[caldrail]

it is, though for nit-picking purposes it would be nice if the ground had some kind of bump mapping or perhaps procedural grass (not that I'm fussy and demanding of course, but the aeroplane models are good enough to warrant good enviroment)

If you had wanted to be a REAL nitpicker you would have pointed out the wrong-way propeller ... ... still, all looks great.


... I'm 53 years old, grown up around airplanes (I'm a pilot and mechanic), and I (and my son) have Asperger's. One just can't be too anal about the details around me. For instance, static airplanes (museums) that have variable pitch props with blades at differing angles* (because someone didn't bother to align blades before installing the dome) drive me up the freakin' wall! - lol. (Oh, yeah, I can laugh about it ..... now.)


*example: #1 prop Me110 at Hendon (yes, even Hendon), two blades uniformly below normal fine pitch stop (one tooth?), third blade even lower (two teeth?).

Unfortunately the average museum doesn't maintain aeroplane exhibits in flying condition and don't employ people skilled in that craft, though obviously there are exeptions.

When it comes to computer games there is less need for obsessive reality (which I suspect you disagree with ) unless it directly impinges on gameplay. Thus I get frustrated by the inherently limited radio chatter in IL2 (Your wingmen never announce enemies in sight or ask you to attack - they simply peel away without a word) or the utterly bizzarre AI behaviour in dogfights (which involve flying faster and higer than you until they get far enough way to wizz past - there's no aggression or desire to simply manoever to get behind you - a primary tactic in air warfare utterly ignored)

For me it helps if there are details included but it's the atmosphere I want more than anything else, the sensation of flying combat aeroplanes rather than learning which screen button does what. That's why Aces of the Pacific was such a good sim in it's day. Sure the graphics were primitive by todays standards and a lot was left out, but you felt involved, you felt things were always liable to turn nasty if you didn't watch it, and dogfights were seriously good fun.