John Hargreaves

I found it pretty skittish at first, and I'm only one step above a beginner, but I set the curves in the cyclic and rudder pedals quite high (30ish) and it seemed to help me big time. I also fly the Gazelle mostly in VR now, and it helps a lot too, although that might not be so useful for you. If you do get chance to try VR though, it takes the whole thing to a new level entirely. Stick with it though it's a beautiful thing, like riding an angry wasp that took speed.

That's a very good point, most of my current favourite VR games; DCS, Project CARS, FSX, Aerofly FS2, were written long before VR came along, and they have been retro fitted to work (maybe not FS2) so it's pretty impressive they work in VR at all. Just think what will happen when VR support is deeply integrated into the game engines, a bright future ahead I hope. I think in the long term, driving and flying will be a pretty consistent niche for VR and as the headsets get more accessible, it will bring more people into the hobby.

Very much agree; compared to the hit many early adoptions of tech involve, I think the CV1 was quite reasonable. It was the same price as my monitor when I got it, certainly don't regret getting either one. I've been saving up for CV2 since the week I got my CV1, because if you could get the kind of definition and sharpness we enjoy on monitors these days, there would be no need to go out in the real world ever again.

It's quite a surprise to learn that, you'd think that a physics intensive sim like DCS would be making the most of every core they could get hold of, after all we've had multi core cpus for quite a while now. Is multi core planned for the future, or would that be too fundamental a rewrite of the engine? I suppose when you look at the AI physics/explosions etc you can see where compromises have had to be made, so that makes sense now. The age of VR might eventually signal the time that SLI comes of age and finds a purpose; there's something neat about the idea of one graphics card per eye.

I pre ordered my rift and got it in the summer, and to be honest, it's getting better all the time. The picture quality has improved since release, due to various software tricks and updates. Agreed though that the definition is not as good as a normal 2D display. If you can imagine this, it's like being enclosed inside a spherical old fashioned CRT television that is all screen, 360deg in all directions around you, whilst wearing goggles and headphones. You can see the picture ok, but you are aware of the dot texture of the screen. The goggles limit the field of view if you keep your head still, but once you turn your head, there is 'infinite' fov. I've tried Project Cars 1+2, Live for Speed, FSX+FlyInside, AeroflyFS2, WarThunder, and they are all excellent and I would recommend any one of them, but IMO DCS is the best one for immersion because you can feel what the flight model is doing so much better, so the Huey, Gazelle, P-51 and Spitfire are all amazing. I think it makes it easier to fly too because you have this peripheral sense of the 3D movement of the aircraft and you can stick your head out the window if you need to. Also the sense of scale is striking, so landing the Huey on an aircraft carrier is great fun. Everything looks the right size like it never has in 2D. I can also recommend Manhattan in AeroflyFS2 for an amazing fR flying experience.

I came across this the other day, and thought it might be of interest here. Looks like some impressive photography and a bit of a different take on the documentary format as it's coming out in theatres. https://en-gb.facebook.com/spitfirethefeaturedoc/ There's an interesting article in the next Flypast magazine in the UK about the whole project, they managed to get three Mk1s together flying at once.

Thanks very much Chief, I'm very much a novice at all this flight sim malarkey, and I've found your three essays very useful to understand what is happening to the plane under various conditions. I've pretty much learned to fly sim planes through trial and error, and there are often times just like you describe here when I wondered how on earth I'd managed to crash after finally landing the thing and barely going jogging pace and the blimmin thing flips over for no apparent reason. Now I know there is a very good and logical reason, I can try to keep it in one piece. Thanks to you and the Wags video, I can now get the Spitfire in the air on most occasions, and I can just about get it on the runway on three wheels. Next task is to stop it flipping over at the end but I'm having fun doing it. It's very much appreciated that you and the other experienced flyers are happy to share your knowledge here, thanks again.

And I'm glad you left it there, as I've been looking for exactly this solution, cheers.:thumbup: