X Plane Simulator

For the majority of flight sim fans, virtual piloting starts and ends with the Microsoft Flight Simulator series. Yes it’s the granddaddy, yes it’s got more devotees than a Devo t-shirt kiosk (ask your parents), but it’s by no means the only option on the shelves when it comes to making your civil aviation simulation decision.

X-Plane 11 Global Flight Simulator Software by X-Plane (Laminar Research) XP11 - With a brand new user interface, and a new level of quality in the included.

Of all the pretenders to the throne, perhaps the biggest is X-Plane from Laminar Research, now in its tenth edition. The chances are that unless you’re a fan already, you’ll have dismissed it as just another also-ran and moved on. Which would be a crying shame.

While Microsoft was ruling the airborne roost over on PCs in the early 90s, X-Plane snuck up on the flight sim market via the Mac. It introduced in 1993 primarily as an attempt to create a similar movement amongst those notorious games players in the Apple community. Being Mac-driven, naturally there was an emphasis on doing things more intellectually than us knuckle-dragging cavemen using PCs (their words… probably).

This mostly boiled down to something called ‘blade element theory’. Most flight simulators (Microsoft’s included) relied on what was essentially a very complicated game of Top Trumps to create their flight models. Planes all have large amounts of numerical values assigned to them, covering their varying degrees of aerodynamics, ultimately representing their individual flight behaviour dynamics. This relies on those figures being available (often a hindrance for more advanced or military vehicles), so often you’re flying an aircraft modeller’s best guess at how the plane should behave.

X-Plane’s approach is more scientific. Blade element theory models the individual parts that make up a plane (most notably the propeller blades and wings) from mathematical point of view, looking at how lift, drag and so on affect each separate part of the plane and then combining it all into a behavioural whole. More often than not, each part of a plane is further subdivided into smaller and smaller sections to make the simulation even more accurate.

The biggest advantage this gave X-Plane is to allow it to include an aircraft creation program in the core product. Users could spend many happy hours building the aircraft of their dreams, then tweaking numbers here and numbers there and seeing what effect all the tinkering has on how it flies (usually like a house brick with gossamer wings in my case). So comprehensive is it, several real-world aircraft manufacturers use X-Plane’s software in their design processes.

What X-Plane did was to take everything Microsoft was doing, make it more intellectually rigorous and give the user the tools to make their own content right out of the box. Then they slapped an appropriately Apple-y price tag on it. It proved popular enough that a Windows version followed three years later in 1996, a Linux version in 2004 and today even features versions that work on iPads, iPhones and Android platforms.

You don’t hang around in flight simulation for nearly twenty years without building a community around you and for the budding X-Planer wanting to go beyond the provided material. There’s as thriving a marketplace of X-Plane aircraft, scenery packs and more as there is for Microsoft’s flight stable. It’s certainly large enough to have spawned both an amateur scene putting material out there for the love of it, and a monetised industry of third-party add-ons that have the veneer of professionalism applied.

Of course, the big question remains if you’re already getting airborne on a regular basis with one of the Microsoft Flight Sim titles, is there any point making the switch to X-Plane?

The answer depends on what you’re looking for in your simulation.

For the casual flyer, content to potter around the skies in a less than totally realistic manner, maybe not. Microsoft’s offering is friendlier to the newcomer, with an immediately approachable front end. It provides an authentic experience of civil aviation. The default scenery is better too, although X-Plane 10’s auto-generated urban sprawls are certainly a step up from anything it’s offered before.

Perhaps the most important point to make, though, is that one of these plane games has the advantage of having parents that haven’t basically abandoned their child at the doorstep of well-meaning strangers and are still around to provide their precious bundle of joy with a future filled with hope, dreams and regular product updates. Clue: it’s not Microsoft’s baby.

FSX was released back in 2006 and since then, Microsoft’s development team has been gutted like a Sicilian fish. Earlier this year, one last attempt was made to push a Microsoft-branded flying experience onto the masses. Unfortunately, Microsoft Flight was a pared down abomination of the highest order, unsure of what it wanted to be and, therefore, satisfying none. Admitting defeat, Flight was pulled last August and anything to do with keeping virtual planes in virtual skies was marched out of Microsoft’s doors for good.

While, Microsoft has plummeted back to Earth, Laminar Research has kept plugging away. Version 10 of X-Plane was released in November 2011 and the team in South Carolina has no plans on stopping.

So, if nothing less than the most ultra-realistic flight dynamics are your bag, you enjoy being able to tweak the forces that affect the middle section of the Space Shuttle’s left wingtip in isolation to the way the transonic drag rise currently affects the internal aspect of the… and you like the idea of the product you’re flying having the benefit of a development team that is still working on the thing, X-Plane is the choice for you. It’s a seriously meaty flight sim package for the most carnivorous of virtual pilots.

The most realistic aircraft. The world at your fingertips. It’s not a game, it’s a flight simulator.▶ 'Highly recommended.' — Mel Martin, Engadget ◀▶ Over 1 million downloads! ◀Come experience why real pilots fly X-Plane.It starts with the flight model—the same flight model used in our FAA-certified desktop simulator—that’s complete enough to model the flex in your wings & the tilt in your landing gear.Add to that our desktop-quality aircraft with multiple liveries and interactive 3-D cockpits—so detailed you can do a full startup procedure using the hundreds of buttons, knobs, & switches in the cockpit.

With working gauges, flight displays, & more, these cockpits are as realistic as those in our full desktop sim.But aircraft are no good without a place to fly them. That's why each of our free regions features detailed terrain, lifelike city buildings, & 3-D airports—complete with terminal buildings, jetways, hangars, & more.Want more? By purchasing this item, you are transacting with Google Payments and agreeing to the Google Payments. AFinitDataCallback(key: 'ds:17', isError: false, hash: '34', data:functionreturn 'gp:AOqpTOG6DowS4IU4Ca-DafBtw7lCBYPlOKiEm8pGJOniggqe05kH7SeA6PfJ9IOXqJRUUtYehHFup2f3MU4Q','Richard Watkins',null,2,null,null,null,'game. I first played it in like 2013 and it's it's been a great game. My only problem is I just recently reinstalled it and it said purchases restored, but I don't have the F-22 I paid for and I think I paid for the 757.

Definitely the F-22 I bought just so I can launch missiles even though they don't do anything, or didn't way back when. Giving the five stars now, but hope I can get a response from developers. I just want at least the F-22 restored, can you check that far back? 757 too',242000000,185,null,null,'5','Richard Watkins',null,null,2,null,null,null,'plane 10 mobile was one of the most fun and advanced flight simulators I got to play.

It was very fun and helped me a lot with understanding how the 737 worked. After the addition of global scenery I can no longer spawn at any airport as it now belongs to the global scenery, which costs a ridiculous amount of money a month. I am very angry since I spend quite a bit of money on the in game aircraft which I can no longer use. Very Disappointed!' ,696000000,82,null,null,'3','Lummox',null,null,2,null,null,null,'do',null,2,null,null,null,'is overall a great game to have, it might be the best mobile flight simulator game right now, if your looking for a good flying game on mobile I recommend getting this.

I don't like how you have to pay to get more planes, I want them to add something that lets you earn the planes. The graphics are pretty decent, and of course there are flat buildings.

The controls are hard to control if you don't know what you are doing so make sure you know what your doing. The gameplay is pretty good.' ,738000000,309,null,null,'6','kid do',null,null,2,null,null,null,'helper',null,2,null,null,null,'game is perfect for those who want a realistic flight simulation but the graphics settings are not enough to tweak. I request the developers to add more graphics tweaking options in this game so that we can reduce or increase the graphics for our personal experience. Please add a save option in between the flight. We can't reach 6437nm at once.' ,660000000,178,null,null,'6','Emulator helper',null,null,2,null,null,null,'kanna yadav',null,2,null,null,null,'to say.but it was very disappointing to see that we need to download huge amount of data for each practice session and to play the challenge ones we need to buy the planes.i suggest u to make this game paid because everyone downloads it thinking it is free but there is a huge amount of inbuilt downloads and so much money needed to buy all the things in order to play.'

Bittorrent. ,801000000,102,null,null,'0','Rahul kanna yadav',null,null,2,null,null,null,'Swogger',null,2,null,null,null,'are awesome and the best I have used. I have had many other flight Sims and none compare to this one.

I like the new update with moving traffic and tug services. I would like to see real flight traffic, more service and/or more free airports (flight areas) Some common problems people face when flying Q: when I lower the flaps the nose raises and I have to reset the controls to regain control. S: you must first locate the trim control located in the center console.' ,428000000,127,null,null,'6','Anthony Swogger',null,null,2,null,null,null,'Vino Aulia',null,2,null,null,null,'Research you did a good job, please add more features to the 737 like: 1.Rain effect on the windshield. 2.Working wipers in the cockpit u0026 more sound effects. 3.More switches. 4.Airport is visible on the radar.

5.Full cold u0026 dark procedure. X-Plane fans will very happy if you add these features, thank you!' ,870000000,5,null,null,'4','Teuku Vino Aulia',null,null,2,null,null,null,'Bergantiu00f1os Jr.'

,null,2,null,null,null,'game is fun to play, and the previous update was great but can you pls add when the gate retracts after people board the aircraft, add more detail when the trucks load baggages inside the aircraft like doors opening etc, also it would be fun if you add air traffic. I think it would be nice if when we play free flight, we could add ai planes that fly also making it look like a real simulator.' ,343000000,42,null,null,'8','Marionito Bergantiu00f1os Jr.'

,null,null,2,null,null,null,'Delfani',null,2,null,null,null,'have installed every update after they first did that 'major' update thing. But unfortunately the issue I have is not fixed yet!!! Everything works fine. But Scenery and clouds are flickering to the point that you'll get headaches after staring at the screen for a couple of minutes. Please fix this issue, this simulator is the only one I want to use for education purposes',511000000,102,null,null,'5','Pooya Delfani',null,null,2,null,null,null,'M',null,2,null,null,null,'my favorite flight sim.

RAM 2 GB RAM Required. Free Disk 40 GB Free Hard Disk Space Required.

But it can be better in two ways. First the graphics which is currently alright. But it can still get better. Second and more important the selection of airplanes and liveries. Adding quite some airliners like a380, a350, a340, b787 and lots of liveries can make the sim much better.

Also we need fully interactive cockpit on all aircrafts.' ,826000000,10,null,null,'7','Triple M',null,null,2,null,null,null,'Everyone',null,2,null,null,null,'love the fact that you can interact with the cockpit components and start the plane manually. However, scenery graphics aren't the best, even on high settings and I wish you could adjust the sensitivity, so you dont have to rotate the whole screen to fly the bigger planes. Also, the physics sometimes feel you're on the moon, especially when doing a heavy landing. Overall, it's a decent game because of the features it gives you for its price (free), like interacting with cockpit.'

,724000000,448,null,null,'5','Everyone Everyone',null,null,2,null,null,null,'2020',null,2,null,null,null,'a beautiful Flight Simulator but one thing is Dissapointing. That you only can Fly a Cessna 172SP Skyhawk and a Cirrus Vision SF50 without Paying for the Global Version and for more Planes to Fly. And when you do A Test Flight with the Planes that are looked when you don't Pay,you can only Fly them 60 seconds.' ,676000000,2,null,null,'6','Aviationlover 2020',null,null,2,null,null,null,'Banerjee',null,2,null,null,null,'https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/a-/AOh14Gi8U8L939tx30pULRnlcubUtLnLNGl.