I'm asking which is most realistic because here's what I don't get about these two sims. The Helicopter (the Huey) in DCS is a bit of a nightmare to fly, but in X-Plane 11, Helicopters seem easier to control. When you read about X- Plane 11 though, I've come across real Helicopters pilots that say it feels like the real thing. But the same goes for DCS where real pilots says it feels like the real thing. If that's the case, then why is it that both Helicopters or planes seem easier to fly in X-Plane 11? I just don't get it?
It might be different aspects of each one's simulation feels more realistic in one or the other. Plus it depends on which helicopter you try, were you flying a Huey in X-Plane? Was it a built in heli or a third party one?
Having never flown a real helicopter (I've been in one, but not as the pilot), I can't really judge. 🙂
But for world realism, X-Plane actually has the street where I live in it, even though I'm far away from any airport. DCS doesn't even have my hemisphere. 🙂 (I know that's not what you meant by realism)
@kojack - I've flown 3rd party ones that are supposed to be realistic in X-Plane 11. Both sims can do proper start up procedures because that's just switches and buttons, but I'm talking about actual flight dynamics. How can one feel easier to fly then the other if they are supposed to feel realistic?
I used to think DCS had the advantage when it came to flight dynamics, but I'm not sure a helicopter would be that difficult to handle these days. That and they just seem easier to flt in X - Plane 11. So which sim is the most realistic when it comes to flight dynamics?
I find the UH-1 in DCS fairly easy to fly. As for real pilots saying it feels like the real thing, that's actually an old story. People said flight sims felt like the real thing 20 years ago, and they did. But that doesn't mean it can't feel even more real with more detail. I haven't messed with X-Plane in a while and only ever tried one of their free choppers. It felt chopper-ish, but was very sterile and felt simplified. I don't mean it was any easier to fly, it wasn't. It simply felt a lot less nuanced. I can't comment on paid addon ones, perhaps they are better. I can say aircraft in general in DCS behave very much like real aircraft under most conditions. Ground handling has always been a bit hit or miss in DCS, particularly with taildraggers. But that's the only real limitation compared to other flight sims imho.
It felt chopper-ish, but was very sterile and felt simplified. I don't mean it was any easier to fly, it wasn't. It simply felt a lot less nuanced.
That fits in well with how the simulations are run. Most simulators have explicit modeling of how each aircraft should perform, to mimic the real life version. X-Plane uses blade element theory in real time to calculate how any aircraft should fly, even ones that you make yourself. If you use the X-Plane plane editor to make a freaky plane with 5 turbo jets mounted at strange angles, it will give you a pretty good simulation of how that would work in real life. But it won't have the nuances of the real thing. But on the other hand, it may be more accurate at simulating unexpected things that the explicit model missed.
At least that's my theory (as a non real life pilot).
I look at them less from the point of view of which is the most accurate at the specific aircraft, and more what I want to do. If I want to blow things up in one (large) area, DCS. If I want to fly a commercial airliner from brisbane to melbourne with real weather data downloaded from the net, X-Plane.
FWIW, Eagle Dynamics and some of its partners (developer of the DCS engine and modules) are contracted by the government to develop military aircraft simulations. I don't know about you, but for me, this speaks volumes about the quality of DCS modules. Don't know if the same is true for X-Plane.
X-Plane has a version that is US Federal Aviation Administration certified for use in pilot training simulators. The FAA certified version removes helicopters, space shuttle, mars, etc, and adds support for certain hardware devices, but it otherwise the same flight model.
(FAA certification actually requires a software/hardware combo. You can't get X-Plane on it's own for training, you need approved simulator hardware too)
