I thought the original FsFlyingSchool was pretty much flawless. Shows how much I know. They've only gone and...... Read on......
I always experience a feeling on ambivalence towards any update of any product I use - and the more I use that product, the greater the ambivalence; on the one hand there's the excitement at the prospect of new features but, on the other hand, there's the worry that the producers have tried to fix something that wasn't broken and, in the process, have destroyed what you liked about the package.
It was with great relief that I discovered that nothing has been 'broken' in the shiny, new FsFlyingSchool; it was with something approaching joy that I discovered that the update was well worth waiting for. Everything that I had thought was 'pretty much flawless' has been improved - often to a significant degree.
There's an incredible degree of balance to this program. There's enormous depth but there's never a feeling of pedantry (or nerdiness). Instructions and advice is clearly and simply given and all is pitched just about perfectly. The default instructor reminds me uncannily of my first (and only) driving instructor (this guy had me passing my driving test after six one-hour lessons); the voice is calm and relaxing but, at the same time, authoritative and reassuring. I have always tended to 'play' at flight sims - I don't have enough time to REALLY study (and, anyway, I do this to relax) but I can already see this program taking me up a ladder of achievement. There are a vast number of goals to aim for - even if it's just a word of praise from the instructor. It makes the whole experience more..... I'm not sure if this is the correct word but, to me, it fits .......and that word is 'worthy'. It gives a sense, not just of DOING SOMETHING, but actually achieving something in the process. You do something, you see what your something was, how you achieved that something (in incredible detail) and how you could have done that something better.
You can learn to fly a wide range of perfectly servicable, well-maintained and jolly accurately reproduced aircraft. You can also learn to fly a wide range of BROKEN aircraft (some of which would give Health & Safety cause for concern). The thrill of bringing in an aircraft that has developed a number of faults is something to be greatly savoured
Added to this, depending on mood, there's another game to play. Normally I see how much I can do to improve (lots) but, at other times, it is fun to try to see how much I can get away with. The answer is 'not much'.
And it's ALL so rediculously enjoyable. I've said before (and don't mind repeating) MicroSoft ought to be paying these guys.
A superb program. I read a review of this program in another place and that reviewer claimed that he had almost offered his instructor a cup of coffee - I'm waiting for mine to offer me one - in the next version perhaps?