Hello all, I have decided to learn to fly even if just virtually, so I'm on the hunt for suggestions for your suggestions for really good USB joysticks as well as small plane flight sims, nicer if available locally but any good ones are welcome. The small planes I prefer would be the fighter planes of WW1 or 2 (P-51 Mustangs,) or the planes used for aerial acrobatics, not the big commercial jets. Someone also mentioned the Star Wars Pod racer (none in Datablitz :dry: ) may be suitable. Has anyone linked up 2 macs via ethernet and played a linked podracer game? Does this mean I would need a steering wheel as well? Cherrie [Edited on 4-28-2004 by weremermaid]
Hello Cherrie, You might want to consider Logitech Freedom 2.4GHz joystick revied by Inside Mac Games. I got one but dont use it with my Mac.
Hi Dust, The Logitech Freedom 2.4GHz joystick works on both Mac and pc, great reviews also wireless, even better! Thanks for the heads up! Cherrie
Hi Cherrie, Unfortunately for us combat flight sim fans (geeks). Options are few and far between. The only world war 2 flight sim with any degree of functionality available right now is from targetware: http://www.targetware.net/ Targetware is a built it yourself and fly system that is highly realistic and therefore quite complex. It is currently composed of three segments: Target Flanders (world war 1), Target Rabaul (world war 2 pacific), and target korea. Unfortunately, the system does not include any built in scenarios and If you want any combat, you must play online. That said, the modelling and quality is fantastic. Those looking for a simpler representation of air combat could try the warbirds system, although i have never been able to properly download the OS X version. Warbirds 2.77 seems to work well in classic mode. Coming soon is the rather unfortunately titled F-18 Operation Iraqi Freedom (yechhh) This is a OS X development of the excellent and very playable Hornet series from GraphSim. Hopefully, the coming years bring us some good flight sims. Albert
For OS 9.x, the most hardcore flight-sim is probably Falcon 4.0. Really difficult to master. The 400-page manual says it all. ;-) Dunno where you can get a copy though. I bought mine from Power Mac Center a couple of years or so ago. Sold it after a month or so of trying to figure out how to play the darn game properly. UPDATE: More Falcon 4.0 reviews from Inside Mac Games and MacGamer. Just browsing through the reviews makes me wanna go out and look for a copy again. I guess it's really good (too bad I never got to the good part, only the crashing part). 5 years after and there's still a large community of gamers devoted to the game. ~Henjie [Edited on 4-28-2004 by Henjie]
Henjie! Put 'er there! Me too. Crashing part only, too. Only mine was the PC version. I still have it. I actually read the whole 400 page manual and completely understood just 4 of the pages, mostly from the Table of Contents. I can just imagine how much better it would have played on a good, decent joystick. Somehow the keyboard combos can never cut it. [Edited on 4-28-2004 by Adel]
X-plane developed in OS X Hi all, I found this flight sim called x-plane, which is FAA approved (ha ha, tell that to the MS flight sims!) for actual license flying time accreditation. http://developer.apple.com/business/macmarket/laminar.html X-Plane is a realistic and highly detailed flight simulator that runs on Mac OS 9, Mac OS X, and Windows. It predicts how planes will fly so pilots can practice with planes they’ve not flown before. Essentially, the product is an extremely detailed flight model that breaks a plane up into its component parts then adds up the force on each part to get the total force on the plane. With X-Plane, pilots receive a realistic experience of how a particular plane handles, making initial flights much safer. Download the trial: http://www.x-plane.com/sysreq.html http://www.demo-files.com/view.php3?162 According to a friend who owns a cessna, the only drawback is a very steep learning curve, and it is preferable you already know how to fly a real plane. Although a joystick is not required, a joystick and rudder pedals are recommended if you want the complete experience. The plus side is you can design any plane or even a space shuttle you like. "X-Plane is the world's most comprehensive flight simulator, and the most realistic flight simulator available for personal computers. Welcome to the world of props, jets, single- and multi-engine airplanes, as well as gliders, helicopters and VTOLs such as the V-22 Osprey and AV8-B Harrier. X-Plane comes with subsonic and supersonic flight dynamics, sporting aircraft from the Robinson R-22 personal helicopter and Cessna 172 light plane to the supersonic Concorde and Mach-3 XB-70 Valkyrie. X-Plane comes with 38 aircraft spanning the aviation industry (and history), and several hundred more are freely downloadable from the internet. X-Plane scenery is almost world-wide, with the entire United States, Europe, and Australia on the CD, and more downloadable from www.X-Plane.com. You can land at any of over 6,000 airports, as well as test your mettle on aircraft carriers, helipads on building tops, frigates that pitch and roll in the waves, and oil rigs..." Hmmm, I've always wanted to land on an aircraft carrier, what with catching that aft hook on the line just so or else falling overboard if you don't take off for a 2nd pass in time. Cherrie
Planes to I'd like to build on X-plane: VarieEze "Glass Backwards", a fiberglass kit plane where the front canards (or mini nose wings) can move backwards sort of like the streamlined shape of a diving hawk wing. From Burt Rutan. More weird planes that can actually fly here And a QTVR here And here for the Rutan aircraft in flight, mostly the Varie Eze Pretty, aren't they? Cherrie
Hi. This is a very interesting thread. My dad is a frustrated pilot so I'm picking up useful info here. When his office told him today that they were getting him a 14" iBook, the first thing he asks me is if he can play Flight Simulator. X-plane sounds promising. I'll download the trial version and let him have a go at it. I know he flies a Cessna so I'm hoping he'll enjoy the trial and decide to switch. We'll see. Haaaay, ang hirap mag-alaga ng ama! Haha!
true. lalo na sa mga choppers. chalap pa naman ifly ng comanche kaya lang angmahal ng pedals - mas mahal pa sa joystick. but you're getting away na sa real stuff. yup. and since hindi lahat ng switches magagalaw sa instrument panel - majority of activations are done in the keyboard and each aircraft has different key settings na imememorise (opkors pwede icustomise) pati nga airship e
