View Single Post
  #1  
Old October 13th 07, 01:06 AM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Tim Taylor
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 751
Default Google Earth Flight Simulator

I was thinking we really needed one to test fly flights. Did a search
and found this:

Google Earth's Hidden Surprise: A Flight Simulator
Duncan Riley
http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/08/31...ght-simulator/

We've always known that Google has wanted to challenge Microsoft's
desktop dominance in a number of areas, but to date we didn't know
that extended to gaming.

Hidden inside Google Earth is a secret Flight Simulator that takes
full advantage of Google's extensive satellite imagery.

To access the hidden feature, open Google Earth and hit Command+Option
+A (note it must be capital A) or Ctrl+Alt+A if you're using a Windows
Machine.

The Google Earth Flight Simulator comes with two aircraft options, a
F16 Viper and the more manageable SR22 4 seater. Players have the
option of commencing the game from their current location in Google
Earth or can pick from a list of pre-determined runways. Control
instructions can be found here.

Overall the game play is fairly simple in terms of control, but the
striking difference is flying over real pictures of locations. I took
a quick flight from San Francisco International, headed North to the
Golden Gate then turn back over the city before heading towards the
Valley. It wasn't perfect, but it was as good visually as the paid
Microsoft Flight Simulator, and in terms of actually presenting real
objects it was better.