Anyone using X-Plane 9.0?

[hinch]

Two features xplane has that I really like are being able to call up a very well made HUD and switching to night vision goggles. They're great when bombing down the Innsbruck valley in a fighter =D

Xplane is a very dark place to be though - it needs to be much brighter for me. The external models are OK on planes - the textures are top notch as stated before. The new VC's though keep me very happy, especially with how smooth the instruments move.

[Pringle]

Ripping this right up out of the archives, just got X-Plane 9.2 and installing as we speak. As pretty much the only decent FlightSim available on the Mac I'm hoping this will fill the current void in place without FS9/FSX being available to me.

Anyone converted/using both?

[TSR2]

I tried it for a bit mate but found the limited models and in most cases very limited quality so binned it. There is little doubt the flight dynamics piece is very advanced, but I found the support forums quite arrogant, so wasn't really an experience that I enjoyed.

[forthbridge]

I do remember when I used to use X-Plane a lot the helicopter flight dynamics were well in advance of anything FS could offer, in fact in '03 they were better than they are in FSX now, heck I was using X-Plane to practice techniques I was being taught on course at Shawbury which is not something I'd attempt with FSX. I could consistently land a Blackhawk on the roof of a petrol station using the same basics I'd been taught, in FSX I can't get a Jetranger onto a helo pad on a skyscraper because it just doesn't do what it's supposed to. In effect in FS I have to learn how to fly helicopters in FS, whereas in X-Plane they pretty much flew how they do in the real world, apart from the vortex ring...

Interesting.... this must be why I'm rubbish at the helo in FS9..... I still have a book 'The helicopter: History, Piloting and how it flies' (now 24 years overdue at the library!) as reading for a sim I had back then, and if I'm not going mad, I'd say it seemed a better feel than the FS helos...

[Pringle]

Well after unwrapping the box and firing it up this evening for a short time decided to have a play around with different stock aircraft. The look of the cockpit and textures are pretty bog standard and poor. The standard weather seems ok and the rain effect is fairly good. After floating around in various aircraft (Including the seaplane which was quite good fun) I decided to go for a Cessna and head off for a circuit. To my surprise, the ATC gives you an option to ask for radar vectors for a PAR. Decided to have a go and after getting over the initial laughter with the Stephen Hawkins style voice I was very impressed. Landed on and shut the aircraft down.

Overall, very impressed with the physics and will be giving it much more time than I thought I would. Off to download some hi-res aircraft and see how the MacBook handles them.