This thread was tl;dr, I just breezed through.
1. World of Warplane's graphics are so underwhelming for a title being released in 2012. It looks worse than AH in some areas, but better in others. As Ack-Ack pointed out, it's going to be pure arcade which will drive away us sim enthusiasts.
2. Someone stated that Aces High's graphics are state of the art... Let me introduce everyone to Assetto Corsa, a simulation title which is scheduled for release this year. From the developers who created nKP and FVA, both titles are regarded to have the best feeling physics in the business.
Hopefully Assetto Corsa can put to bed the notion that a simulation title can't have both bleeding edge eye candy (differed rendering, HDR, bloom, dynamic exposure, ultra high resolution textures - 4K/2K, ambient occlusion, tessellation, ultra poly models) and state of the art physics.
![](http://www.virtualr.net/wp-content/gallery/3131/AC06.jpg)
![](http://www.virtualr.net/wp-content/gallery/3131/AC04.jpg)
![](http://www.virtualr.net/wp-content/gallery/3131/AC02.jpg)
![](http://www.virtualr.net/wp-content/gallery/3131/AC01.jpg)
3. Gajin Entertainment's World of Planes looks and runs fantastic (going by the benchmark). I really hope the planes feel more reactive then they did in Wings of Prey, it honestly felt like the control surfaces were connected by rubber bands; It was impossible to shoot with any accuracy. I'm betting that they'll still be using IL-2's flight model and we all know it falls short to Aces High's.
4. The fight sim genre is so depressing. However, on the racing side, four major sim racing titles are being released in 2012.