Flight Simulator X-Plane 11 (Mac/PC)

For near 30 years Microsoft has dominated the domestic flight simulator market with various incarnations of Microsoft Flight Simulator, culminating in Flight Sim X (or 10, whichever you prefer) - better known as FSX. But then Microsoft withdrew support and development for the product. FSX is still available and is still a decent flight simulator - in fact if you have never tried flight simulation then it's a pretty good way to see if you like it - it's cheap to buy and most of today's computers can handle it.Lurking in the background for many years was X Plane. It became a bit of a geek's simulator as the interface was less than simple and it never really made the same impact as FSX - but the flight modelling was good. Then X Plane was reincarnated into version 11 and suddenly it hit the mainstream as the interface was simplified but also the offering was massively increased - and the mainstream developers of addon aircraft and scenery moved behind it to develop and expand the product.It's not a simple game, and anyone that expects it to be will be disillusioned. It is a fully featured flight simulation which comes with basic scenery and a portfolio of aircraft which can be easily added to. You will need a reasonably high specified computer to run it satisfactorily, and some form of controller - a dedicated set of flight controls is recommended. You can run this from the keyboard but it's a little like digging a ditch with a teaspoon - it can be done but it's more work than fun. You will also need a decent graphics card - a GTX1060 8mb should be considered a safe minimum spec - as nothing destroys a simulation more quickly than a stuttering image. If in doubt, either whether you will like it, or that your computer will cope, then X-Plane offer a free downloadable trial so that you can test it out.It's a steep learning curve, but the final results can be rewarding. You can use real world flight charts if you wish to navigate cross country flights, and the latest scenery files produced by Orbyx produce very realistic results. It isn't a quick fire shoot me up simulation - but will teach you the basics of flying and navigation, not to mention weather and geography! The simulator isn't perfect - Air Traffic Control and radio comms in general are particularly weak - but the program is constantly being developed and updated.It can very easily become a full time high addictive hobby, so beware! But if you're after a first class simulator and are prepared to expend the effort and time (not to mention money!) then this is the one to go for.(NB- I hold two real world pilot's licences as well!)

A great simulator, if you want to learn about flying, it is a great challenge. I tried to run it on my laptop which it did but the scenery was basic so I bought a high end games machine and now it is great.

Nice to play, unfortunately there are few available planes by default in game and if you want others you have to pay for them. I haven't bought any extra aircraft yet, but the free ones that you add are close to awful.

60gig of spare drive space required if you want to accommodate every map option of the game. Graphics are stunning, even on a triple monitor set-up, although it is a recommendation to have a good quality graphics card and multicore processor, i5 or i7 is the better choice if you want to see the simulation at its potential best. The number of aircraft is disappointing, but there is a lot of freeware downloads to remedy this issue.

WENWESEE!I bought an x-plane 11 brand new game DVD version since November 4th and was nevery able to get it hook up to my laptop. It just would not show. All the information from the x-plane has been downloaded into the computer .after downloading, the instructions would say start the game,a copit picture will appear then a large rainbow will also appear and you will hear the engine then the screen will go white, the an error message appears saying x-planes has stop working, then I would have to restart the laptop before I can get the computer to work again normally.I also bought the digital and a DVD' version 'x-plane from the US they done the same, ( DINT WORK )then I bought x-plane DVD from amazon (I was reasure by an Amazon REP that it will work ) it never work.I was etreamly extremely extremely disappointed and angry because I ws looking foward to learn to fly this game.I saw x-plane been demonstrated on YouTube and....... I .......was blown away. Just from what I saw on YouTube I would of given that 8 stars, very impressive and it appears to b very challenging. I still have the DVD''s ,mabe one day.I will continue to fly Extreme landing, that never failed me. I really thought I ws going to graduate from Etreme landing high school and go on to the University of x-plane, but noooo!I am still holding on to the DVD'S hoping that one day it might happen I could of easy send the set back.One question,I was sent 9 DVD'S butOnly 8 is aloud to b downloaded what is the perpouse of the 9'th?Thank you.