Flight Simulators

mathfed · Post by **mathfed** » Fri Jan 21, 2005 10:37 am

My son (2 years old) is very interested in airplanes. I have been thinking of picking up a flight simulator that he and I can play together. What simulator would be the best for this? I'm not really looking for an action-type simulator with dogfighting and all of that. I would more like to just get one where you get to take off and land, fly around different kinds of planes, do maneuvers, etc. It sounds like MS Flight Simulator, but I've never played a simulator so I don't know. Also, are these kinds of games playabe with just a keyboard and mouse?

moss_icon · Post by **moss_icon** » Fri Jan 21, 2005 10:51 am

your 2 year old son is going to play a flight sim?! man. that's an advanced kid.

mathfed · Post by **mathfed** » Fri Jan 21, 2005 10:56 am

moss_icon wrote:your 2 year old son is going to play a flight sim?! man. that's an advanced kid.

I'll be playing it with him on my lap. I'll ask him what we should make the plane do, let him push a few buttons once in a while, that kind of thing.

Greg Wak · Post by **Greg Wak** » Fri Jan 21, 2005 11:06 am

sounds like you want ms flight simulator. Be prepared for a steep learning curve. ANd you need a fairly powerful rigto run it.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Fri Jan 21, 2005 11:31 am

Greg Wak wrote:sounds like you want ms flight simulator. Be prepared for a steep learning curve. ANd you need a fairly powerful rigto run it.

I agree. There are a bunch of "realism" settings that you can tweak to make it more fun for a 2 year old.

Additionally there are tutorial movies and audio flight tutorials.

I think you can get Microsoft Flight Sim for under $30 now.

moss_icon · Post by **moss_icon** » Fri Jan 21, 2005 12:16 pm

if you don't have a super fast pc you'd probably be ok with msfs2002, which would be even cheaper and still has most of the same features. it's just not as pretty.

mathfed · Post by **mathfed** » Fri Jan 21, 2005 12:45 pm

My pc should be fast enough. It runs Doom 3 and HL2 on high-highest settings without a hitch. I'll have to see if I can dig up flight simulator 2004 after work tonight.

If I did want more of an action flying game that I could also enjoy after the kid goes to bed, is it the going concensus that IL2 Sturmovick is the way to go?

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Fri Jan 21, 2005 12:47 pm

mathfed wrote:If I did want more of an action flying game that I could also enjoy after the kid goes to bed, is it the going concensus that IL2 Sturmovick is the way to go?

It is my opinion that there is no greater flight combat sim than the IL2 series. You can probably get Forgotten Battles and the Aces expansion on the cheap as well.

Ripstar · Post by **Ripstar** » Fri Jan 21, 2005 1:23 pm

I have almost every flight simm that has come out.

Smoove is right, the best flight simm out there is IL2 Sturmovich and all of its expansions. Everything about it is top notch and configurable.

If you want a simple arcade flight simm thats fun and based around WW1 fighters, take a look at the budget game Wings of War, lots of fun and easy to get into.

Hrdina · Post by **Hrdina** » Fri Jan 21, 2005 7:21 pm

moss_icon wrote:if you don't have a super fast pc you'd probably be ok with msfs2002, which would be even cheaper and still has most of the same features. it's just not as pretty.

To be honest, I don't think that FS2004 puts much more strain on a system than FS2002.

Plus, for this use he can always put the sim into Slew mode, which his son might enjoy.

Veloxi · Post by **Veloxi** » Fri Jan 21, 2005 10:14 pm

FS2004 would be the best bet, IMO. Run well on modest machines, had tons of training options, and you can have your son fly around win a wide variety of aircraft. You can play many sims (including FS2004) with a mouse and keyboard, but it isn't as much fun.

moss_icon · Post by **moss_icon** » Sat Jan 22, 2005 10:51 am

Hrdina wrote:
moss_icon wrote:if you don't have a super fast pc you'd probably be ok with msfs2002, which would be even cheaper and still has most of the same features. it's just not as pretty.
To be honest, I don't think that FS2004 puts much more strain on a system than FS2002.

well, it did on my pc so i was just making a blanket generalisation from personal experience

Hrdina · Post by **Hrdina** » Sat Jan 22, 2005 11:19 am

moss_icon wrote:
Hrdina wrote:
moss_icon wrote:if you don't have a super fast pc you'd probably be ok with msfs2002, which would be even cheaper and still has most of the same features. it's just not as pretty.
To be honest, I don't think that FS2004 puts much more strain on a system than FS2002.
well, it did on my pc so i was just making a blanket generalisation from personal experience

Me too, for the most part.

Actually, I had read on flightsim.com that FS2004 didn't require too much more processing power, and some people even claimed that it required less.

I've only recently upgraded to FS2004 myself, so I don't have enough information to comment on my own experience.

Veloxi · Post by **Veloxi** » Sat Jan 22, 2005 1:30 pm

In my experience, FS2004 runs better and requires less processing power than FS2002, which was a pig of a game.

JuniorDan · Post by **JuniorDan** » Fri Jan 28, 2005 12:07 am

I did this with my kid at age one ,
more in part because he liked sitting on my lap when I was playing FS2002 & 2004.
He is 3 now and stained. when asked what are you going to be when you grow up? his answer: "fly plane."
he would take a second to observe planes flying over.
as I am typing this I am looking at my kid's play box and there are planes every where.

I better stop having my 3 month old with me when I play GTA:SA.