LandGreen2

Sorry in advance for thread drift but this thread gets da views.

Next door neighbor has a son interested in flying. Still young, 13 y/o. His Dad asked me about MS Flight Sim 2020? I said I have no idea and he looked at me like I had 4 heads! Anyway, I wanted to reach out to those tech savvy pilots to see if you have any personal experiences with it.

He wants to get a computer but apparently it requires a monster! Also curious how realistic it is...YouTube vids look great but hard to tell from perspective of real pilot.

thx

PilotJ3

I have a Ryzen 3800XT a Nvidia RTX 3090 and 32gb of Ram. I can run it in Ultra graphics with a 1440p monitor and it runs at 40-58fps. MS FS 2020 is very very CPU dependent, so it will need a high end Intel (like the 10900k) or AMD (5900X or 5950X), my CPU is last generation and didn’t wanted to try to snag the new gen. The price for the chip alone is $500-800. The graphics cards, a 3080 is around $800 (if you’re lucky to find one) and the 3090 is $1500 (only 10% better performance, but it was the easiest for me to find).

It looks great, but my PC is considered a monster, but I bought the parts and built it myself. I’m sure I saved some money, but it was north of $3,500 in parts.

The Airbus 320 needs some work, it doesn’t fly like an Airbus. But everything else it’s fun, graphics are great and like previous FS you can upgrade it with freeware and or pay wares.

iaflyer

Flight Sim 2020 is very realistic - realistic enough that it's easy to crash, much less get off the runways if you don't have an "easy" mode turned on. There are half a dozen airplanes in the basic model, from the basic 152/172 Cessna up to an A320 and 747.

The graphics are downright amazing - and it does need some powerful hardware to look great.

At 13, I'd tell the father/mother to buy him a private pilot ground school book and maybe an intro lesson or two at the local flying school. Enough to see how much he likes it. 13 is a bit early, he's can't solo until 16 (but he can solo in a glider at 14 I think). If the kid really likes it, a flight sim setup would be an inexpensive way to fly around and have fun. There is a lot to learn from a Flight Sim like that, especially if he reads some of the PP handbook too.

PiloytJ3's computer is high end - I think for $1,000-1,200 you can buy a decent computer to run Flight Sim 2020 with good graphics. I have a two year old computer that's mid-level spec that runs FS pretty well. It might bog down occasionally, but it's good enough for flying around and seeing things.

LandGreen2

wow! Thanks for the details. I think he was in the $2.5k budget range, so maybe wait till next years models come out to buy what is top end today?!?! As far as A320 goes does MS tweak the program with updates based on consumer write ups?

LandGreen2

I forwarded this to my neighbor! Thanks! Any suggestions on that computer in a $2.5k range? I think that is about top end budget he wants to spend. Pre built or DIY?

PilotJ3

$2.5k is a great budget and can get a very powerful machine that will last him at least 4 to 5 yrs without hiccups or upgrade. A PC with today’s technology, is about 50% better graphics-wise than previous generation. Nvidia newest GPUs have been out only 4 months, it’s hard to find them in stock and when they come out they sell out in minutes. AMD newest CPUs are about 3 months old. The best way would be to get a prebuilt PC like NZXT, Cyberpower, ibuypower, etc etc.

Like I said, I overspend in the graphics cards. That alone will save about $800. An Rtx3080 or 3070 will make the trick.

Microsoft updates the software every couple of weeks or months. So, yes, they are updating Performance, planes, graphics and eventually I’m sure a developer will sell a better model.

Flight Simulator is a big world and the new one will take some time to be able to customized. He’s 13yrs old, he will learn quick to work with it.

Also, if I remember correctly the first download is about 120gb.

Something like this:

https://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/Gamer-Master-9500

iaflyer

Here's the release notes from the last update. There like the other poster said, there are regular updates, It seems like about once a month. I'm not pasting it because it's a large list:

https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t...ailable/337875

contrails

What kind of freeware are you all using for MSFS2020? I guess I should check on one of those types of forums.

I had everything 10-15 years ago which was fun. I’d like to download a warbird, fighter jet, helicopter etc. if it’s not too much of a fiasco to install.

PilotJ3

I’m using self loading cargo. Already downloaded a couple of liveries and airports.

https://www.msfsaddons.org/payware/self-loading-cargo

no helicopters yet in MSFS 2020

Eldee5

May I then recommend DCS. It’s ultra realistic and incredibly immersive. They have fully clickable cockpits for the F18C, F-14, UH-1, etc... you can download the manuals and there are training videos to get you up to speed. But you can no kidding fly full up CASE IIIs, use FLIR pods, JSOWs, GBUs etc..Coms are realistic too.

https://youtu.be/eWN5R7tRMws

Sorry about the thread hijack Fangs, but this is a better drift than Covid imho.