|
Name |
MS Flight Simulator X |
Prepar3D |
X-Plane (v10.0) |
FlightGear (v2.4.0) |
Price level
(approximate) |
$20 - $40 |
$10 / month
$500 (commercial licence) |
$80 |
Free (Open Source) |
|
Flight
Model |
Fair tot accurate, depending on airplane / heli model. |
Fair tot accurate, depending on airplane / heli model. |
Fair tot accurate, depending on airplane / heli model. |
Fair tot accurate, depending on airplane / heli model. |
|
Graphics |
Very high quality aircraft, buildings, scenery,
water and animated objects. |
Very high quality aircraft, buildings, scenery, water and animated objects. |
High quality
scenery, buildings and animated objects. Very high quality light simulation and roads. Medium
to low quality
water. Comes with 60GB of global scenery. |
Medium quality
scenery, and buildings. High quality light simulation. Most airplane models
lack detail. |
|
Features |
FSX Standard:
Weather, ATM, multiplayer, missions, tutorials, and failure simulation.
Comes out of the box with many airplane models, and two helicopter models: Bell 206 and Robinson R22.
FSX DeLuxe: Standard + SDK (Software Development Kit) + More aircraft models
(however, no extra helicopters), high-detail cities, airports and more missions.
FSX Acceleration: Expansion pack with additional features, performance improvements (multi core support), SDK
(Software Development Kit), and more models,
including one helicopter: AW101.
FSX Gold: DeLuxe + Acceleration. |
Weather, ATM, multiplayer, missions, tutorials, and failure simulation. Comes
out of the box with several airplane models, and one helicopter model: the
Robinson R22. |
Weather, ATM, failure simulation. Multiplayer is not incorporated but is available
as an add-on. Comes out of the box with a broad range of airplanes and 4 helicopters: Robinson R22, S-61, Bell 47 and Bell 206.
Expansions again available as add-ons. |
Weather, multiplayer, and failure simulation.
Comes out of the box with many airplane models, and one helicopter
model: the Eurocopter Bo 105. |
|
Hardware requirements (for realistic simulations) |
CPU: 2 GHz or more.
RAM: 1 GB or more.
Harddrive space: 15 GB
Harddrive speed: at least 7,200 RPM
Video RAM: 512 MB or more. Support for DirectX 9.0c or higher
Note: Good performance with FSX (frame rates per second) will need high performance
CPU (i5 or equivelant / better). |
CPU: 2 GHz or more.
RAM: 2 GB or more.
Harddrive space: 20 GB
Harddrive speed: at least 7,200 RPM
Video RAM: 512 MB or more. Support for DirectX 9.0c or higher
|
CPU: 2 GHz or more.
RAM: 1 GB or more.
Hard drive space: 70 GB.
Hard drive speed: at least 7,200 RPM
Video RAM: 512 MB or more. Support for OpenGL.
|
CPU: 2 GHz or more.
RAM : 1 GB or more.
Hard drive space: 2 GB.
Hard drive speed: at least 7,200 RPM
Video RAM: 512 MB or more. Support for OpenGL.
|
|
Add ons |
Many add-ons available for
airplanes, helicopters, missions, traphic and scenery, both on a commercial
basis and as free ware.
Also add-ons for adding network devices to the simulator (instrument panels,
instructorstation, etc). |
Many FSX add-ons are Prepar3D compliant. |
Add-ons available for helicopters and scenery, both on a commercial basis and
as freeware. |
Many models and scenery available, including a broad range of helicopters (freeware). |
|
Target audience |
People with no technical computer background. Broad range of users, from
enthousiasts
to real pilots. |
Market for professional simulator devices. |
People with no technical computer background. Product is targeted towards those
who are serious about real and accurate flight simulation, and less interested in
gaming.
X-Plane is also regularly found in commercial / professional simulator devices. |
Some technical computer background may be needed to get the system up and running. |
|
Platforms |
Windows XP SP2, Windows Vista |
Microsoft Windows XP, Vista, or 7 (32-bit), Windows 7 (64-bit) recommended |
Windows XP, Windows Vista, Macintosh, Linux |
Linux, Windows, Mac OS X, Solaris (sparc/x86), sgi, FreeBSD |
|
Miscellaneous |
Used in certified simulator devices*).
|
Used in certified simulator devices*). |
Used in certified simulator devices*). |
Active open source community.
|
|
Multiscreen support |
Yes |
Yes |
By using multiple computers in a network. |
Yes |
|
Multi channel support |
Yes, with addon (WidevieW) |
Out of the box. Requires licence per computer. |
Out of the box. Requires more expensive license. |
Out of the box. |
|
Useful links |
www.FSInsider.com
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/ff798293.aspx |
http://www.prepar3d.com/ |
www.x-plane.com |
www.flightgear.org |
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Shopping |
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