Well in my opinion, I think that IL2 feels the most realistic. Why, because it think it replicates the feeling of flying a metal fighter aircraft that had weight the best. The way it tends to pitch and suggest inertial feedback by lack/lag of response gives IL2 a realistic feeling. Example:
> IL-2 and Fighter Ace were pretty clear
> cut in when there zoom ended, and no
> amount of manuevering could coax a
> little more out of it.
In AH I would expect that 109 to perfectly perform some ninja moves against me as Im going verticle to catch him.
The problem with the IL2 FM is that the flying and maneuvoring and trajectory (energy) stuff doesnt feel real at all. If you have played Janes USAF, then I think you know what Im saying. Its just my opinion. Il2 does model aircraft feel the best.
taking off in IL2 is good. Landing in IL2 is gamey at best.
I've flown WB 3.0 and it seems to also feel heavier than AH does but WB 3.0 in my opinion doesnt model this well. Il2 does it much much better. WB 3.0 doesnt feel real to me at all.
While I dont feel that AH models the way the aircraft feels the best out of the examples, its overall FM lends itself best to air to air sim combat thus far. The FM is precise and finite and lends itself well to feel during hard maneuvring and flying at the limit. Its just that AH possibly over does this and sometimes I feel like Im flying an aircraft on invisable air rails. The AH FM and physics modeling lends itself well to tournement style ACM. AH doesnt model aircraft body weight and feel as well as Il2. Its flight, trajectory (energy) is the best out of the three mentioned above.
taxing , taking off and landing in AH doesnt feel real at all. AH FM is too easy these days.
No comment on the other sims, havent played them.
If AH could model "feel" like in Il2 and keep its flight and energy stuff, that would be awsome. If Il2 improved its flight and enegry physics stuff and kept its feel, same.
Course I've never flown in real life. This is just my opinion.
Also I think everybody flies at rediculas speeds and maneuvorability in AH and overall its sort of like a star wars simulator last time I played. Too much gaming the game. Not enough arial/group tactics. Seemed like every other AH pilot was a super jedi or something. I like my simulations as real as possible.
Also the hazy/misty/foggy atmospheric effects in IL2 also add alot to the dimension and feeling of flying an aircraft. Combine that with the low haze etc... from Falcon 4.0 and that would be super.
Last but not least, I dislike the icons. it ruins the air war tactics and takes alot of guessimation out of it all. I would like a new low visability icon system perhaps with range but not exact. Perhaps using wider ranges. or the distance value should disapear after 2000 yrds. Should not be allowed to shoot or setup for a shoot using range values. Removing the range out to 3 or 4 thousand yrds would do it for guys who like to streak in super fast and shoot.
AH is still the best online air combat sim. Its alot of fun.
