Best Soaring Simulator??

Greetings,

Off season (northern hemisphere) is coming. What are the top 2-3
soaring simulators or is there a clear winner?

Thanks,

Gary

Condor.



Gary Emerson wrote:
Greetings,

Off season (northern hemisphere) is coming. What are the top 2-3
soaring simulators or is there a clear winner?

Thanks,

Gary

Condor outstrips all the others.

The latest release has an uprated thermal simulation that is really
true to life.

The community has produced 5 new sceneries with New Zealand and some
others expected soon.

The online community is very active and regular organised races
regularly have gaggles of 8 to 10 in the same thermal with the
occasional 20 crowd. The Lowlands cup organised series has over 500
registered pilots and when the series starts up again this winter a
'task night' will see 4 or more servers all running identical tasks
with identical weather and each host will have as many as 32 ships
belting around.

You can fly modern glass usin PDA anf GPS simulation or scrape round a
task in a K13 using map and camera!

Ian M

Gary Emerson wrote:
Greetings,

Off season (northern hemisphere) is coming. What are the top 2-3
soaring simulators or is there a clear winner?

Thanks,

Gary

Just bought Condor...

What a fantastic simulator it really is. It simulates
anything that might interest you in gliding (I believe
there might be a self-launcher in progress), there
is a huge network of people developing new scenery,
aircraft, and millions of tasks, it is fully supported,
will run OK on any system (don't know about Mac though),
and all in all is superb.

At £43 it is quite expensive for a PC game... but then
it is a very realistic simulator that is being constantly
upgraded and improved to make the game more and more
realistic.

My laptop is ancient, but runs fine with the graphics
at rock bottom. On my brother's gaming beast it is
video-realistic.

My only concern was whether Silent Wings was any better...
But then I found out why all the screenshots are taken
from high altitude! The Silent Wings fellows certainly
deserve every penny they make from the game, but I
think Condor comes out on top.

See the painful process of me trying to decide on u.r.a.s.!

UK scenery coming soon

Colin
Don't Disregard Dangling the Dunlop!

Hi Colin,

How did you end up paying £43? If you buy it from their website
(http://www.condorsoaring.com/) as a download it is €39.99 (about
£27/$51 at current exchange rates). Since you are in the UK you'd have
to add VAT but that should still be quite a bit less than £43.

Either way it's worth the money, the online competitions/racing is
without equal and there are servers available to race or free fly
online with others any time of the day/night :-) You can even soar/race
between 17,000+ft mountains in the Colombian Andes (Cordillera) or
anywhere in the European Alps including classic places like St.
Auban...

Markus


Colin Field wrote:
Just bought Condor...

What a fantastic simulator it really is. It simulates
anything that might interest you in gliding (I believe
there might be a self-launcher in progress), there
is a huge network of people developing new scenery,
aircraft, and millions of tasks, it is fully supported,
will run OK on any system (don't know about Mac though),
and all in all is superb.

At £43 it is quite expensive for a PC game... but then
it is a very realistic simulator that is being constantly
upgraded and improved to make the game more and more
realistic.

My laptop is ancient, but runs fine with the graphics
at rock bottom. On my brother's gaming beast it is
video-realistic.

My only concern was whether Silent Wings was any better...
But then I found out why all the screenshots are taken
from high altitude! The Silent Wings fellows certainly
deserve every penny they make from the game, but I
think Condor comes out on top.

See the painful process of me trying to decide on u.r.a.s.!

UK scenery coming soon

Colin
Don't Disregard Dangling the Dunlop!

At 15:55 02 October 2006, Markus wrote:
Hi Colin,

How did you end up paying =A343? If you buy it from
their website
(http://www.condorsoaring.com/) as a download it is
=8039.99 (about
=A327/$51 at current exchange rates). Since you are
in the UK you'd
have
to add VAT but that should still be quite a bit less
than =A343.

Either way it's worth the money, the online competitions/racing
is
without equal and there are servers available to race
or free fly
online with others any time of the day/night :-) You
can even soar/race
between 17,000+ft mountains in the Colombian Andes
(Cordillera) or
anywhere in the European Alps including classic places
like St.
Auban...

Markus
Markus, I think your computer added a 3 infront of
Colins 43. Anyway,
Colin, Condor is great.

Just to add my two cents worth. I've had Condor since
December.
Learned off line to fly it and then asked Frank Paynter,
at Monday Night
Soaring, www.gliderracing.com how to get online.
He was realy very
helpful. So you can see I started from zero. At the
first race I was
hooked. Now, if its to hot, cold, raining, or dark
I'm on the computer.
Never had that problem before. I really have to
get a life:-)
Chuck

Hi Gary

It all depends on what you're looking for in a soaring simulator but at the
moment the choice is either Condor or Silent Wings or both.
The other sims like SFSPC just haven't progressed that much.

Condor
======
Pros:
- Great for multiplayer racing tasks! There are lots of pilots so you can
fly just about anytime with someone.
- Lots of high quality gliders to choose from.
- The scenery is synthetic so it looks nice from close up - no "blurries"
low down.
- Scenery areas are expanding.
- Has wave lift (although it's accuracy is debatable)

Cons :
- Scenery doesn't depict the real life features. No rivers, roads, quarries,
mine dumps, etc. (I tend to view it as "candy land".)
- The trees are way too big (about twice the size of the real ones).
- Scenery areas are small so if you want to do a nice 1000km+
distance-to-task flight you can forget it. I think the limit is 512x512km
IIRC.
- You didn't mention your OS but Condor doesn't run on Mac or Linux.
- Glider packs cost extra money.
- Major upgrades like version 2 will require a new purchase (I think).
- Aerotow and winch are scripted and are not modeled too well. Rope doesn't
seem to stretch and the winch operator will pull you along at 200km/h if
you let him instead of regulating the winch speed. Tug plane isn't affected
by the environment.
- No trial and doesn't seem to be any money back guarantee which is really
daft in my opinion. What if it doesn't run on your PC or you don't like it?


Silent Wings
============
Pros :
- Great for cross country soaring (especially long tasks).
- Scenery depicts real life features since it's based on satellite imagery
or well rendered synthetic scenery (Norway). This means you can identify
landmarks a lot more easily. This also means the scenery varies greatly as
you fly and isn't the same monotonous textures every where you go.
- All gliders and future ones are free
- Future upgrades (even major ones) are free
- Free scenery for over 1 million square km of Alps (France, Germany,
Switzerland, Austria, Czeck Republic Italy, Slovenia) as well as Sweden
(WGC at Ekeby), Minden, South Africa, and more to come (Harris Hill,
Colorado/New Mexico, South Island of New Zealand, Andes).
- Antares electric motor glider with (HK36 Super Diamona on the way)
- Realistic winch launch and aerotow - the rope is totally dynamic and the
tug experiences the same turbulent and lift. You can watch the tug start
rising as it hits a thermal or drop as it hits sink before you do the same.
- Hang gliders soon (and paragliders a bit later)
- Runs on Windows, Linux (and soon Mac)
- Free two week trial so you can try before you buy!

Cons :
- Satellite scenery is blurry low down.
- Although online multiplayer works really nicely there isn't as much of a
competitiveness to the racing. This is being worked on and should be ready
in a couple of months but Condor currently leads the pack in this area.
- Not as many gliders
- No trees and buildings yet (but will be soon :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=px8mgZkzy4U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yk2gjeDcs5o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaRwDs1-6_I )
- Commercial scenery is payware (currently Norway)
- No wave lift yet.

Some people seem to be very biased in their opinions and will recommend a
simulator based on their opinion without giving any facts so I'd advise you
to take a look at the features you want and make your choice based on that.
Use what tool suites you best.

Regards
Paul

Don't forget to throw x-plane into the mix (www.x-plane.com) It is
primarily a power simulator, but has gliders as well. Can do thermal
and ridge soaring, tows and winch launches. Very realistic scenery of
the ENTIRE PLANET! and mars. Runs on mac, linux, or PC. Has a very
fast universal binary version for intel macs. FAA accredited for some
flight training. You can build your own aircraft, and add you own crop
duster strips, otherwise every airport of any size is included.

Matt

Paul Surgeon wrote:
Hi Gary

It all depends on what you're looking for in a soaring simulator but at the
moment the choice is either Condor or Silent Wings or both.
The other sims like SFSPC just haven't progressed that much.

Condor
======
Pros:
- Great for multiplayer racing tasks! There are lots of pilots so you can
fly just about anytime with someone.
- Lots of high quality gliders to choose from.
- The scenery is synthetic so it looks nice from close up - no "blurries"
low down.
- Scenery areas are expanding.
- Has wave lift (although it's accuracy is debatable)

Cons :
- Scenery doesn't depict the real life features. No rivers, roads, quarries,
mine dumps, etc. (I tend to view it as "candy land".)
- The trees are way too big (about twice the size of the real ones).
- Scenery areas are small so if you want to do a nice 1000km+
distance-to-task flight you can forget it. I think the limit is 512x512km
IIRC.
- You didn't mention your OS but Condor doesn't run on Mac or Linux.
- Glider packs cost extra money.
- Major upgrades like version 2 will require a new purchase (I think).
- Aerotow and winch are scripted and are not modeled too well. Rope doesn't
seem to stretch and the winch operator will pull you along at 200km/h if
you let him instead of regulating the winch speed. Tug plane isn't affected
by the environment.
- No trial and doesn't seem to be any money back guarantee which is really
daft in my opinion. What if it doesn't run on your PC or you don't like it?


Silent Wings
============
Pros :
- Great for cross country soaring (especially long tasks).
- Scenery depicts real life features since it's based on satellite imagery
or well rendered synthetic scenery (Norway). This means you can identify
landmarks a lot more easily. This also means the scenery varies greatly as
you fly and isn't the same monotonous textures every where you go.
- All gliders and future ones are free
- Future upgrades (even major ones) are free
- Free scenery for over 1 million square km of Alps (France, Germany,
Switzerland, Austria, Czeck Republic Italy, Slovenia) as well as Sweden
(WGC at Ekeby), Minden, South Africa, and more to come (Harris Hill,
Colorado/New Mexico, South Island of New Zealand, Andes).
- Antares electric motor glider with (HK36 Super Diamona on the way)
- Realistic winch launch and aerotow - the rope is totally dynamic and the
tug experiences the same turbulent and lift. You can watch the tug start
rising as it hits a thermal or drop as it hits sink before you do the same.
- Hang gliders soon (and paragliders a bit later)
- Runs on Windows, Linux (and soon Mac)
- Free two week trial so you can try before you buy!

Cons :
- Satellite scenery is blurry low down.
- Although online multiplayer works really nicely there isn't as much of a
competitiveness to the racing. This is being worked on and should be ready
in a couple of months but Condor currently leads the pack in this area.
- Not as many gliders
- No trees and buildings yet (but will be soon :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=px8mgZkzy4U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yk2gjeDcs5o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaRwDs1-6_I )
- Commercial scenery is payware (currently Norway)
- No wave lift yet.

Some people seem to be very biased in their opinions and will recommend a
simulator based on their opinion without giving any facts so I'd advise you
to take a look at the features you want and make your choice based on that.
Use what tool suites you best.

Regards
Paul

At the SSA convention this year, I was thinking about having a soaring
simulator CONTEST. I have been working with Ian M. (who is a big fan
and knowledgeable about Condor)...and the Condor Soaring folks in
Slovenia have graciously offered me the server time, software licenses,
etc. to have at the convention. Any interest out there...maybe having
a simulator contest during the convention?
micki

Paul, as a Condor affectionado I will respond with the following.

Paul Surgeon wrote:
Hi Gary


Cons :
- Scenery doesn't depict the real life features. No rivers, roads, quarries,
mine dumps, etc. (I tend to view it as "candy land".)

Oh yes there are. Some of the privately ( and free ) sceneries mix
vector buildings and satellite immagery so you get the best of both
worlds.

- The trees are way too big (about twice the size of the real ones).

So the virtual world has bigger trees! Who cares! If you are that low
you have over cooked it anyway.

- Scenery areas are small so if you want to do a nice 1000km+
distance-to-task flight you can forget it. I think the limit is 512x512km
IIRC.

You can't do a 1000km triangle on the default sceneries but bigger
sceneries are available. There can only be a handful of nutters that
want to sit in front of a PC for 9 hours plus anyway! You can always do
a non IGC compliant star or other shaped 1000! At the moment there is a
permanent server up with a multiplayer 1000k task set on it.

- You didn't mention your OS but Condor doesn't run on Mac or Linux.

Not a problem unless you run those OS's I'll agree.

- Glider packs cost extra money.

What glider packs? They may do but its not certain yet since none have
been released!

- Major upgrades like version 2 will require a new purchase (I think).

You think ....... Say no more; anyway euros 40 spent ( what, the cost
of one real life aerotow? ) for what must be several hundred hours of
'flight time' I will have no problem with outlaying the same again if
and when a version 2 comes out.

- Aerotow and winch are scripted and are not modeled too well. Rope doesn't
seem to stretch and the winch operator will pull you along at 200km/h if
you let him instead of regulating the winch speed. Tug plane isn't affected
by the environment.

Some truth in this but its minor, Condor is race training / XC
focussed. The petty stuff is on the to-do list for the future.

- No trial and doesn't seem to be any money back guarantee which is really
daft in my opinion. What if it doesn't run on your PC or you don't like it?


I have spent a lot of time with the developers. If you had a genuine
case I'm sure you would get either all the help in the world to get it
working or your money back. The user forums are full of very helpful
people. The software runs on a fairly low spec. machine. There are
videos on the website and all involved say that what you see is what
you get.

Ian M