Flight Simulator X - Gold Edition (PC)

Please note, this is not a game, although you can have a lot of fun with it ! Full world terrain to an excellent detail level...check. Amazing graphics (even given it is several years old now)....check Hundreds of real airports...check Good variety of planes and helicopters with well modelled interiors/exteriors, virtual cockpits and flight models....check HUGE amount of free stuff available on the internet (just look!)...check HUGE amount of payware available to upgrade just about anything....check Amazing training guides and fun missions to fly....check Well thought out online environment with huge potential....check Very highly spec'd PC required to play ? Hmmm....check ! Perhaps the major downside to this incredible piece of software is the fact you will need a monster PC. A lot of people complained when it came out because it ran so slowly on 'most' PCs...and they were bang on. My system is a new, fairly well spec'd Core I7/5770/4gb Ram machine that scores 7.5ish (out of 7.9) for just about everything in Windows experience on Win7. It runs Rise of Flight, Napoleon TW, Arma 2 etc smoothly at highest detail settings at 1920x1080. Even it struggled at times with FSX at full detail (eg over London in an F18!) and if you have anything moderately old or with a poor graphics card, you will have to accept lower resolutions or lower detail. That said, if you can run it with full detail, it looks and flys great. It compares really well to the 'real' world flying experience...the addition of full ATC transmissions, the ability to file flight plans and to fly in just about anything...to just about anywhere...is incredible. The only minor downside I can find (apart from the beast of a PC required) is that at times it is too real and can become more like work than fun. Whilst I haven't tried the online options yet, they are well integrated into the overall experience and for example you could have a player operating as ATC at a major airport (with full radar/tower picture etc) and several players flying circuits/IFR etc. I will finish by saying that for the money £18ish.....you are getting the absolute bargain of the century in PC software....you get so much for the money before you even go online and see what you can download for free (legitimately!). This is the ultimate sandbox, flying simulator, it's dirt cheap and awesome. Go buy.

This is the first modern flight simulator I have played, so thought I'd share my findings for anyone in a similar position who isn't sure what to expect. First of all, the game is much better when played with a joystick. You can use keyboard and mouse, but I found this very difficult to get used to, and as soon as I got a joystick, it became much easier to handle the planes. I can recommend the Thrustmaster T.Flight X - that's what I bought and it has worked perfectly to date. Learning the controls can be a very daunting prospect at first, especially if you go into key mapping and see the incredibly long list of commands covered! Don't be put off - you get used to it and you'll soon find what you want to have access to most and then it's just a case of working out the right set up for you. Some of this will depend on you're preferred viewing method. I like to use outside views and so need to have more controls mapped than if you prefer a cockpit view, where you can just press whatever control you need from in there. The detail in this is excellent, as it really gives you that sense of being there and doing it. There are some great tutorials that cover everything from your first take-off and landing, to an introduction to flying jets and helicopters. I strongly recommend that if you came to it as a complete newbie like I did, that you play through all of the 'Beginner' level missions at least, and then do some free flights to get more used to how everything works. There has clearly been a lot of detail worked into the game, but I found it didn't really hit me at first because a lot of the scenery is like a big Google map satellite picture that you fly over. Buildings are placed throughout the game world, and airports have been built up to be realistic (down to terminal gates, plane stands, and taxi ways). The realism you want is largely down to you - you can always take off straight from the runway, or you can taxi there and go through the whole communication process with Air Traffic Control. This continues into flying and landing at your destination - you can just fly in and shut down, or arrange your landing and taxi to your stop. Sound is another impressive element - engine sounds, alerts, and ATC comms are very realistic. I also recommend you spend time getting used to using the flight planner. If you just jump in and fly, you'll need to know where you're going to land somewhere. If you plan your flight, you can use the in-game GPS and you'll know where you're going and how long it will take you to get there. It's easy enough to pick up how to use it, and if you do miss anything then there is a vast knowledge base that covers everything in the game. Once you're used to how the game works, you can play through the variety of missions available (anything from a secret flight to Area 51, to a Carrier landing), or you can do what I have an jump into the vast world of Flight Sim add-ons! There is tons of freeware out there, literally thousands of pages of it. Everything from planes to scenery and additional traffic (planes, road traffic, and ships). You don't have to be a computer whiz to use it, as most pieces come with detailed instructions on how to install, and some even come with an installer built in to it. I recently registered for the Flyaway site and pay for member access, as once you start downloading this stuff, you'll want the extra speed and removal of download limits as there is so much you can get through. You get a lot to start you off with in the game itself, especially with the acceleration pack version, but there really is just so much you can add to it. I mention this because I found the simulator itself got boring pretty quickly if you don't have anything to make it work for. Most planes have an autopilot, and while it's obviously up to you to use it or not, just flying for the sake of it didn't really appeal for long. There are several things out there dedicated to giving you a reason to fly from A to B. FS Economy is a good place to start, as it's free to play, and then Air Hauler is a good piece of software that focuses purely on cargo. Again, it takes a bit of getting used to with how these elements work, purely because rather be added as a part of FSX, they are stand-alone programs that interact with it - but once you've played a couple of times, they are very good enhancement of the original software. So in summary, don't expect to see your street modelled in detail because it's not set up that way, but the water effects and areas of attention to detail is impressive when you consider it covers the whole planet! Sounds are excellent and add to the experience, as does the fact that you can sit in a cockpit and experience an actual flight as you would if you were in the real thing. And look at what's out there to take the simulator further - whether it's adding elements to it or giving you a reason to fly from one place to another. Hope this helps you decide if it's for you!

It's pretty good - in terms of the aircraft its certainly realistic - in terms of the landscapes it's somewhat less realistic (I don't recall seeing any waterfalls and pine forests in South East London !), but still lots of fun. The only problem is that it really isn't fully compatible with Windows 7. It does run on Windows 7, but you will likely find that midway through a flight, the problem simply stops. It doesn't cause the PC to lock-up or anything, nor does it corrupt any files, it simply takes you back to the desktop. If you then start up Flight Sim again, it works fine (until the same problem happens a bit later). Not really a fault of Microsoft, as the software was written quite a while back, before Win 7 was around. But still annoying.

I bought this flight simulator to test the performance of my Asus G74SX laptop, and yes the laptop really makes this simulator quite a joy. Thank you Terry on Amazon discussion - your query encouraged me to try out this simulator. I always declared myself as a no gaming person, but now I see myself enjoying a bit and from time to time don't mind trying to fly and land safely (though not at that stage yet). The realism of the simulator is quite impressive. If you ever face problems in running this game trouble free (as the previous reviewer, but one, has indicated) please make sure that you have a PC with adequate computing and graphics resources. This game is not yet 100% perfect on Windows 7 64-bit platform but still enjoyable, resources permitting. The one issue I noted was that when FSX is launched, it changes the Windows colour to Basic and I suspect this is because it cannot handle the Aero Desktop Composition; the change will be restored when FSX is exited, so the annoyance factor is nearly zero. Considering the original release date of FS, I think it is coping well with the very modernish Windows 7 platform. I hope Microsoft will release a fully compatible edition, with zero or minimal cost upgrade path for FSX (and FS9) fans. Another issue I came across was that after installing SP1 and SP2, I then attempted to install the Acceleration Expansion Pack (which comes with FSX). This prompted me to uninstall SP2 before installing the Acceleration Expansion Pack. In fact, later I realised that I overlooked something important in the documentation, to the effect that if you're installing the Acceleration Expansion Pack, you shouldn't install SP2 at all (I presume the Expansion Pack has SP2 built-in). To enjoy this simulator with a smooth control, a good quality flight stick is a must. I found the SPEEDLINK Black Widow Flightstick to be a good match for its reasonable price. This is a great game but may only be fully enjoyed with a PC equipped with good CPU, GPU and memory. The laptop I tried on has the following (high end) spec; CPU: Intel i7 2630QM Processor 2.0GHz; GPU: nVidia GeForce GTX 560M with 3GB dedicated GDDR5 VRAM; RAM: 16GB; OS: Windows 7 64-bit; Other: FSX installed and run from HDD on D drive although laptop is equipped with SSD as C drive for other programs often used.

If you want to get an idea of what it's like to be an airline pilot, then this sort of kit is probably the best out there. I discovered, however, that this kind of flying is dead boring! Do you really want to sit there for hours flying around the world looking at endless sky, twiddling you thumbs? Not for me. Also, I was using a joystick, and these are far from ideal, and the graphics with this program are crude in today's terms. If you want any sort of proper realism you'd have to send a small fortune on other control gear as well. Generally this software looks like it was written decades ago. It's awkward to use and lacks realism. I spent a few hours on it, then put it to one side. That being said, it's not at all bad for £20. However, you might have to upgrade your graphics card and other hardware. I spent altogether about £120 on a triple-core processor, 500w heat sink/fan, another 2Gb of RAM and 512 Mb DirectX 10 graphic card upgrade. I also bought a Full HD monitor for £100. It was a bit OTT when you only need DirectX 9 capability, and then only to find the software's graphics were rubbish anyway. Worst of all, the program still freezes up! Horses for courses I suppose, but if you really want to have fun with superb realism, great sound effects and brilliant graphics you need to get a Pheonix model plane flight sim. Unbelievably good, and with this you actually plug in the same r/c transmiiter that you would use just like with real model flying, beats a joystick hands down any day. There are masses of models to fly from loads of different 'airfields' and covers planes, helicopters, jets you name it, it's all there, and free upgrades too. Best part is the graphics requiremnt is only DirectX 9! It's intended to train people to learn to fly real models. Doesn't matter if you crash, and you most certainly will. The cost to get you 'flying' is about £110 which includes the Phoenix 4 software and a Spektrum DX4 radio - hours of real fun. Start with a trainer model and I guarantee you will be totally wowed and hooked straight away. Check out real model flying on YouTube!

Quite simply, just what I expected! I thought long and hard about whether to buy this or the X-Plane package and when I considered, in reality, just how much I was actually be going to use the flight sim - amongst my other sims and everyday other activities, chores, etc, - it became a no-brainer! X-Plane is something like £50 and FSX Gold I managed to get for £15! Graphically, it is very pleasing and runs effortlessly now that I have my i7 laptop with 8 GB of RAM and 2GB Graphics card. I have since added to this - and the cost - by buying Horizon's v3 VFR landscape and Earth Simulation's Treescapes. Yes, that does now considerable come to more than X-Plane's initial outlay...but I'm quite sure that even X-Plane has its necessary add-ons in order to enhance its quality! So I still believe it's the cheaper way to go if you are not quite 'hard core' enough of a virtual pilot to warrant, for me anyway, to keep up-to-date with X-Plane, which is, of course, in current production. Finally, I feel that individuals who buy FSX KNOW precisely what they're getting before hand, and so this lil review may just serve to bolster the reason why you'd choose this over its competitor. And as a final finally, you may have heard of Prepar3D (pronounced 'prepared'). This is the new, commercial-standard 'FSX' by Lockheed Martin which is now also available to the public - it may be for you but I aint going there! Enjoy FSX Gold...it's now a bargain!

Game was delivered promptly by supplier-no problems there.Game appears to install correctly but cannot be activated so does not work fully and Acceleration and Expansion pack therefore cannot be loaded.Internet activation just never connects and there is an alternative telephone system which requires an ID number but the game just will not generate it.Microsoft have sent an alternative product key but this makes no difference and they now admit that this is an obsolete product in their terms and they do not fully support it.Their latest suggestion is that I contact one of their "communities"to see if anyone else has a solution to what appears to be a known problem.Why Microsoft continue to produce and market the product if they do not fully support it is beyond me.I will persevere because I have owned an earlier version of the game and it is very good for the casual gamer but would appreciate any assistance from any source.

I've flown Microsoft flight sims for years and have had each incarnation of the series back to FS98. After reading reviews of FSX I've held back on changing from FS2004 as I my (then) PC wasn't powerful enough to handle the graphics. However, with the demise of XP I've invested in a new Windows 7 PC with considerably more power (W7 Home Premium 64bit SP1, Intel i5 3570K, Asus P8Z77-V motherboard, 2Gb Radeon 6670 series video card, 8Gb ram) and took the plunge. So far I haven't had any issues with conflicts, stalling, crashes etc that some users have experienced & my PC is plenty powerful for very good frame rates. OK, the basic rules are the same but the graphics are so much better and the additional missions on the Acceleration Pack add that extra challenge needed to give the sim a different angle. Great stuff and well worth the price especially if you are new to flightsims but remember this is not a "game" - it is a genuine flight simulator and is good at what is does if you want to fly commercial, military or private aircraft around the world but its not an action game.

FSX potrebbe essere considerato quasi obsoleto, visto che non sfrutta minimamente le prestazioni grafiche delle schede grafiche odierne. Parlaiamo però di un simulatore e non di un videogame e quindi altri fattori sono più importanti rispetto alla qualità visiva, a cominciare che continuano ad uscire ed essere aggiornati centinaia di addon, anche freeware, che espandono e migliorano continuamente il mondo di FSX.

i have been loonking for this game for so long ,im just happy that i got one now ,its really a cool game and i got it on time

Excellent one from MS ! ! Make sure you go through systems minimum requirment before you buy it.

edizione addestrativa perche in lingua inglese, ha in bundle fsx accelerator obbligatorio per alcune macchine nuove di altri sviluppatori come aiirbus

Bonjour, Suite à une erreur chez le vendeur j'ai reçu la version de base au lieu de la version gold. Il m'a été proposé de renvoyer le produit et un remboursement ou de le garder moyennant une compensation. J'ai préféré le garder et ai installé moi même les SP1 et SP2 contenus dans la version gold. Je n'ai par contre pas pu récupérer les autres 'plus' de la version gold (en nombre d'avions, de scènes et de mission). Cordialement G. Rio