My first impression

[Darpa]

I just bought the F1...  I set up the basic controls, jumped in my cockpit, cranked up the haptics, popped on my Aero headset, gripped the HOTAS and was prepared for another immersive experience seeing and feeling the beauty, scope, weight, energy and force of another cold war warrior such as my Mig-15, 19 and 21 or my F86, F5 or Tomcat. What I got was "dark and soulless".

I now will move on to the systems but as they say - you never get a second chance at a first impression. I am sure others have had a more positive first experience... but not me.

[RPY Variable]

For me it was a good first impression. Didn't find any obvious odd flight and ground handling dynamics that other modules had (and still have). Systems works more or less as expected. The cockpit looks good in VR, I don't want to name names, but some modules look good on 2D and in VR you realize thing are way out of scale, like some thing are big and other are minuscule at the same time, you realize that they where model pure eyeballing measurements. This one looks good, at lest nothin way to obvious. The only thing I can think of that looked weird, was the rudder pedals angle seem way to vertical.

[Darpa]

Glad you had a good first experience RPY. I am just starting the systems so I hope all goes well in that department. I do think the "darkness" I experienced can and hopefully will be remedied to a degree as the developers have said they would look into that. it is more the "soulless" part that I am concerned about. In most other planes in DCS, especially ones like the  Mig-21. Tomcat, F86 etc., I feel the weight and power of a serious fighter jet. The haptics and forces make it very evident that I am in a bone rattling out to do business fighter. In the F1 I feel like I am in a dark Cessna floating along on a calm summer day. I will keep working on the haptics to see if I can get some better low frequency response from it but I do not want to change things too much as it works so well in my cockpit for most other planes and sims.

[Breakaway]

Cessna you say?...right

[Darpa]

Apologies for the exaggeration to make a point. I will reword... it feels light and benign and lacks the haptic feedback to properly convince me I am flying an early 70's jet (something most other cold war jets in DCS do a fantastic job at)

[Iron Sights]

Darpa, I think they are WIP here with this module. My first impressions were mixed. I bought it on day one of the release and there was some anxiety at first of incompleteness. It does need a few more audio and video queues to increase the feel of the aircraft. At first I thought the sounds were off, but I did look at some real F-1 videos and was pretty close.

I don’t have the MiG-21 so I can’t compare on that one but I have the F-5 and I think it is modeled better than it. I think Heatblur is ahead of the curve with the F-14 and they have set the standard. I do like the looks of the F-1, so I think it still has promise. They do have Mach tuck modeled, so that adds some realism, it will just take time.

[Snappy]

On 9/18/2022 at 5:36 AM, Darpa said:

Apologies for the exaggeration to make a point. I will reword... it feels light and benign and lacks the haptic feedback to properly convince me I am flying an early 70's jet (something most other cold war jets in DCS do a fantastic job at)

Maybe you should also revisit your expectation, that everything designed in the 60/70s has to have a heavy feel to it, because it’s not true.Not sure what exactly you mean by haptic feedback either. Do you use a force feedback joystick? Otherwise this will be hard to simulate in any case.

Other than that , the flight model is probably still very much WIP, like others have mentioned.

Edited September 19, 2022 by Snappy

[Vek17]

The damping in the F1 is very effective, if you want a more lively ride disable the dampers and go from there.

[fagulha]

On 9/18/2022 at 12:01 AM, RPY Variable said:

For me it was a good first impression. Didn't find any obvious odd flight and ground handling dynamics that other modules had (and still have). Systems works more or less as expected. The cockpit looks good in VR, I don't want to name names, but some modules look good on 2D and in VR you realize thing are way out of scale, like some thing are big and other are minuscule at the same time, you realize that they where model pure eyeballing measurements. This one looks good, at lest nothin way to obvious. The only thing I can think of that looked weird, was the rudder pedals angle seem way to vertical.

I´m not sure if you´re aware of, but you can adjust world scale in DCS VR Options, in "Force IPD" (not the same IPD for align the VR headseat). I have mine set to 56 in the Hornet & Viper, try to change that value and you can adjust the cockpit/world scale in VR.

Edited September 19, 2022 by fagulha

[RPY Variable]

9 hours ago, fagulha said:

I´m not sure if you´re aware of, but you can adjust world scale in DCS VR Options, in "Force IPD" (not the same IPD for align the VR headseat). I have mine set to 56 in the Hornet & Viper, try to change that value and you can adjust the cockpit/world scale in VR.

 

Yes I'm aware. I'm not talking about that. I'm saying that for example, the radar screen or instruments look good, but some switches look like if they were 5mm tall (mirage 2000C ins). Like there is no relation between the scale of two thing in the same cockpit. One thing is big and other is small at the same time.

[Bremspropeller]

I have to say (and I'm doing so very gladly) the F1 is a gift that keeps on giving. Virtually all my flying is in the F1 these days and it just keeps getting more fun.

The only two really annoying downsides left are the overly wake-sensitive engine and the beserk yaw-damper that's kicking back at your feet. Both are issues I'm quite sure are going to be adressed shortly.

[Joe1978]

Except for the two details that Bremspropeller mentions and the problems with the radio editor, I´m happy with the F1 

hace 6 minutos, Bremspropeller dijo:

The only two really annoying downsides left are the overly wake-sensitive engine and the beserk yaw-damper that's kicking back at your feet. Both are issues I'm quite sure are going to be adressed shortly.

 

[MMI_Grim]

I had a very nice first impression. Sound and feel got me from the get go. Especially the FM transfer from bomb truck to sleek fighter gets me every time.

[Baltic Pirate]

9 hours ago, Bremspropeller said:

I have to say (and I'm doing so very gladly) the F1 is a gift that keeps on giving. Virtually all my flying is in the F1 these days and it just keeps getting more fun.

The only two really annoying downsides left are the overly wake-sensitive engine and the beserk yaw-damper that's kicking back at your feet. Both are issues I'm quite sure are going to be adressed shortly.

I have gotten pretty good at restarting a stalled engine… Dead-stick landing works well if you stick with the numbers and profiles. Not many complaints, none really as it is WIP. On VR some switch labels are nearly unreadable, same with annunciator lights, but I am sure these items will be worked on. I am off IRL flying until the end of the month so I have had plenty of time to play with this model.

[gnomechild]

Just gonna say it. Your first impression sucks and this thread is pointless lol

[Hodo]

On 9/17/2022 at 8:56 PM, Darpa said:

Glad you had a good first experience RPY. I am just starting the systems so I hope all goes well in that department. I do think the "darkness" I experienced can and hopefully will be remedied to a degree as the developers have said they would look into that. it is more the "soulless" part that I am concerned about. In most other planes in DCS, especially ones like the  Mig-21. Tomcat, F86 etc., I feel the weight and power of a serious fighter jet. The haptics and forces make it very evident that I am in a bone rattling out to do business fighter. In the F1 I feel like I am in a dark Cessna floating along on a calm summer day. I will keep working on the haptics to see if I can get some better low frequency response from it but I do not want to change things too much as it works so well in my cockpit for most other planes and sims.

What lead you to this "souless" assessment?  To me the aircraft has a lot of soul.  The start up is pretty easy but it is an older airframe so not a lot of extra junk to mess around with.   It is a handful to come to grips with while taking off from a runway.  And once in flight it is simple to fly but hard to master.   

Weapons employment is simple yet complex all at the same time.  Air to air is competitive for the era but not dominant.  Air to ground it is competent but only as good as the pilot using it. 

 

Landing is pretty straight forward, a bit like a F-16 and a 2000c had a love child, not quite as hard as the MiG-21 which is trying to kill you but not as hands free as the F-14.

[Harlikwin]

Heh,

My first impression of this was actually quite good on release day. But then again I have seen far worse day 1 releases in the past. A few patches in my impression is.

Graphics/cockpit, Mostly Good (The sight symbology could be more readable in VR, but we have a mod now) still think the cockpit is a bit a dark, but it improved from day 1.

FM, quite good for a day1 release, and Aerges was quick in fixing the overspeed issues that cropped up after the first patch

General systems modeling: Very good, lots of ways to realistically break the plane, and battle damage is done really well. I'd guess there might be some stuff missing or to be tweaked, but for a 3 month old module its very very good, esp considering past releases from other devs. Nav systems are well done, as are other basic flight systems

 A/G systems/weapons. Generally decently done IMO, not much to model just a depressible reticle and its up to the pilot for good or bad results.

A/A systems/weapons. This is where I will have to be critical. 

Radar modeling, is not good, various inaccuracies exist, for example there should be far more clutter when looking down and less/no clutter when looking up. Also there should be more noise in system at low altitudes from radar sidelobes. All of these should definitely effect detection/lock ranges. 

Radar guided missiles: EM seems too good for what it is, especially in look down/low alt scenarios where it should work poorly, yet does not. Kinematically it seems "ok" overall just the seeker seems to overperform.

IR guided missiles. Various inaccuracies on how these work are present. Its been detailed in various threads. However Aerges has been pretty responsive in fixing stuff, now the F1 has the distinction of having the only correctly aim-9B in the game, complete with a seeker null.

Gunsight. Not really working well at this point, but radar modes are missing for it, hopefully coming soon.

In Conclusion (8/10)

Overall its a really good module, especially if you are mainly using it as a strike fighter. They need to iron out the radar and air to air stuff though and 100% sure they are working hard on doing that. In a few months I hope if I go back to this list at least 2-3 of the "negatives" are gone. And really no EA product is ever complete, so I'm more than happy with the way it shipped on day1 and happier still with the progress made so far. 

 

 

 

[SOLIDKREATE]

I really want this bird. I also want the 2000C and the Kfir. I feel the upcoming Sinai map will give these birds even more to do.

[Bremspropeller]

On 9/29/2022 at 9:00 AM, SOLIDKREATE said:

I really want this bird. I also want the 2000C and the Kfir. I feel the upcoming Sinai map will give these birds even more to do.

You'll love them!

There's nothing like being a j@ckass in an M2k on a random online server, doing an unapproved low airshow over the  own airfield and going vertical (well, tryna) at two-digit airspeeds