I'll start by saying I've spent hours and hours researching this via google, youtube, and these forums, but have come to something of an impasse where actual feedback based on what I'm wanting to do combined with user experience is welcome.
Background:
I have thousands of hours of flight sim experience at this point, starting with Strike Commander (more of an arcade game, but such a great one for the F16) and then on to F22-ADF (which later became F-22 ADF). A decent amount of time in FS2k, but civilian craft never appealed to me as much. I spent some time in Janes sims as well, but life started interrupting at that point.
Now it's been a decent while,(~10 years?), and DCS has been appealing for some time, but the allure of VR is what really pulled me in. I now have an Oculus Rift and a GTX 1080. While RAM is still lacking slightly, I finally feel I can fly without being distracted by insufficient hardware. The free craft are enjoyable, but WW2 craft have never appealed like the Jets of the 70s and 80s. The SU-25 is more my style but not exactly what I'm wanting to invest time in learning, (The SU-25 is a tad slow, and not as nimble as what I'm looking for, and also not a study level craft) which leads me to this point of "Time to buy a plane".
What I'm looking for:
My primary goals currently are to learn flying and spend some time doing high speed low level flights, with future proofing options for ground strikes, some light air combat (maybe dogfights? more interested in ground target strikes though).
Being my first study level aircraft, I'm wanting to keep things relatively straight forward, frankly while I love the A10 and F18 and will probably get them as a later purchase, I feel those are not the best craft for me to start out in. (A10 misses the high speed aspect, and F-18 is perhaps too much of a plane to start out in, however it does hit all the marks I'm looking for).
I'm currently looking most at the F5 and the Mirage. The F5 appeals because I love it's looks and cockpit, plus it's a pretty decent multirole craft, if outdated. Another major bonus: The cockpit is in English.
The Mirage appeals because it's more modern, faster, more nimble, etc. A hangup for me is the non-english cockpit. I know there are mods for this, but they are unofficial and no guarantee they will work at a later date.
The F-18 does fit the goals, but again..I'm uncertain if it would be a good first craft, especially when I could buy both a plane and a terrain module for the same price.
And so, I rely on the expertise of the community to help me make the best decision. Thanks in advance!
