| AVSIM Special Feature Simulation Product Feature Comparison By the AVSIM Online Review Staff | |||||||||||||||
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In the discussion below we characterize each simulation product in terms of the respective evaluation categories, noting which simulator's features command the leading position. Also note that while the simulation product that is best for your purposes may not be considered a "leader" in some categories, it may nevertheless satisfy your needs. Therefore we've included brief descriptions of each category for all three products.
As for the final category, Available Add-ons, many of the freeware and commercial add-ons for both FS2000 and Fly! are or will be evaluated in AVSIM Online's existing and on-going reviews.
FS 2000: This mainstream product is the 'classic', which has evolved from humble beginnings even earlier than IBM's original Personal Computer appeared. This fact is both a strength and a weakness-a strength because its been through so many versions, but also constrained in some ways by the need to maintain "backward compatibility" for the legions of add-on products developed for earlier versions, going back to FS5 even now.
But this too is a strength, as Flight Simulator's open architecture has spawned an incredible array of companion products. Until very recently our hobby's enjoyment has been driven almost entirely by the Flight Simulation product series.
One topic of great debate as we prepared this article was the relative merits of each product's scenery. But everyone agreed that FS2000's generic scenery is without doubt the most convincing of the three.
Fly!:
This is arguably the "professional's" flight simulation product, at least as far as the mass market is concerned. Now in its initial release, there are some rough spots but Fly! will doubtless evolve, Version 2 already having been announced. And Fly!'s programmers have been quick to answer user issues with timely patches.
Many of its features are superlative, as there is no "legacy" to constrain its implementation (so far). One of Fly!'s most notable strengths is the authenticity of its panels, though there certainly are recent examples of equally detailed and authentic panels offered for FS2000 as add-ons.
This too is an open architecture, so the add-on market continues to evolve by supporting this simulator for an even richer flying experience.
Flight Unlimited III:
Here we have a very rich product as well, though its foundations are quite obviously rooted in the "gaming" genre. This "look and feel" may be off-putting to some hobbyists, but isn't really a hindrance to enjoying this product's many excellent features. As a matter of fact some reviewers—particularly those who themselves are pilots—find FU3 to be the most convincing of the three in terms of realistic flight dynamics and sense of actually flying, albeit with limited geographic coverage.
Be aware that FU3's architecture is essentially closed, though local scenery can be added using the included 'FLED' scenery editor.
FS 2000:
Breadth of coverage - Leader - Standard version: Cessna 182S & RG, Extra 300S, Learjet 45, Boeing 737-400, Bell 206 Helicopter, Sopwith Camel, Schweizer Sail Plane, and new to this version, Boeing 777-300, and the Concorde.
Professional version: The above plus Beechcraft King-Air 350 and Mooney Bravo.
Realism: Aircraft exteriors—and especially their interiors—are remarkably well executed. Surface contours are more detailed and much smoother than in previous versions. Flight cabin windows are transparent, showing interior details and even respectable renditions of the flight crew. Moving parts are modeled thoroughly, even including spinning props and jet engine turbine blades.
Flight dynamics: Consistently good; highly representative of each aircraft type. Now a true turboprop model is available, and all aircraft have moving parts (ailerons, flaps, elevator, and rudder) and more rounded features. Spinning propellers and turning jet engine blades are visible during startup. Windscreens are transparent and have pilots visible. Both the aircraft exterior and interior views are quite attractive. Aircraft models seem particularly realistic.
With propeller aircraft you'll notice the torque effect from the propeller pulling the aircraft to the left on take off. And ground steering is much improved over previous FS versions. Fly!:
Breadth of coverage: Cessna 172R & P, Piper Malibu Mirage,
Piper Navajo, Beech King Air B200, and Raytheon Hawker 800XP
Realism - Leader - Very accurate representation of provided aircraft types; good surface coloring and shading. Moving parts are comprehensive and are well implemented. Interior views are 'best in class'.
Flight dynamics: Generally quite good, superior in some respects.
When Fly! was released some of the aircraft flight dynamics still had room for improvement. There was a reluctance for the aircraft to break away from ground effect and some displayed a taste for the odd bucking bronco jerk from time to time. While most areas of flight dynamics were well modeled the yaw capability was not. The latest patch has rectified the pitch control sensitivity. Why is it that no sim programmers ever model a realistic pitch control feel? Real aircraft—once trimmed for different flight configurations—will require a reasonable pull to displace them from their trajectory, not the ultra sensitive fine touch that is required to keep aircraft straight and level in the majority of home simulators.
The aircraft interior views are outstanding. You can look down to see the operating pedestal, look up to see full operating upper panels, look over your shoulder to find the APU panel (as in the Hawker), and you can scan the full width panel. Perhaps these features should be considered to be "panel" attributes, nevertheless they contribute strongly to the sense that you're really "there" insofar as is possible viewing the cabin interior using a single display monitor. As for the other interior views, you can almost smell the leather and touch the wood! Flight Unlimited III:
Breadth of coverage: Trainer (Cessna 172), Piper Arrow, Mooney TLS Bravo, Twin-engine "Windhawk" (Beech Baron), BeechJet 400A, Muskrat and Lake Renegade 270 Seaplanes, P-51D Mustang, Stemme S10-V7 Motorglider, Fokker DR1 Tri-Plane (downloadable)
Flight dynamics - Leader - Excellent overall, though takeoffs and landings can be touchy. Particularly impressive is FU3's sense of realism in aircraft handling; it feels like you're flying, particularly in the way it models aerobatics. One of the pilot reviewers noted, however, that the joystick pitch range shifts based on the trim settings, the result being that you're unable to encompass the full range of control travel. This characteristic is unrealistic at best, and makes it difficult to fly at worst. You should have access to the full control deflections at all times—even if out of trim. For example, you may want to trim your landings so that you need to apply back pressure to maintain your approach path—then in case of a go-around there will be less of an uncommanded pitch up tendency.
Aircraft damage - Leader - FU3 gets the nod for creative and realistic damage models. Extend the gear or flaps at too high a speed: you hear them break and they are non-functioning for landing. Land wrong and you may flip over or break off wings or even tail. Hit the water and you'll slowly submerge, listening to the sound of bubbles as you descend to the depths. Looking Glass set the standard for damage models in FU2, then continued this innovation to FU3. And the flaps and gear speed damage isn't just audio-visual; it adds significantly to the flight realism.
FS2000:
Panel design: Included panels are improved over FS98, though most are exceeded (in both accurate placement and functionality) by many excellent ones available for free downloading or purchase. The best new features are working system annunciators, and night lighting of panels.
FS2000's panels present a pleasing appearance and are unquestionably easier to read than in previous versions of FS. That said, most panels have something of an "arcade-like" look to them, and accurate instrument placement has been sacrificed for readability for some planes. All panels have three clickable icon buttons that bring up the GPS map, the radio stack, and the standby compass. Some panels show the throttle console and an annunciator panel in separate windows as well. And there's an IFR panel version for the Cessna 172S and Mooney Bravo in the Professional edition.
System features are modeled for the first time in the default simulator. These include an annunciator panel with lettered condition lights to notify you of system functions as they activate, and also out-of-configuration condition and inoperative device warnings. For example, when starting engines on multi-engine aircraft, you'll see ignition and the generators activate in sequence.
Another strong feature, though an adjunct of panels per se, is the checklists. These can conveniently be called up with a function key or joystick button to read the aircraft type's procedures and/or reference information such as the various V speeds. There's also a "notes" tab useful for typing flight specific data such as arrival airport com and navaid frequencies, and other approach details—imagine how helpful this will be once FS2000 can be flown with SquawkBox!
Autopilot: - Leader - A functionally adequate autopilot is implemented in the King Air, though it's somewhat simplistic; a competently designed rendition is installed in the Boeing 737 and 777 aircraft. However, add-ons are necessary if you want additional autopilot modes, such as 'Flight Level Change' [FLCH] and 'Vertical Speed' [V/S]. A virtue the FS2000 autopilots share is their intuitive operation.
Fly!:
Panel design - Leader - Best included panels, but you cannot modify them, and design of new ones appears to be quite complex. System annunciator implementation is excellent. Weather radar included in several of the panels is also a plus.
This area has to be the groundbreaking advance in home simulations. Nobody has come anywhere near achieving what Terminal Reality has with their aircraft panels and systems.
Each panel that you can call up is a work of art; it's not surprising there were some bugs in the original release, considering the complexity of what Terminal Reality has achieved. The scrolling main panels work well and are instinctive. To bring up the overhead, side and below panels does not create a problem while flying as all but one of the aircraft are normally flown on some degree of autopilot real world. Accurate checklists and procedures are provided.
Startup sequence modeling is unsurpassed in the default simulator, though even this may be enhanced in upcoming air transport add-ons such as those offered by Precision Manuals Development.
Autopilot: The autopilots in Fly! are specific to each aircraft type; highly realistic Bendix KAP140, Bendix KFC150, Bendix KFC200, Collins FCS-65, and Collins FCS-85 A/Ps are offered. For jet transport aircraft, of course, specific implementations are up to their 3rd-party add-on authors. In spite of the remarkable attention to detail in system modeling, the Hawker in particular, you'll find it something of a challenge to use them properly as the provided documentation is very general. Were these autopilots adequately documented Fly! would be the leader here as well.
Flight Unlimited III:
Panel design: Panels are not very realistic, but look ok. These cannot be modified, and there is no guidance for designing new ones.
FS2000:
Realism and Fidelity to aircraft type - Leader - There are sounds specific to several of the aircraft; the good news is that they're terrific across the board. The sound of each of the Beech King Air's turbines and then props winding up, in particular, take MS' Flight Simulator to a whole new level of realism. Enhanced stereo sounds are available on CD#3 of the Professional edition. Fly!:
Realism and Fidelity to aircraft type:Sounds in FLY! are excellent, and the most impressive feature is hearing the sounds of nearby aircraft, particularly on the ground. Operation of all switches is accompanied by sounds also, as is startup of the APU on the Hawker. Flight Unlimited III:
Realism and Fidelity to aircraft type: The sounds in FU3 are impressive, including different engine startup sounds for all aircraft, rumbling sound while taxiing, change in sound when gear lift from the runway, different engine sounds from idle to full for all aircraft, and sounds of nearby thunder and lightning. There are even scraping sounds if you dip a wing to the tarmac while taxiing, and great crash sounds too. FS2000:
Terrain: Most impressive in FS2000 is the elevated mesh terrain scenery, which provides accurate terrain modeling of the entire world. No longer do we fly a flat world with occasional projections of polygonal hills and mountains. The landscape is now full of hills, valleys, slopes, and more realistic mountains. And the old default building types have been replaced, usually with nicely textured buildings. Even medium-sized airports look very acceptable when they are dotted with a few of the new buildings. While some mountain elevations were not realistic in the original release, this has been improved considerably in the patched version, and there is an increasing number of scenery add-ons, some with photo real scenery.
World coverage/Airport Complexity - Leader - Covers the entire world (over 20,000 airports). Airport complexity is fair, though this can be very good with add-ons (assuming that you have sufficient computer processing power with a state-of-the-art graphics card).
Dynamic scenery: Yes, near airports. Note that there's a very complete add-on available, FSTraffic, which uses the new concept of Active Scenery to produce dynamic traffic based on conversion of users' aircraft. FS2000 has an improved system of texturing the terrain, such that the previous view of repeating tiles is gone, and there is an improved means of transitioning between textures. Also impressive is the fact that every texture has winter, spring, summer, and fall versions. There are improvements to ground lighting, 3D objects, and even phases of the moon. Taken together, all these scenery improvements provide a stunning display outside your aircraft, regardless of time of day or season.
Nighttime effects are vastly improved in FS2000 also. Airport lighting takes advantage of 3D video cards, allowing for lighting that you can see faintly through fog, and more clearly as you approach. The new textures used for urban areas at night give off a pleasing orangey glow that is more or less like what major cities look like at night with low-pressure sodium street lights. Headlights of cars are seen at uniform intervals on roads at night. And runway approaches at night are a whole new experience; you'll see sequenced strobe lights leading you in, green threshold lights, bright runway marker lights, and blue taxiway lights. FS98's dreaded night time "orange map" is gone; that's replaced with a clear top-down image of the airport and its runways. Fly!:
Terrain: True elevation with five cities in greater detail. Overall detail and accuracy is fairly low. On the other hand, downloaded USGS Elevation data is easily importable (GEOTOPO30) into Fly! to give 1KM spacing on elevations.
World coverage/Airport Complexity: Covers USA, Europe, part of Canada (over 3,500 airports; additional generic scenery worldwide, over 9,500 airports in all). Airport complexity is only fair; taxiways are available at relatively few airports (though additional coverage is a planned). It's disappointing that airport taxiways and aprons are shown in undifferentiated textures.
Dynamic scenery: Dynamic scenery near airports and on runways, and in the air, all with associated engine sounds. Each has a complete flight plan and can continue to perform landings and takeoffs continuously between their source and destination airports while operating in the vicinity (150 mi.) of the user. New planes continue to be introduced into the sim as the user changes their location (i.e. cross-country flight). Spawning can occur anywhere in the world. Fly! comes with five photorealistic satellite image scenery areas. The rest of the world is comprised of generic scenery. The satellite scenery works very well—the sky, clouds and scenery creating an image which duplicates what a real world view would look like. The whole picture is all-important, not individual parts thereof. That said, cities and airports outside the detailed areas are quite unconvincing. San Diego, CA, for example only vaguely resembles the actual city, and San Diego Int'l airport appears barren.
To place this in perspective, we feel that when a pilot or passenger views the world ahead at altitude they see a complete picture. That picture involves not only the ground but the atmospherics that soften the scenery into distant haze and then blends into the cloud scenery above. It is the whole picture that is important, which Fly! captures remarkably well to give an out-of-the-cockpit view which is close to the real world scene. You may feel that close to the scenery is blurry, or that the horizon curvature is too pronounced, but at a typical VFR height or higher the blending of ground, horizon and sky is spot on.
There has been some excellent freeware scenery created for Fly!. The main problem with add-on scenery is the huge size of the files needed for even small areas. This causes two problems, first the download time and second the huge appetite these files have for your hard disc space. Pacific Northwest Scenery (which does cover a large area) will be read directly from the disc when this commercial product is released. Also Andrew McLean is developing pre-rendered synthetic scenery for distribution by CD at a nominal charge. Perhaps better than the photo textures, this scenery is similar in size due to the fact that it is essentially a large texture map. Boston, for example, is very well rendered over the default tiles of generic scenery. His CD is expected to be comprised of the DC-NYC corridor, and weigh in at almost a full CD of data! Flight Unlimited III:
Terrain - Leader - True elevation with photo real scenery (best looking out of the box, but FS2000 can look as good with scenery you can purchase). [Correction] City lights are seem at night in the cities, and is found everywhere within the high detail area.
World coverage/Airport Complexity: Seattle area and "outer terrain." Includes San Francisco Bay Area if user has FU2 CDs. Airport complexity is very good; in fact it's the only sim where you can taxi by taxiway letters using default airport scenery.
Dynamic scenery - Leader - Both on ground and en-route. The best yet! FU3's scenery and weather effects are its strongest features. The Seattle, Washington and San Francisco, California (if you also own FU2) sceneries are amazingly detailed.
FS2000:
Overall realism: Much improved over previous versions.
Clouds: Major improvements here.
Inclement weather: Now supported and well implemented.
Real weather access - Leader - Downloadable from Internet through weather menu. Though it updates as new areas are flown, the weather database does not change unless user downloads again. Real time METAR access is not supported. Clouds have volume and shape, and there is a certain randomness to them that makes for more realistic weather. The precipitation that accompanies them is quite good. Raindrops fly past your plane, and splatter against your windshield, though some users feel the raindrops look like soap bubbles. In the Cessna's, you can hear the rain drumming against your wings. The clouds are real and dark and the rain does beat heavily. Also there's snow, thunder and lightning effects.
Real weather can be download from an on-line Jeppesen current-weather database, and an Advanced Weather dialog provides user-specification of extremely detailed weather, including drag and drop editing of cloud layers. You can have many different layers: towering cumulonimbus, scrubby stratus, and wispy cirrus. Fly!:
Overall realism The weather modeling is very nice, allowing for a wide range of meteorological phenomena.
Clouds: - Leader - Fly! clouds are the most realistic clouds at close quarters available. Frame rates with the latest patch are better. The night low frame rate problem appears to have been corrected for most.
Inclement weather: This feature is well implemented.
Real weather access: Downloadable with freeware add-on AutoMetar program. METAR data also can be obtained by downloading a METAR sequence file as a *.txt file from weather.noaa.gov, then manually importing the file into Fly!'s flight planner.
Not only does the rain look good, but the accompanying thunder and lightning is first rate. Heavy thunderstorms really make you feel a little vulnerable when you're out puttering around VFR in the Cessna Trainer.
How in the World has created an excellent freeware add-on for Fly! called Sky!. Sky! offers the user a dozen or so canned weather situations, ranging from a winter blizzard to a summer thunderstorm. Users can set these parameters themselves in Fly!, but Sky! lets you jump right in without all that work. Flight Unlimited III:
Overall realism: - Leader - Some features are perhaps more convincingly implemented in the others, but the dynamic weather and the overall interaction between the various parts of the sim are what make the realism of the whole.
Try the night thunderstorm departure in the Beech. There are atmospherics there which the others cannot recreate. You feel safe within the shell of the Beech, riding the elements with the knowledge of what's outside.
Cloud graphics: Single variable coverage layer with 2D cirrus clouds painted onto the sky. Cumulus clouds look very flat.
Inclement weather - Leader - Rain, thunderstorms and lightning are outstanding. The hallmark feature of rain in FU2/FU3 is that it hits the windows and moves in the direction of the relative wind. So rain on the front windows moves upward, while rain on the side windows moves sideways, and both are speed dependent. The panel on the Beechjet includes a weather radar that accurately shows what you see out the windscreen.
Real weather access: Not downloadable, but very realistic weather can be selected by the user, including setting up moving frontal systems, which update as you fly. Also, there are several default weather scenarios that are very realistic. FS2000:
- Leader - (tie) FS2000's flight planner is intuitively easy to use, and allows generating flight plans with choices of routing by GPS (direct), low altitude airways, high altitude airways, and VOR to VOR. Flight plans list waypoints, frequencies, and other pertinent information, but do not include altitudes for each waypoint. Instead, only the cruising altitude is part of plans. Flight plans and route maps can be printed, saved and loaded, as well as edited. Heavy users may likely prefer third-party flight planning add-ons, many of which offer more flexibility. The Flight Planner links your flight plan directly to the FS2000 GPS. Fly!:
- Leader - (tie) Fly!'s flight planner is both elaborate and completely intuitive, with a combination of graphical and keystroke operations. It begins with user selection of departure and arrival airports by typing city names or ICAO codes, then adding waypoints graphically or by auto-generation. The plan is then displayed on one of the included, accurate topographical maps of the world, with detailed topo maps available for many areas. The user can then edit the plan by moving, adding to, or deleting from the list of waypoints, for which lat, long, and time of passage are listed. The planner also includes comprehensive data for each waypoint. The flight planner links the plan to the GPS in applicable aircraft and the FMS in the Hawker. Flight Unlimited III:
FU3 comes with a simple, easy to use flight-planning utility. You click on the route on a terrain map of the region, save the flight plan as desired, and away you go. That's it, but there are a few quirks here. It's just a basic mouse-click planner, and it can only be used within the Seattle or San Francisco, but not between them or within the outer terrain area. A "notepad" is included that displays information pertinent to the current flight plan, including general airport, positional, departure, destination and flight route data. FS2000:
- Leader - FS2000 has two forms of moving maps. Map View provides a geographic display on a white background of your aircraft and nearby navaids, intersections and airports. You can click on the navaids and airports to get detailed information on either, including the information previously available in the Aircraft / Facilities Directory of FS98. We are aware of some users' complaints that this makes getting information more difficult for distant airports, compared to the list form in previous versions.
You "slide and zoom" the map to the final destination to find out what facilities are available there. With Map View, you can also drag your aircraft to a new starting point. For IFR simulation your track is displayed in red, so if zoomed in for an approach, you can see how well you tracked the localizer. Fly!:
Fly!'s "Vector Map" facility displays airports, navaids (but not intersections) and compass plates (all optional). The aircraft's current position is shown on the chart. A nice feature is that the Vector map can be zoomed to reveal airport taxiway detail. Also you can double click on a displayed airport or navaid to bring up a details window with frequency data.
There is also an interesting pop-up map. Its background can be made transparent so that it looks like a heads-up display. While this seems "far out," such devices are being developed and will soon be available for commercial aircraft (and perhaps other aircraft for a price!). AI aircraft are also shown on this map.
Fly! also includes sectional maps that cover the entire USA and much of Canada. These pop up to the upper left of the screen, can be enlarged, and also show aircraft movement. Flight Unlimited III:
Within the Seattle and San Francisco regions, the user can call up the flight planning sectional map and with a keypress see a "satellite" view of the aircraft. FU3's Map/Satellite View covers all the western United States (additional airports appear assuming you've installed the "outer terrain area"). There's a "quick flight" facility so you can place your aircraft at any point on the Sectional map, either on the ground at an airport (even on a parking ramp or on approach two miles out) or in the air at a prescribed altitude.
FS2000:
The GPS is actually the second form of FS 2000's moving map, this one providing a geographic display on a black background. The GPS can be zoomed out to as much as 1000 mile range, and it can be linked to the Autopilot. It shows geographic boundaries and navaids, with your planned track highlighted.
Depending upon the video setup, this display can be difficult to read. Turning on and off display features, such as VORs, etc. —and entering a "Direct to" waypoint—can be tedious with the menu system. Also, FS2000's GPS can't be programmed directly; it just gets the track from the flight planner. Again, experienced users may prefer a third-party GPS instrument that provides more realistic functionality. Fly!:
- Leader - The GPS is extremely realistic on several panels. The GPS can be clicked for larger view, and can be linked to flight planner. Also the GPS has a realistically small moving map.
In "Co-pilot" mode the computer will fly the plane following the established flight plan, including approach and landing. It's all automatic, including pilot/ATC communications, and even lowering the flaps and landing gear. Flight Unlimited III:
The GPS is new with this version, with links between the flight planner and autopilot for the Beechjet only. It is not programmable, but does show the track from the flight planner, but again, only within the two regions.
FU3's GPS in the Beechjet is similar to FS2000's popup, except that its placed both in the panel and moving map, in effect including the features of FS2000's Map View and Top Down View, Fly!'s Vector Map, and FU3's Map/Satellite View. FS2000:
No FMS capability is offered in FS2000; however there are excellent 3rd party Flight Planning / FMC packages available. Fly!:
- Leader - The Hawker has a complete FMS which is programmed from the flight planner. It is linked to the Hawker's autopilot and is very realistic. Not all features worked in the release version, but patches are catching up to make the FMS more complete. Flight Unlimited III:
No FMS is available.
FS2000:
ATC capabilities: No ATC capability is offered in FS2000 other than that provided in adventures; however there are many excellent 3rd party text and voice ATC packages available. Fly!:
ATC capabilities - Leader - ATC is available worldwide in FLY!, though it seems to not work uniformly. In principle, the user interface is simple, with use of the "shift," "ctrl," "~," and main (not keypad) number keys on the keyboard, but the keystrokes are not well document in the manual or printed keyboard guide. Once learned, the keystrokes are simple, and ATC functions well, though some terminology differs from what is usually heard in the real world. The system is fairly smart, and one nice feature is the ability to skip ahead to the next controller if problems develop. All direction from ATC and readbacks have both scrolled and spoken text. Curiously, the spoken direction can be turned off, but the scrolling can't. There were some ATC issues with the release version, but patches through v.84 seemed to have everything working fairly well.
The only prominent user issue is that the spoken ATC is spoken considerably slower than real world. [TRI responds that "this was a conscious decision to try to make our ATC useable by both new pilots and veterans alike. We think all would agree that if you take a non-aviation buff to your local airport and have them listen to live ATC, most would find it difficult if not impossible to track the conversations between ATC and pilots at their normal pace. This is a trade-off between realism and useability, and we sided with useability."]
Considering all the other features in FLY!, it is impressive to have fairly excellent ATC in the first version of the product. Flight Unlimited III:
ATC capabilities: The ATC interface is quite intuitive, and has some "smart" features, such that menus automatically advance during the flight, including the busy time during downwind, base, and final courses. VFR vectoring works great, but ILS vectoring is fickle, with potential for radical altitude vectoring and many course changes to intercept. While very realistic, the ATC feature requires you to be where you're supposed to be, on the correct frequency, or it won't talk to you. It also knows if you stray from taxiways, and will advise you that "the grass doesn't need mowing."
FU3's innovative Air Traffic Control features serve to bring the flying experience to life-for VFR pilots, that is. IFR-based ATC is included, but it has some rough edges. And some will be disappointed to discover that ATC for IFR flying is available only within the two major regions; not enroute from one region to another. In fact, while ATC Departure and Arrival Clearance facilities are new to FU3, there are no "Center" controllers. On the other hand, there is an excellent 22-page description of real-world ATC in the manual.
FS2000:
Ease of use - Leader - Perhaps because the Flight Simulator series is so familiar to most, there's a manageable number of features new to this version to be mastered. A few menu commands and key mappings have been changed from previous versions.
Range of Features: Comprehensive
FS2000 is designed to let you interact with the simulation to get the information you need and to get the simulation to do what you want it to. In general, good user interfaces should be friendly and intuitive to use—in other words they should make it easy to use the program. In this regard FS2000 does very well—it is user friendly and it is intuitive, especially if you're used to FS98.
Joystick button settings are pre-assigned, though changes to these are easily made either by using the sim's built-in control menu or with Microsoft's "Sidewinder" control software applet. Fly!:
Ease of use: A very steep learning curve. Though quite flexible once mastered, there's a bewildering array of features and procedures to learn before this sim can truly be enjoyed.
Range of Features - Leader - Among the many interesting capabilities and features available, Fly!'s aircraft panel screen navigation controls are a notable achievement. Pressing a directional arrow key while depressing the 'ctrl' key changes your view to the left, right, up to the overhead panel or down to the control pedestal. Or you can cause your viewpoint to move by placing the mouse cursor at the desired border. All in all a very slick way to manage Fly!'s panel real estate.
There's a callable trim and axis indicator that appears in a small window, and an auxiliary control panel useful for flying without the full panel display or in spot view. Also, frequently-used views can easily be mapped to function keys (F1 through F8). An array of multiplayer features are provided.
There is a 40-page description of the user interface, plus a valuable keyboard guide printed in color on cardstock. Some keyboard conventions are similar to both FS2000 and FU3, so users will feel some comfort in learning the interface. (Fly! ships with FS98, FU2, and ProPilot keyboard configuration files on CD #1 so that users of these products can immediately map most of the Fly! keys to a product they already know.) Flight Unlimited III:
Ease of use: Adequate, well documented.
Range of Features: Many novel features are supported, including being "transported" to other aircraft in the vicinity.
This sim's interface "look and feel" will be familiar to gaming enthusiasts, though perhaps somewhat off-putting to MSFS veterans. There are some 36 pages of information explaining FU3's User Interface.
FS2000:
- Leader - The 130-page Pilot's Handbook section by Rod Machado takes new and experienced flight simulator users through Private Pilot, Instrument, Commercial, and ATP ratings, complete with readings, tutorials, videos, "coached" flying lessons, and checkrides. These lessons are flown after a series of particular tutorials so you can put together the skills you have been working on. Prior to each lesson you can watch a video, which previews what you will do in the lesson. At the end of each section (Private, Instrument, etc.) you can take a checkride and "get" the license or rating.
Jeppesen provides a demo version of their SimCharts software that includes approach plates and terminal procedure charts relevant to the tutorials and lessons. Fly!:
The included documentation not only covers each aircraft's performance characteristics and instrumentation, but also discusses flying technique specific to each plane's handling characteristics. Though Fly! offers a comprehensive set of Scenarios, you're on your own flying them. Flight Unlimited III:
The included training scenarios and videos are first rate—perhaps slightly shading "real world" accuracy, but challenging and fun indeed. Especially interesting are tutorials flown in inclement weather, adding to the challenge of IFR flying.
FS2000:
Using the sim (controls): Comprehensive coverage, however this is covered mainly in the excellent and well indexed help files.
Flying the aircraft - Leader -
The FS2000 User Manual aka the Pilot's Handbook (320 pages) provides substantial depth and detail. The manual is heavy on flying basics, aircraft characteristics, and general aviation background information—but a bit less so as far as how to actually use some of the program features. The write ups are excellent insofar as the subjects they cover, but lack a "here's how you do whatever" type write up for some of the major sim features like the Flight Planner and the GPS. This level of detailed information is available under the "Help" feature on the FS2000 main screen task bar which can be printed. Fly!:
Using the sim (controls): Limited coverage, little explanation of features in context with flight procedures. No help file information is provided, though you can click on a 'support' tab which takes you to a web site that provides additional information in FAQ format (but not indexed).
Flying the aircraft: Comprehensive; well explained and illustrated.
The FLY! users manual contains 286 pages of information, with a fairly good balance between the interface and aircraft information—though a tutorial that integrated Fly!'s interface and panel control procedures with each phase of pre-flight, flying and post-flight would have been a good addition, because of its complexity. Some systems, such as the GPS lack information in the manual, but Terminal Reality has included several "How to" files in the patches. Those who try to fly the Hawker need a great deal of information, and its flight systems need more documentation, including the FMS and autopilot functions. Flight Unlimited III:
Using the sim (controls) - Leader - Nicely integrated with flight information; but again, there's no help file provided.
Flying the aircraft: Comprehensive, well explained and illustrated in manual.
FU3's 164 page documentation is most complete, well organized and comprehensive. You'll find a detailed and well illustrated discussion of each of the new plane's instruments (with notes concerning flying technique), together with aircraft descriptions and specifications, operating limitations, checklists, and a tutorial-style flying guide for that specific aircraft. This is followed with brief histories of selected aircraft. There's a brief section on creating "challenges" (adventures), and a really good primer on ATC, including scenarios for departures and arrivals. The guide concludes with some notes about navigation methods, and a glossary.
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