The P-51 Mustang Purist Club / Simulator / PS3

[MACADEMIC]

Originally Posted by vdomini

Hello Mac! nice to "see" you here too
Looks like you really want to "push" the simulator experience very far! But then you should add at the list also "not looking at the map anytime". lol okay okay i am joking, now.. let's get serious

I wish you the best on that but i have very strong perplexity about the "full sensitivity" settings and "no hud" settings.

I'll try to explaint that using my little english... mmh.. basicly, i think that more the simulation is close to the real machine, more you would need real interfaces too. I.E.: Force feedback devices, big monitors... real cockpits and so on. Pretending to handle a real plane using the ps3/hd-tv interfaces would add a complexity layer that is not really fly-related.

A real plane, when flying at full speed, maybe diving, also give feedback to the pilot, maybe like the flystick is much harder to pull, the wings starts to shake, and so on.... things that you can't have on that game.

So, talking about the flystick ( for example ): learning how to handle a p51 in full aileron sensitivity using that tiny feed-less ps3 joypad would lead me to develop skills that are not really fly-related. I would need a force feedback stick to give it a sense, for sure!

Talking about the hud: flying with no hud, so forcing me to move the camera up and down to stare that tiny almost useless altimeter or whatever ( even in full hd is hard to read it properly during flight ) would not be very realistic, because it will take me more time reading that digital gauge that a real one... i try to explain what i think... Mostly all real fly simulator have a real airplane cockpit surronuded by a lot of monitors, with all gauge/buttons/displays actually working, and a skilled pilot knows where to "point his eyes" inside the cockpit, most of the time he don't need to lower his entire head to achieve that!
So having the speed/altitude and angle of attack displayed on screen is fair enough, a good compromise, like the sum between what you would be able to read from a real cockpit and what the game interface offer to you.


I hope i'm not writing to much eheeh but in the end i think that flying in the club with your settings would not add realism at the simulator. but, maybe, you want only to make things harder

Sometimes i fly cockpit view too, but only because i like to see that graphics.

Take care! Clear sky for you!

V.

Hi Vdomini,

Nice to see you here as well!

About your post, of course you got a few valid points here, but let me explain. Even though a real airplane would give you much more feedback (like you said, higher control forces with higher speed, real G-forces, stall buffet as you're approaching a stall, etc.), you would still always (except for a modern type fly-by-wire machine, where the computer prevents it) have the real possibility of stalling the airplane if you exceed your maximum angle of attack, with all the consequences. Since the game allows you to turn down the sensitivity of the elevators to a point where you can in any situation pull as hard on the stick as possible and still not stall, this feature removes an important realistic behaviour of the airplane, especially on the P-51 with its superlaminar flow wingfoil. Essentially, this brings you in the realm of an arcade game, nothing wrong with that, but lacking realism. It makes the aircraft just so much easier to fly if you don't have to think about any limit.

Now, about the HUD, I agree it's hard to read the tiny altimeter and airspeed indicators on the real panel, but then I think it's not all that much needed in most situations. Disabling the HUD adds to the feeling of being in a real cockpit, and in addition you don't see your enemies as dark black dots from miles away. You have to come closer to see them.

About the map. Of course that would add some realism, but would make it too hard in my opinion to find each other, unless the action is limited to a certain part of the map, and certain altitude range, e.g. at the Sicily coast map only in the vicinity of Catania airport, 0-6000feet above ground. For now, we'll leave the map on.

To sum it up, experience with these settings shows that it is possible to fly the P-51 very finely, and within it's limits, be it with a pad or with a flight stick. It's hard, but it's fun, rewarding, and gives you, in my opinion, the best real airplane feeling possible with this game.

Perhaps you'll try sometimes?

Cheers my friend.

MACADEMIC