How hard is for a beginner?

[BruceFlea]

I've never played a flight sim but wanted to try one with my new Vive. I'm wondering how hard will this be to learn? Is there a good tutorial or will I have to Google everything?

[Dazven]

If you are wanting to get into simming I would direct you to Dovetail Flight School. This is an incomplete product whereas DFS's aim is to bring new players into simming. Ignore most of the negative reviews, most seem to be from impulse buyers who have no clue what it is.

Aside from that there are two other options, watch youtube tutorials/read manuals or jump in and learn from many Virtual Airlines who will train others as well as other pilots.

I've been looking at this and it does allow for new players to fly in this, but like I said it is incomplete and not worth it if you are trying to get into flight simulation.

[Dazven]

Originally posted by Meme(TM):

doesn't even own this game.

Pretty easy to see what level Aerofly FS2 is at right now. Let's just ignore that. I like how FS2 is going right now, so I'm not trying to deter someone from it entirely.

FS2 is expensive right now and it is a poor choice to have a new simmer spend so much when they are completely new to the genre. If you want to get into simming you go with programs that do a great job at it or have others who have extensive knowledge on simming/a particular aircraft train you.

Why would you have someone train on an incomplete sim which will go through changes constantly and is lacking in training material?

I mean pretty logical right?

Just to add in consideration to the price, what if he doesn't like it? 2 hours is not enough time to determine that and it could be wasted money. I've tried to get friends into simming with 20+ hours of teaching and the like and they ended up saying it wasn't for them.

[Dazven]

Originally posted by Meme(TM):

Also Flight school does not have VR support and DTG said this:

The first thing to make clear is that DTG Flight School does not support VR. Additionally, we are not actively working on a VR mode for DTG Flight Simulator either.

Aerofly FS 2 has currently very good VR support and with the next update full VR support (HUD/Overlay for VR will be added).

I get that point, but buying a flight sim based on VR is really dangerous. Unless you are wanting to stick with vanilla aircraft only or casual VFR flights only then I may say fine. However if someone is trying to get into serious simming one day even if it isn't commercial then that is a bad move.

[Spit40]

I'm a beginner, and FS2 is what has justified my investment in Rift + PC capable of running it. It's great. I'm eager for the updates but having now researched FSX as a comparison, i'd have to spend a fair bit to get the graphics quality that makes this so immersive. I just wish i could get detailed UK terrain. I don't know if its *the* best beginner sim, but it's done the job for me.

[Dazven]

I gotcha, but I wasn't meaning he should stick with DFS only. DFS is a throwaway meant to initiate new simmers and gauge if they will enjoy it. Aerofly seeks to be a full fledged sim that will be a competitor with FSX, XP, P3D, etc.

Aerofly looks to be the new frontrunner in a few years(Along with XP 11 and P3D imo) and I would say that is not the place to start. Like you I started on FS2004 as well for the very reason as it was cheap(I owned it back when it came out, but was never ventured outside of vanilla till I got it again back in 2010) and moved on to more expensive like FSX.

I don't doubt that it is easy to fly and the like, but it isn't the best and the price should be a deterrance in this genre. Getting into simming is hard and not everybody wants to go through with it and with that price it can be risky. If you really want to get people into simulation have them learn the basics of flight in a cheap fashion and then bring them into main platforms and complex topics.

[whitav8r]

I like how fluid (great 64-bit performance - no need for ASW/ATW) Aerofly FS2 is and it works so easily with a Rift or a Vive. FS2 is easy to fly, loads very quickly, has plenty of detailed airports and beautiful aircraft. There are some tutorials on how to fly all over the Net and youtube. No tricks/tweaks needed - just go fly!

[BruceFlea]

Thanks for all the comments. Very informative but now I'm slightly confused. Am I better off waiting for upcoming patch to address some of the points covered in this topic?

[drhotwing1]

Originally posted by BruceFlea:

Thanks for all the comments. Very informative but now I'm slightly confused. Am I better off waiting for upcoming patch to address some of the points covered in this topic?

During EA (early access) there will be many free updates of FS 2 once you buy it. Even though this is still lacking some functionality it's still a very stable, easy to learn flight simulator. There will be many updates during early access with one coming very soon. If you have VR, FS 2 is the best out there at the moment. If you are just getting into flight simulation I highly recommend this, you won't regret it. Just understand that it's still being developed and there are some features missing , but they will be coming soon..

[Tobeh]

my 1irst plane game vrry easy
but not easy jet lol

[IronHorseGladiator]

Originally posted by Meme(TM):

Please ignore the comment from "Krieg Guardsman Moondancer (Daz)" he clearly has no idea what he is talking about, he doesn't even own this game. I play flight sims since FS 2004 and this is definitely the best flight sim for new players and as more features get added (developers are currently working on a very detailed Dash 8 Q400 as a free update) this sim will be awesome for experienced flight sim players as well.

Been flying MS Flight Simulator since the late 80s, had hours of flight trainings in a real plane and yes, this is good for beginners, wished MS Flight Simulator never abandoned their software. Most gamers are drawn to shooting games, like Battlefield and may find this simulator very boring.

[Chazmeister]

I'm not much of a fly boy at all. I mean I try the odd few flight sims but I'm no hardcore flight simmer and I can easily fly the Cessna in this game. I've even landed it on the Golden Gate Bridge and that's after just a few hours of air time.

I haven't tried any of the harder stuff like the jets etc, but I don't think sims like FSX teach you to fly that sort of stuff either. They just set you up with the basicis in a light aircraft like the Cessna and the FS 2 training missions cover pretty much the same stuff.

I fly this with my Rift and it's great. Flying over the Alps with the Swiss DLC is very cool. So I'd say if you're thinking of getting it for your Vive then go for it.

Features wise it's a bit bare bones at the moment compared to the more seasoned sims like FSX. However to get FSX looking like this takes a whole pile of money for a load of addons and mods and it's a massive performance hog. FS 2 has a future though and FSX is drawing to the end of its life.

Things to bare in mind are that only the areas featured in the game and the DLC have proper mapped terrain with textures and trees and towns etc. The rest of the map is just a featureless smudge basically.

My only gripes with it right now are the somewhat confusing method of setting your depature and destinations. You can only zoom the map out so far, so to get from west coast USA to the Swiss dlc area takes a lot of map scrolling. The route guides fly you through the middle of mountains, although that makes part of the fun checking the map and planning your own routes. There's no moving traffic on the roads. The trees are way too big and in places are littered across the middle of highways and roads.