Boris

Thanks for all you answers so far. I'm giving the Rift some serious consideration now. As nothing significantly new will likely hit the market this year, I think it's a goer.

Does DCS even calculate vortices other than visually?

Great sounds man. I absolutely don't understand why such sounds aren't provided by default. How can it be that they have never implemented that real visceral rip of the jet engine in any module? It's obviously not hard to do. What's still a problem of course is the shared module sounds - Is it really that hard to give each aircraft their own?

How is that possible? I have a 4k monitor and get much better performance than that on a single 980ti. Shouldn't a 4k monitor be more demanding due to the higher resolution?

This is what I'm afraid of and the main reason I want to wait for the next gen VR headsets. After doing a bit of reading however, I'm not so sure that we're going to see them in this year. Does anyone have any info on this? Still, I find it very difficult to spot aircraft even with a 40 inch 4k screen, so maybe this is not just a VR thing?

I'm thinking about getting a VR headset for DCS but I'm not sure which one to get, or whether I should get one at all at his stage. Is there a better headset coming out that's worth waiting for? I'm concerned with the low resolutions of the Rift and the Vive and wouldn't be very happy if a better headset comes along only months after my purchase.

This isn't only a VR issue. This issue has been around for ever and has been noticeable with head tracking as well.

I highly doubt that ROI is an issue here. Many aircraft modules are quite niche and take many years to produce. Based on a few of the other informed posts, I'd say it actually is a case of it just being too early (ie. the modular map system not being ready).

I would be quite surprised if ED do release a tool to the general public. I highly doubt it. I suspect any development will most likely be in cooperation with licensed 3rd party dev teams.

This sounds encouraging. I would welcome the idea of entire 3rd party teams specializing on maps only.

Well yeah, you're right, at least we're already getting some new maps relatively soon. Development in DCS does indeed take quite a while, which is why it would be nice to know that more is already in the pipe. I don't know that 3rd party developers have acted on their plans yet. If developers do indeed need to wait for the release of 2.5, and considering the very long development cycles, it seems like it could be a number of years before we see the next swathe of maps. Me too. But I also appreciate that ED has very high standards of development. This is understandable, as maps are not static and need to interact with the existing aircraft in terms of ATC and navigation.

I personally have relied on YouTube tutorials for most of my training. The amount of content out there is great. That said, if you're already into the A-10C, I think you're right to park FC3 for now. Maybe it's something to do if you want a change of pace. I don't play FC3 modules any more as I want nothing less than an immersive experience with full systems and flight modeling. I get the impression that the FC3 modules are predominantly used by people who want to be competitive in multiplayer.

DCS World has a great range of aircraft by now that provide hours and hours of action, enough to keep us busy for ages. Sure there are some highly anticipated aircraft still to come, but I have yet to touch some of the modules I have bought. What really is lacking, is more environments and content, such as campaigns and missions, for these aircraft. It's now arguably as or more important than the aircraft themselves. That begs the question, why do so many 3rd party developers prominently focus their attention on aircraft? Map development could be far more lucrative, as buyers would include the majority of the DCS user base, the choice being based less on preference, but out of a desire for more variety. Is it because map making is still closely guarded by ED? Or could there already be a number of unannounced 3rd parties be working maps? If so, why are we hearing nothing about it? Given the long development times, it would be a shame if many more maps aren't already being worked on (in addition to the ones we know about). When will DCS World live up to its name? :)

What's so important about things being on steam

For the A-10C the warthog is plug and play. You don't need target or anything. The only thing you will want to change is the trim on the stick instead of view... In the in game settings.

While gameplay is viable, spotting is still terrible. Planes are more clearly visible from longer distances. There's a zone in which the model changes and becomes almost invisible against some backgrounds. This is plainly seen when zooming in on some dots, that are hardly visible when zoomed in. It's especially bad on my 4k screen. Logically you would think more pixels makes it easier to spot other aircraft, but unfortunately the opposite is the case.

Still, burner dots shouldn't be seen as a solution to the overuse of afterburner. Especially when merged with an enemy, when you're at your most vulnerable, afterburners are essential, yet you can be easily seen from 20 kilometers away. Overuse of burners, if there is such a thing, is a separate issue. If you need the speed and have the fuel to spare, I don't see it as a problem.

Jeez, why so bitter? You can have it tomorrow if you like. Just update to the open beta.

Having flown a lot in multiplayer servers recently I noticed the huge effect on aircraft spotting that the afterburner has. Afterburners are visible for 10s of kilometers in broad daylight and allow you to easily spot otherwise almost invisible aircraft. As a result, I tend to use afterburner sparingly for fear of being spotted. Is this realistic tactical behaviour? I highly doubt it. Are afterburners really this visible in real life?

Enough people will fly the Tomcat, not because it is better, but because it's such a nice aircraft. I might be wrong, but I feel most people fly in DCS because the are aviation enthusiasts, not necessarily because they want to win. The F-14 will actually make a really good adversary for the F/A-18 once we have the Strait of Hormuz map, where we could have a scenario involving Iranian Tomcats.

I'll be waiting till March when the 1080 ti is rumored to be coming out...

Wow you make it look too easy... looks almost unfair :D

Probably best to save a track of this happening and then we can have a look

Gloves would be perfect for DCS. Just imagine if we had virtual hands with which we can flip the switches!

I would be interesting to know where you have heard former pilots report this.