What will give the best flight simulator experience?

[Lämmchen 6]

What do I need in order to get the best flight simulator experience? Which programs and other equipment are necessary?

[HolisticStorm 1]

I think that having curved monitors (and preferably more than one) would help make it feel more immersive. I see people who have ten or twelve monitors in an array to play flight sims.

[Sharon 1]

On 6/4/2021 at 10:25 AM, HolisticStorm said:

I think that having curved monitors (and preferably more than one) would help make it feel more immersive. I see people who have ten or twelve monitors in an array to play flight sims.

I always wondered what the advantages were of a curve monitor. Do you really feel like it makes a difference? Do the curved edges make it easier for the eyes to zero in on the action on the screen? We actually have a curved monitor for our gaming PC but we didn't really get it for the curved feature - it just so happened to be on sale a the time when we were in the market for a new monitor. 

[Joshua Farrell 1]

I know having a few screens would help with getting a basic setup started for it. A decently powered computer, with good hardware, would be a must. Atleast, if doing anything that requires additional connections and good computing speed to run everything.

 

I figure that if I were to successfully one a simulator, I would need atleast a 2-3k desktop, with the ability to run much more connections into it, over a standard computer. I would get some flight joysticks and other controls, to get the feeling of flying. I'd imagine that if you want the full experience, having a screen setup to give you a wider view of your surroundings, based on the airplane you use in it, would be the best option. Probably 5 screens for the wider views would be a minimum requirement.

 

I probably wouldn't spend 10k or more on a setup for it, but I figure if one wanted the look and feel of actually being inside the cockpit of a plane, regardless of the size, you would need to invest in a few servers to process the connections for it, and to have the ability for it to run without any issues. And ofcourse by getting as many dashboard items for the cockpit as possible.

[Uncrowned Guard 7]

This is really going down a rabbit hole that leads to a massive, multi thousands of dollars, custom built gaming enclosure.  I'd agree with others that multiple monitors are a great start and personally I feel that multiple monitors is a bit better than curved as they let you wrap them around you better, but curved is also awesome.  Flight sim controllers and such are also a great start to get more into the experience.  A powerhouse computer is also needed quite a bit, flight sims are heavy hitters on specs most of the time.

[Drew 1]

MSFS in VR is probably one of the best "wow" moments I've ever had. To fly over my house and it look so real blew me away. The game looks great on a screen but even better in VR, if you have a SteamVR, you should get one. Skip the oculus for now, they're not really worth it unless you want to play on the go.

 

A decent hotas setup would be nice too but I can't recommend one as I fly with my logitech wheel lol

[EmpireKicking 155]

23 hours ago, Drew said:

MSFS in VR is probably one of the best "wow" moments I've ever had. To fly over my house and it look so real blew me away. The game looks great on a screen but even better in VR, if you have a SteamVR, you should get one. Skip the oculus for now, they're not really worth it unless you want to play on the go.

 

A decent hotas setup would be nice too but I can't recommend one as I fly with my logitech wheel lol

 

I personally have not got a VR headset and maybe one day in the future I might own a VR headset however at the moment there are more important things to get and do before I can even consider it. I have mates that also have oculus and enjoy it even though one of them can't able t get it going perfectly and all his audio drivers and messed up. 

For me, MSFS is defo the best VR to get into, but for me, I look at it as a flying simulator like P3D and Xplane, I have over 2500 hours in MSFS and even more so in SX and P3d  and you guess right that I have the flight stick gear haha, not using a wheel. Airbus TCA pack from Thrustmaster.