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 - Flight Simulator X or X-Plane 9?I'm not a pilot, just someone who wishes they were. So, I bought Flight Simulator X Deluxe Addition and the Acceleration expansion...and I bought X-Plane 9 since it seemed like the only competition out there. So, I figured I'd write a review since I could make comparisons. If all you care about if flying from point A to point B and want a large variety of differing aircraft, then you may very well want to get X-Plane 9. If you want to get an idea of what it's like landing the space shuttle or flying on Mars (I was bored after 5 minutes), then get X-Plane 9. If you want to install 60 GB of data onto your hard-drive only to find that the Seattle and San Francisco skylines are GENERIC buildings instead of real models, then X-Plane 9 probably won't disappoint you. You CAN download mods (additional GB) to get more, accurate scenery, and there are a lot of cool planes on X-Plane 9...however, For all other people, definitely get Flight Simulator X. Flight Simulator X installs more easily. It takes up less space on the hard-drive (only 2 DVDs instead of 6 or 7). Has a wealth of information on learning to fly. Has "Flying Lessons" with, granted, a guy who has the corniest sense of humor I've ever heard...but humor aside...still really cool and as far as I (a non pilot) can tell, seems like the tests are fairly realistic with the exception that you "can" bypass startup, mixture, rudders, etc., so that it's less realistic if you choose to. FSX also has a wealth of missions that give you more things to do than just fly from point A to point B. You can take off from the San Francisco airport, see models of real buildings in the city, and fly under the Golden Gate Bridge in great detail...you can fly over Seattle and see Qwest field, Safeco field, the Columbia Tower, Space Needle...etc. If you get the Acceleration pack you can also fly a military jet and try your hand at landing on an aircraft carrier (X-Plane 9 does aircraft carrier landing too, btw). X-Plane 9 has "situations"...where (for example) someone flew to an aircraft carrier and saved the game on approach so that you wouldn't have to do the "flying to" part. However, this doesn't really compare to FSX's Flight Lessons and Missions. Overall, XP9 simply lacks the polish and "little details" that are in FSX, which makes FSX much more interesting for people like me who want to be given flight lessons and missions...and want to see real scenery. Rating:  - Very realisticI bought this because I am an enthusiast of civil aviation. Only thing I don't like, but haven't put enough effort into it, is the issue I am having to create an online account, powered by GameSpy, it won't accept the passwords I choose even if they meet their form requirement (after installing the first service pack). Rating: - Pretty good but not as intuitive as prior versions.I'm not very happy with trying to use Flight Simulator to configure the SAITEK controls (primarily flaps). It would be nice to find some example setups for common aircraft like a Cessna 172 for flight controls that include a yoke and levers. I'm sure I'll get there but have already spent a few hours trying to figure it all out. Older versions of the software seemed to be easier to figure out and navigate, but it's still fun and I've only scratched the surface as far as capabilities. Rating: - Flight Simulator X deluxeThe Game is awesome, the graphics are real good, and there are lots of aircraft to choose from, with lots of different versions of the aircraft. I think it's better than all the other Flight Simulators, by a longshot. Rating: - Great graphics, but too much of a systems hog!I am a pilot and long time user of the long lineage of microsoft's flight simulator. It has always been a great program, and this latest edition is jaw dropping. But no one tells you that you need a high end gaming computer to play this game smoothly. I have a new iMac with a 512MB nvidia 8800 graphics card and an intel duo core 2.8 ghz processor. yet, there are times, especially on landings when graphics are high, that the frame rate is choppy. otherwise, an awesome program with real life flight detail. I routinely use fsx to plan and fly routes to airports I have never been to before. When I fly the real flight in my cessna 182rg, it's as if I've already flown it. this makes the program worth a lot more than $40.
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