DCS World is free on Steam with just a couple aircraft to try it out and see if it will run on your PC. You can purchase more for it once you are hooked.

Did an online game thing for flying when they first started. Think it was called Wings. It was the same models/environments as Hellcats. Didn't really get that into it. Everyone was running around in gangs and got Snoopy syndrome. If someone was any good, everyone would go gunning for them. You had to complete your sortie with all the games oppoosition PLUS all the Red Barron hunters. Fun at first, but quickly became overwelming.

I have but have not yet played War Thunder. My nephew has played quite a bit but it is more arcade flight dynamics than sim. That would explain why when we had friends over he could not fly Wings Over Europe as he learned to fly in War Thunder and could not understand why he was stalling and such.

War Thunder is supposed to be pretty friendly online but there are still 'Clans". I generall y don't like playing on line because there are 11 types of player. Ones that have no maturity and can't stand someone being better than them, ones that have nothing better to do than play for thousands of hours and ones that like to play for the fun of playing. It is hard to find a server with the third kind. There was a DCX sponsored server that was good about keeping it fun but that was retired a decade ago.

Our BF server is "Clan of the Pizza".

I like the full motion sims at the museums and the last one at the SAC museum we flew an Extra aerobatic plane. Emily kept trying to get the harness tighter and the guy buckling her in argued it didn't have to be that tight. She insisted it did and continued to tighten it while the guy gave me instructions how to fly. Once we were set loose I ignored everything the guy said and waited for the ASI to get in the green arc, pulled it off the runway and immediately did a snap roll. My wife said some people outside the sim watching were getting motion sick as we did the aerobatics staring with everyone groaning "ooohh" with the snap roll into I/O Cuban 8s, lumclevaks, and such.

My best full motion sim event was at our local FAA when in HS. Got to fly one of their commercial airline sims. They did some scenario where the sim was going to crash, so I did the Kobiachi Marue thing. Screamed "Aaaaaa", unbuckled, ran to the back door of the cockpit, flung it open and Jumped off the back of the flight simulator. The FAA guys all cracked up. Said it was the first time they had seen anyone bail out of the flight sim.

OOOHHHH!!! Lots to look at.

I toyed with the racing sims and flying sims a little. I know friends that have elaborate systems. It just never tripped my trigger. Driving on the track in a real car, even if it is a slow old stock street car is orders of magnitude more fun, even if I only get to do it a few times per decade. I think the real risk is the difference. Sims need a pain mode that shocks or hurts the driver every time they crash, or at least cost the driver a lot of money. That would make it more realistic. ;)

morning all.

The oldest just went out and bought a PS4, he is happy but his wallet is lighter.

I think what caused being "in the zone" flying radio controlled planes was the risk of the investment of time building the plane if you crashed, and that it took full focus of attention to stay in control of the plane. Take your mind off the plane for just a second and it would go out of control.

I let one of my nephews fly one of my planes after it was up in the air. I talked him through flying one lap of the field. In his second 180 degree turn he started losing control and I took the radio. As soon as I took it he fell to his knees and was visibly shaking.

Got a RC flight sim that has a serial controller that was just like an RC controller. It did not bring on the same sort of focus/concentration.

My first autocross lap, trying to go as fast as I could without sliding out or missing a gate did take the same sort of focus/concentration. The only thing I remember the seasoned instructor saying during my first lap was. You don't have to go thru the middle of the cones. And him reaching over and turning off the windshield wipers I had inadvertently turned on trying to turn the steering wheel faster.

After learning to setup my car got a NASCAR driving simulator/game. It did not require the focus/concentration even though the setup changes were surprixingly accurate and I did very well.

You guys can go to an autocross or track all year. We are limited here because of that solid state precipitation.

We have the connector for our R/C transmitter to connect to the computer on the TV to practice on the R/C sim when there isn't good flying weather.

Glen, I bruised the bone in my shoulder the first time I flew the F-18 sim in San Diego. They have, or did have, a device that strapped to your chair that was similar to a sub-woofer driver to cause pain when you got shot and I imagine it would work in a racing sim.

If someone ever bought me a winning lotto ticket I would do the airplane laser tag thing all the time. I would also have time to travel to places that have autocross available. :)

Yea the really advanced simulators are likely a few orders of magnitude better than the stuff mere mortals have access to. I would love to see the F1 simulator in action. I doubt the average driver can get the car to run at speed. It is just counter intuitive to have to speed way UP to be able to make the corner because the aerodynamics only work at full speed.

I know a couple guys that were having problems the first time in cars with lots of aero. They were complaining how bad the car was and the instructor said "go faster".

We need a gravity simulator to make them realistic.

Well our 2004 Cessna 182T is parked in our hangar. It is undergoing the pre-purchase inspection and only little items are showing up. It is a 14 year old airplane, and NOT a garage queen flown on weekends for fun. It is a really nice 182 with the Garmin G1000 glass panel from the factory. It is a OMG price, but the down payment has been made, and unless the log books have a real issue that pops up we will be owning it today or tomorrow. Well us and the bank. I guess I need to get started on my pilots license and get comfortable with flying it.

That looks pretty cool, Glen!

Had some r/c friends that were big on computer games. The played F16 and did it all in real time including flying to and from missions (hours).

Glen, the avionics are probably half the cost of the aircraft.

Richard, I don't have the patience to do that in a game. Real flying I don't mind all the pre-flight and check lists and everything else that goes along with it.

Hey Jim, happy not work day.

Yea, it has XM for color radar, and the airport information all across the USA. It has a TON of bells and whistles. It will take a long time to learn that panel. The autopilot is amazing. Once you are in the air and over 1,000 feet you can just punch in how fast you want to climb (within aircraft limits and how much fuel you want to use) and the altitude you want to cruse at, and the airport you want to go to, and off it goes.