt with.. just a different perspective from an end users standpoint though.
SOOO glad someone finally called out the glide path obstruction issue. My solution for this has been just having dead zones in front of runway thresholds, where foliage is not allowed to be drawn above a certain height. But I like your solution of using the FAA algorithm for it.
watching this video, I've realized how much I've become used to these immersion killers on msfs, that I just don't notice them anymore.
Thanks for pointing them out, and I hope MSFS fixes them in the near future.
For serious flight training 3 monitor setups are still the best due to difficulty to interact with controls/checklists/charts/ ect and the scuba mask like Field of view BUT for the immersive feeling of being in the real airplane and in the real airspace you cannot beat VR. It cannot be explained in word, videos or pictures either. It has a way to go but nothing compares for the immersion.
On top of that list, my biggest immersion killers are the massive 6-story tall terminal buildings and the control towers that make even small airports look like they're trying to compete with KLAX. The former being very noticeable at places like KPHX, and the latter being very noticeable at a place like KOGD.
Yes and hangars at tiny airports that are 40 feet tall on a small footprint
As a long time xplane user, could not agree more. Fs2020 is simply amazing. Just finished a cross country and the weather system is true to life. No harsh transitions, what you read in the report is what you experience. You can actually get trapped into IFR through gradual declining weather. I just love it. Love the Laminar guys, but there is a steep hill to climb to get back to parity.
These are valid points. On the plus side, they're almost all related to default airports, so installing custom airports will fix these issues. The only one I can imagine was intentional was the lighting issue. I wonder if MS/Asobo did it on purpose to help newer simmers find their way and have "more fun", but I can see what that might make it too easy for people who want more of a challenge and more realism.
My top immersion killer is in VR during aircraft shutdown. If one has their ‘end flight on aircraft shutdown’ feature turned off so as not to interrupt a complete shutdown - halfway through, there’s a position reset within the cockpit, open doors are closed,and all tool panels are shut - breaking any immersion you might have had. This has been a regression since the feature was first introduced A YEAR AGO and asobo knows about it but it seems like the lowest of priorities to them. I think the code fix would be a simple one as well.
I gave up on VR for (amongst others) this reason. I'm now flying with TrackIR, on a 49" curved monitor (picked up for cheap during a 24 hour sale). It's still crazy immersive, but things like overlays no longer rip you out of it.
@@jurrich Should have gotten yourself one with HDR support instead (even if not that huge). One of the reasons why "VR" is not worth it for me in its current state in whole and not just in this sim. There simply cannot be proper immersion in SDR.
You can turn that off in Assistance Settings
@@aerospaceguy4639 that’s the problem. When it is turned off is when all that stuff happens. Resets your position completely (god help anyone flying in the right seat) and closes all tool panels. Closes doors. Texture problems even. It’s been this way for a year at least and is a logged bug. Easy fix and completely ignored. In VR.
@@jurrich May I ask which 49" monitor you picked?
at the end of the day this game is amazing and it big step into improving flight simulators or any simulator in this case.
The biggest immersion killer for me is they types of areoplanes you see parked on the apron. For example I bought the spitfire and concorde, 2 externally rare aircraft and yet I see them constantly parked at airports and airfields. Why is there a concorde, 2 spitfires and an f18 sat at Leeds Bradford Airport when I arrive or spawn. Totally kills the immersion.
Very solid advices. Hope MSFS sees this.
Thanks Russ....what we really need in MSFS is a cockpit free view.
…. to simulate what exactly?
Well said, I agree on all of your points, and your choice of number one is right up there with my biggist irritation too. I always imagine that I just flatten the obstructing items with my landing gear and then hope they don't show up again the next time 😀
Helpful advise, Russ. Thank you very much!
Spot on! Not a pilot IRL here, but if I may add to your list, is the discrepancy between PAPI lights and ILS glide slopes in many airports where I usually fly. GS usually puts you way too high on approach so I have to disengage AP further out than where I would have preferred, especially on the Fenix A320.
I abandoned msfs with
are you putting the right baro for the airport in. usually the biggest cause of coming in high.
@@rickwilcox5131 Yes. But not all airports have this problem though, and I can live with it for VFR flights.
@@a.nelprober4971 sad to hear that. For me this con list is not a show-stopper however. For the ILS vs GS issue, it only happens on some airports and if I use ILS, but I fly VFR mostly.
Hey man, maybe ground service is a really great job in the MSFS universe that has a really powerful union that requires personnel on duty round the clock at every airport you can think of. :D
Totally agreed, and as you said, many of these can be fixed with add-ons, however, the BIGGEST problem for me with MSFS is the ground physics or handling or whatever you want to call it. Aircrafts seem to be sliding on the smoothest surface that's ever created, and although it is a bit less exaggerated in some aircrafts, still when you turn to one side even slightly, the aircraft changes direction so quickly that my brain cannot comprehend it fast enough! Also agree with you that X-Plane is pretty much unusable at this point, unfortunately!
By the way I wish to see you upload videos more often. Have a nice day.
Aircraft, not Aircrafts 😐
Hey Russ...great upload !. Also a former Pilot here. I was surprised by your #1 Immersion killer. Aside from the few taxi edge lights just now and again. I have never seen larger clutter such as vasis lights on the taxi ways. Hopefully you are reporting them in a ticket. I find things, I report them, and seemingly they are gone on the next update . Good luck and enjoy the sim
For the computer generated airports they just need to tweak the algorithms to not place items on paved areas. Also to limit heights of obstructions on final approaches. While there at it deconflict ground vehicles with aircraft. Then turn off airport lighting and beacons in day VFR conditions. Fix the pavement textures and add wear to the pavement and runway markings. I now have no video!
I'm thinking of getting the pimax 12K when it comes out. How do you control the plane and all the buttons. Right now I use honeycomb gear for toke and throttle, and mouse for everything else. Thanks and appreciate your videos!
My biggest graphical detractions are the hard horizon line in terrain at low alt and that horrible glowing edge of objects in shadow
I must ask something, I tested the early versions of the MSFS but at the time I was practicing for my IFR check ride. I didn't have so much options about flying myself so I had to rely in the simulators, I even did a homemade yoke and everything and it helped me a lot. But, at the time, the MSFS wasn't so good for practicing IFR flights. I mean, I couldn't get the FD to work properly like in an airplane, I couldn't get VOR to work or do ILS approaches properly. How is it today? In X Plane 11 which is the one I am using, I could do everything I was experiencing in real life, but in the MSFS everything seemed to be so "VFR". And even though I was to do my check ride for IFR, I had a lot of experience in it, at least as pilot monitoring, as my father is a pilot and he was flying a Baron and after that a King Air. We usually flew to Congonhas (here in Brazil) so it is a really busy and subject to weather changes airport.
as a pilot in a country in the third world I was just cracking when you said about the texture of the pavement. It looked exactly as in real life to me (I have never flown outside Colombia)
I might be nitpicking, but why does the prop strobe with differrent rpms? That is an effect of the camera shutter not the human eye? It may be trivial, and I drive racing sims in vr a LOT, but I noticed it straight away
Great video and I agree with your list. My personal opinion, shoudnt it be all resolved with a payware dedicated airport such KLAX and with GSX to improve the realistic mecanisms of ground handling ?
I totally agree with you, but the good thing is that there are small add-ons to improve those things. And you also have the SDK developers kit. Where an exclusion BGL can be generated, and thus eliminate obstacles in the unreal approach or objects in the middle of the taxi ways.
What type of VR goggles are you using? And what are your PC specs?
Varjo Aero headset and a i(-12900k/RTX3080ti 32GB ram 2Tb M.2 SSD
What an excellent video! All you mention is spot on and let's hope we'll see these issues addressed down the road.
As for flying in VR using the Varjo Aero, I know what you mean. It's nothing short of amazing being able to enjoy this beautiful simulator in that headset!
I'll post a link to this clip over in the official MSFS forum and keep my fingers crossed the right people will see your input.
Blue skies buddy and thanks for all your experience and thoughts you share with the community 👍
Thanks for pointing these out, especially from a real pilot.
Thanks. I din't get the name of your VR Headset, please mentioned it again.
Varjo Aero
Absolutely! Trees in the way of the approach/glidepath drives me nuts. I'm not even a real world pilot and I know this would not happen.
That was pretty interesting. I just fly around casually looking at things and other than the lights everywhere i never noticed any of this stuff. Its neat to hear a real pilots opinion. Also, the way you talk reminds me of Kevin Costner.😁 thank you for the video. Peace✌
There is another major problem with airport lighting at auto-generated airports. Namely, for larger airports for which you don't have extra scenery and which would definitely be lit at night, there is simply no lighting on the apron, for example. This is also a big immersion killer for me.
Good point. I have noticed the totally dark areas on airports where it led like power was lost. I also think the other area lights are almost too bright in places. Bright like stadium lights on the ground.
Just a simple flood light on the FBO toward the ramp would be an improvement. Perhaps they need to flag the buildings that serve as FBOs and dress them up a little?
thanks! They do and in stock. Thanks, really appreciate your RUclips channel.
I'm super proud, that this game is being developed, only a few kilometers away from where I live, in a small german town.
land at EDLP (the first free airport you could download). that's not far from ASOBO and my hometown Lippstadt ;-)
I completely agree on here points. My local airport has all of these issues.
Glide path obstruction, ground vehicles, and taxiway clutter are my top annoyances in msfs
You nailed the list. I have all 5 of these in my top 10 killers. Actually, these 5 are in my top 6. Though, your lighting issue is PART of one of my top 5.. So this is also my top 5. LOL The one that's mixed in is I don't like that at night, at about 8000' in some areas you can see aiports 20-30-50 miles away. One of the issues of that is that many if not all regional aiports have pilot activated lights IRL. So you would never see them unless someone/you turned on the lights to land or takeoff. I hope MS or someone else makes that a reality. But as of now, where you would maybe see 2 major airports (say KCVG and KDAY from say 12,000' and you were between them you would not see the other 8 aiports that are between them at 3am. I have a friend that ONLY flys night flights when doing fun missions in his career mode addon software because he can easily find all the airports. Where those of us that fly day missions sometimes have to really look to find them.
Yep agree on two counts- the 5 issues raised as well as the fact these are endorsements of the product. Well done - appreciate what you do for the simming community
My biggest pet peeve is massive trees in general. But mostly on the approach to runways. Just simply adjust with a minor tweak.
Also trees over obvious pathways, roads, railway tracks etc.
Another pilot here. It’s fantastic but it does need some fixes, even here in 2022. A feel like a lot of things can be fixed by the developers spending more time at FBO’s (both in the US and Europe) to get an idea of the ambience and setting of 90% of GA ramps in the Western world. Creating and adding more assets to improve the immersion, like country/region specific ground vehicles. It’s strange being in a rural airport in the Midwestern US and seeing a state of the art French/German fire engine cruising around the ramp. You’re absolutely right in stating that the sim is so immersive that these things really stand out. In a weird way, it’s graphics and success work against it in that regard. Airport fences are another one IMO that need more work. For my biggest gripe though, I have to throw the cartoon-like generic AI aircraft in there. For both static and in-air traffic they are such a bizarre choice for a simulator. They have have licensed aircraft in the game, so I have no idea why they added them. Hopefully a traffic addon comes out that removes these, but Asobo really should remove them from the base sim.
You're right about beacons...on at night, off during the day unless the field is IFR. Also, High Intensity Runway Lights (HIRLs) have 5 settings...from very dim to very bright that are set by a very specific formula laid out in the 7110.65...the ATC manual. MIRLs have 3 settings, also laid out by a formula. Strobe lights and approach lights also have very specific guidelines. It seems like an easy thing to fix if they would just give it some attention and look it up in the tables.
Have to agree about the vehicles...if they meet an airplane RL, they pull off of the taxiway. The rule is do not ever interfere with aircraft. Taxiway clutter always leaves me shaking my head.
As for my personal pet-peeve it's the obstruction lights which should blink on and off when outside the airport border. In X-Plane, ORBX had them working right and it was incredibly immersive...added a lot to night flying.
Fair call and I agree with your points, although I can't say I've seen signage and lighting on taxi-ways at airports. I might be lucky with where I fly in and out of course.
Lights in taxiways in almost every airport but go to I69 Clermont County airport and taxi the parallel taxiways to see stuff like VSAIs and signs.
Would like to know how do you find the flight dynamics? Thank you.
Hello Skipper, another great presentation, one related topic that needs a major overhaul with MSFS. Is their ATC, it tickles me pink when I am flying the 747 and request descent on a real time LHR/JFK flight, ATC requests that I report a traffic at my five o'clock position, (747's don't have rearview mirrors, LOL).
Approach lights, those strobes that lead to the runway, are they as bright IRL as they are in sim at night? It also seems like they are on on both ends of the runway at the same time, thats not how its done IRL is it?
No and the runway lights too are are directional and really only visible when you are mostly lined up with the runway. Approaching a runway from 90 degrees off heading you might see the "rabbit" but the runway and taxi lights are mostly invisible. Definately not realistic to see the strobes from 20 miles away either. The position lites and strobes on other aircraft are way too visible too.
After watching this video, I have to say that I agree with almost all of your points. The airport lighting does not bother me too much but then I am not a real world pilot. The oversized pavement textures are distracting without a doubt. The ground service vehicles driving straight through me are probably my biggest immersion killers.
I havent played MSFS at all, got this as a rekommendation for some reason. Interesting takes. You excuse yourself as everything being "nitpicking" which i definatley dont think they are, having cars on the runway, lights on taxi ways, no clear landing zones.
Totally agree with you on the glide path into KSMO. Watch out for those trees! 😂
For me, my top 5 (ish):
-No shared cockpit.
-No damage model.
-MP /AI aircraft appear as generic (eg Bonanza instead of a 747).
-No water dynamics.
-No way to quickly position aircraft where you want like in previous versions.
-Pushback system is a joke.
-ATC is a joke.
-No post crash analysis.
-Route plotter (main menu map) is a joke.
-Severe weather is a joke with turbulence exaggerated on clear air and light inside cumulus.
-Airports/taxiways doesn't match reality.
-AI live traffic isn't live and has no livery.
-No bird strikes?
-No Voip/in game chat (zero interaction with random MP people)
-No fires
-TCAS doesn't work on MP
I'm just a casual gamer, but points 4, 2, and 1 are absolute standouts for me. In a game where the visuals are this realistic, it's surprisingly easy for something tiny to break the immersion.
Sometimes, we use MSFS and just 'accept' certain things. We aren't sure if our set up is unique or that we have the wrong settings - so it is very reassuring to discover we are all in the same boat!
I agree with your 5 gripes Russ. But also agree that it is a remarkable piece of software and that XP12 always was going to have a real struggle to keep up.
Way to go Russ! I could not agree more. And while they’re fixing the airport Night via. Please add Pilot Controlled Lighting. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve flown into small airports and had to turn the lights on via mic clicks.
Surprised u did not mention the stepping/studdering of the entire scene when in taxi, turns or take off, great feed back thanks for another video
My immersion killer is xbox series s but so cool i can experience places flying the Tomcat everywhere even tho the world looks like post nuclear WW3.
I once spent an evening zooming into random places in google maps now its a hole new level.👍
@srbarlow I am wanting to build my young son his first flight sim... What minimum computer specs would you suggest?
depends... What sim or sims? How many monitors? Expandability? Tell me a bit more and I can help
I 100% agree with them all. Mostly with 1,4 &5. Great job.
I tried flying with VR but i quickly stoped, the cockpits are way too blury for me to see anything and i can't manage to fix it.
And as for lighting, i agree with what you say, but would add that some parking areas are way too dark with no light at all on the ground to folow.
my immersuion killer is the A.I traffic personally waiting in a line of different aircraft at a busy airport would add to the realism of the simulator everyflight its just empty taxiways. Also the A.I traffic has weird pointed noses on the aircraft which is another immersion killer for me. totally onboard with your immersion killers as well
Great comments!
As a UK GA simpilot who regularly uses grass strips, I find the grass heights on runways and manoeuvring areas far too high. For me, this is the real immersion killer.
Don't Asobo have any bloody grass mowers!
Could you give an example I could use in a future video
Particularly agree with glide path obstructions also grass runways tend to be like landing in heather.
The terminal at my home airport is MIA. The jetways are jetways to nowhere. The other thing I find very annoying is the visibility just doesn't look correct to me from inside the cockpit. Jumping outside is looks just fine. Everything you mentioned is right on the money as well.
Totally agree, especially with the X-Plane comments. Thank you for making this video.
Very true about night flying. From the side during my night flying at KHIO we always look for the dark patch, which is easy(er) to see since it’s right next to the Intel factory.
what videocard do u have. just wondering what it takes to runnin VR. would a i5 3080ti with 32mb 5200mhz ddr5
I have an i9-12900K- RTX3080ti running the Aero headset. Your system is plenty good. MSFS is mostly single core so clock speed is paramount for CPU
@srbarlow so if I get a VR headset Ill be able to run it in MSFS. I also wanted to try it in Ams2 and Iracing as I run those on triples now
I can't imagine 23000 flight hours! Wow! Great job and totally agree with your suggestions, and the objects in the taxiway are UNACCEPTABLE. Wish someone with Asobo's ear could see your video - then something might happen. Can you reach out directly to Asobo? Squeaky wheel gets the WD-40! Thanks Russ. Also are you thinking of the 2nd gen Hall Effect Honeycomb Alpha XPC yoke as an 'upgrade' for your setup? Have you looked at the Brunner Force Feedback yokes?
Good vid, good picks. I would also nominate the occasional little cliffs produced by the elevation mismatches between scenery tiles, especially when you get a 2-foot cliff that crosses a runway. It makes certain airports like Flabob in SoCal or Paine Field in WA unusable. Nothing quite so immersion breaking as making a nice landing only to have a 2-foot shelf across the runway rip the gear off your plane.
turn off collission detection
@@budguy21 But I want it on when I collide with something that's real.
@@windsorspitfire If you do, you will notice anyway, so what's the point? Black screen is not a solution, especially that breaking your gear up doesn't instatntly end up with you blacking out and dying off tragically.
Hey Russ, I 100% agree with all of your squawks but the #1 for me is ATC. I don't even file IFR anymore because of the constant heading changes on approach and the total mismanagement of the descent to the field from cruise altitude, sometimes it's to soon and more often than not it is WAY to late. The whole thing needs to be scrapped and done over, it's a carryover from FSX and this sim deserves much better.
Really interesting critique, appreciated 👏✊
Glidepath obstruction is a particular concern for me, as I prefer bush flying. But it's a tricky one - there's a few fields which become basically inaccessible due to a tree right on the threshold, which in real life would be a small bush, or nothing at all - but some fields are one-way, where you'll get tall trees and vegetation right up to the runway on one side, but a clear entry on the other. I'm not sure how Asobo would go about dealing with this.
Just have to pull mixture and pull full flaps and mush/stall it onto the strip. Might need rocket boosters to get out though
the lack of shared cockpit kills my vibe, 747's flying formation just to fly "with a friend"
Great video! My #1 however, would be the lost connection popup that often arrives on short final. Information I don't care about blocking the screen at the worst time to do so! More annoying is that it's not my connection that is the problem - so there really is nothing to be done about it.
Agree wholeheartedly with your #1 and #4 immersion breakers. Stuff in the taxiway should just not be there at all. But personally I can't stand the stupid vehicles driving down the taxiway or in the parking or gate areas. It's ridiculous. Good video.
Russ, Is there a US source to order the Knobster? only options are paypal which I am not a fan of.
Did you try XForcePC
xforcepc.com/knobsters.html
I haven't used MSFS 2020 so I can't speak from experience with the game but I would like to point out a couple challenges to fixing some of these issues and provide a technical standpoint as to how some of these things could be fixed.
#5 Pavement: I think pavement is actually something that's very simple to fix, all you need is to add depth, bumps, cracks, etc. as well as make the darker patches more contrastive. This isn't hard to do at all and I saw somebody do it in blender so I know it's possible. The only challenge might be optimization. As for the pavement texture itself it could be downscaled but that may cause tiling issues, performance drops as well as not being visible. A fractile-like system could be implemented but I can see how that might cause performance issues. I still think it could be resolved via optional settings.
#4 Ground Service/Support: This could be pretty easy to fix with a setting. In fact FSX actually has settings to control the amount of air, land and sea traffic so this not being optional here is stupid I 100% agree with you here and I can see no reason why they shouldn't be able to fix this. As for the standoff this pertains to the AI which controls the ground vehicles. This could be improved by having the AI actually use the locations of aircraft at the airport to know which taxiways are blocked and which aren't. This could be done using machine learning, but again may cause performance issues. An optional setting here would be very helpful.
#3 As for this I think you're right and I can't see any reason why they wouldn't be able to implement this. I think there should be a setting though to increase the distance that the lights are visible from so that less-experienced players can still find airports easily if they need to.
#2: I find this peculiar and I think I know what's happening. I believe MSFS uses google maps data to generate trees, lakes, rocks, whatever... and so since google maps is 2d all the trees are around the same height. There's really only one good fix to this and that's to clear an area around the airport sufficiently that it doesn't obstruct the glidepath. Another option is to have separate, smaller models to use close to airports. However this may cause another immersion killer in that you may end up with a stark contrast between the smaller trees and the larger ones creating an unrealistically straight line. Nevertheless I think this can still be resolved and even if it can't I think I'd still prefer an unrealistically straight tree line over glidepath obstructions. That's just my preference though.
#1: This is something I'm just genuinely confused by. I've never seen this in any other flight sim so I really have nothing to say here...
Anyway my point is not to criticize anyone here but to try and help show why some things might be more difficult than they seem to fix.
good points. I think all of these issues are surmountable but my propose was to highlight then since I am not sure Asobo, as game-makers and not experienced pilots, are even aware of them.
I know of no one else with the experience you have and, as such, I wish to put a question to you: The light planes in FS2020 bob around quite a lot, much more than other sims, and much more than I'd expect even when drawing from my limited experience in light planes. In VR it's quite uncomfortable (long time VR user in DCS, Elite Dangerous and iRacing, almost 10 years). So all that said, what is your opinion on the ways the light planes in FS2020 bob around while in flight?
My biggest pet peaves in unmodded msfs:
1)When you change anything from the default flight plan that was entered before loading into the flight, either through the flight computer or atc, ATC or autopilot gets so glitched out and everything breaks down terribly. Ex: Changing approaches in flight computer, then updating atc for a new approach. Yet no matter what, they classify you as missed approach or autothrottles don't recognize the new decent profile or ILS waypoint constraints, etc, etc. Maddening.
2) After flying for well over an hour, ILS or other instrument systems simply stop working and the whole flight is ruined.
3) Almost every part of the 747. SO glitchy
4) Spending +30mins in pre-flight and cockpit prep just to release the parking brake and find out the plane is perma stuck into the ground and even repositioning the plane manually doesn't do anything to fix it.
5) The entire ATC system
As a helicopter-guy in MSFS I would like to add another massive immersion killer: The massive lack of model matching. Not talking about liveries but the aircrafts themselves. Until today Asobo/Msfs were not able to integrate the helicopters fully into the sim.
Whenever I fly with a Cowansim MD500E or the HPG Airbus H-145 all other players around me won‘t see a helicopter (only if they purchased and downloaded the same model). They see a generic Bonanza airplane hovering over the airfield. This is an absolute nogo.
I‘d like to compare with Eagle Dynamics (DCS). They demand from the developers for each created aircraft a simple AI-/Multiplayer model that they use to show it up for the multiplayers. Only the liveries do not fit if you do not have downloaded the same.
Very good list. I had never rated them in my head but if I did I think my list would be very close to yours. The good news is that I believe all of these are fixable.
How about the performance? I don't really think that the stones in the cement beeing the wrong size is as bad as an initial climb with a rate of 6000ft/min.
True
I agree with you. I am a glider pilot in Europe. All that cars and people in small airports are really disturbing. I would add the french fuel stations put everywere even in small grass aurfield where no fuelmis avalaible, at least here in Europe.
I think they will eventually get it all rIght.
Isn’t there an option alternative to turn down airport traffic in settings?
For me, the biggest immersion killer is the ground handling of MSFS. rudder control is extremely touchy, the aircraft feel like they're skating on ice. I have never felt that flying with any airplane in the real world, and X-Plane gives the airplane more weight. The flare is still off for me in MSFS, and everything is still a bit "bouncy". If MSFS can fix that issue I would be a lot more into flying it, but for right now, I much prefer the slightly less appealing graphics of X-Plane for the more realistic feel I get flying the airplane.
I find the bounciness varies from plane to plane. As for the rudder have you tried adjusting the sensitivity of the yaw axis? Now that mine is dialed in I find it fine on the runway.
@@rbarlow I've pulled mine way back but it still doesn't respond well in crosswinds. I do agree it varies wildly.
It kind of depends. I find an 8-knot right crosswind requires a lot of left rudder to maintain centerline in the 172 or any other single-engine piston. Nope.
Hello. Can you in FS2020 assign a buttom like in Flight Simulator X to restart you flight? It is namned Restart Flight in Flight Simaualtor X. I dont mean "Slew mode" i mean one push on a dedicated button and right back to you airport for a new start. Thanks for any information how to do och info taht it is not possible. Regards Carl / Sweden.