| If you are primarily looking out the window, MS wins because they spend a lot of effort making sure to model the entire world in great detail. No shame in that, it's a great way to enjoy a flight sim and MS did an amazing job with it. And in fairness, they really upped their game with the weather engine and flight models as well. It's a fine product. Otherwise, X-plane 12 is pretty compelling as well and it probably wins in the flight model department in terms of just modeling a lot of weird and niche stuff out of the box. Most people will never notice but it's there to appreciate for those that can appreciate these things. And with the right scenery, it doesn't look half bad either. E.g. orbx has scenery for both sims and I suspect things look pretty close with that. And there are some nice free add-ons that will get you closer to the MS experience but probably not all the way. E.g. Simheaven.com is getting ready with an xplane-12 release; completely free. X-plane 12 is a pretty big upgrade if you were using or familiar with x-plane 11: - volumetric clouds and weather updates - the rendering is gorgeous in comparison - lots of refinement in flight models, audio, ATC, weather engine, etc. - Lots of nice new default planes - Amazing work on the sound. Seeing a jet take off is one thing. But hearing the rumble is another thing. Give the free demo a spin. Easiest way to find out if it's worth your money. Works great on recent Macbooks with the M1 processor. |