Flight Simulator Free Downloads
I would like to help you find the best flight simulator free downloads for what ever simulator is your choice. You can find a great choice of both X Plane 11 freeware and payware available for Prepar3d and FSX available on the websites listed below.
There are plenty of great developers also making high quality payware aircraft and airports for us all which can be both freeware and payware. An example is PROPSTRIKE Studio which has some great Canadian airports out on islands which are very inexpensive or free. I would recommend you have a look.
Finding Flght Simulator Free Download Airports and Aircraft
I generally the websites listed below like X-Plane.org or Simviation to name just two require you to log in before you can download Free downloads as well as payware. You may have a limit to how many you can get a day but this is generally not a big issue.
I recommend you simply create an account and log in. You can then see the wide range of flight simulator free downloads available for your chosen flight simulator.
I find the best and most complete free downloads of aircraft and airports are to be found in the most popular in the websites have listed below. It is worth considering when looking at more complex airports and aircraft that the payware is generally going to be better but its a personal choice for you which ones you select for your use.
World Editor & Overlay Editor
If you are a creative type and X Plane 11 is your sim then you have both WED or World Editor to build complete airports for yourself. I personally have used overlay editor to create and share many airports with subscribers on my Lets Fly VFR YouTube channel. Overlay editor is quick and easy so I use it.
World Editor or WED is actually better as all objects are included and you can upload your airports to X Plane 11 and once approved they will get included in new updates. WED uses the already included items within x Plane 11 where as you need to download libraries and ensure your friends. The same libraries you use must also be placed in the custom scenery folder of your friends for your creation to display correctly.
I am sure FSX and P3D also have utilities for this available so check in the forums if your considering this. It is very rewarding creating and flying around your own airports.
Aircraft Creation – You Can Do It!
There are many among you that have the creative streak and it is also possible to create your own aircraft.
X Plane 11 being my primary GA simulator has its own aircraft creation program called Plane maker. This makes it possible to create some amazing aircraft and some oddities as well. Someone created a AC Cobra so you can drive around X Planes cities and airports. There are gyro and jets as well. If you up to it then the opportunity does exist.
I know many people go to Blender which is a FREE 3D package with a huge amount of tutorials out there and some truly realistic aircraft and 3D cockpits are created with it.
X Plane 11 Freeware & Payware
XPlane.org – Is just a fantastic website for the X Plane users out there. It contains a forum for discussion of almost any possible x Plane subject, issue and mod available. If your new to X Plane then head over to XPlane.org for lots of new information and how to’s.
X Plane .org has a wide range of FREEWARE as well as PAYWARE. There are aircraft, airports and other scenery. There are libraries for scenery creation as well if you want to use utilities like Overlay Editor. This is a fantastic site for sure so go visit if your after anything in the downloads department for X Plane 11.
FLIGHTSIM.COM
Flightsim.com is probably one of the oldest flight sim resources out there. I certainly have been a member there for many many years.
Originally it was primarily a FSX simulator resource with FREE aircraft, Scenery, Airports, training missions and a lot more.
Today it caters for all the major civil aviation simulators including FSX, Prepar3D and X Plane 11. They have certainly grown over the years. Check it out and see what you find available.
Flyawaysimulation
Flyawaysimulation is another fantastic resource when your looking for add-ons for your. flight simulator with FSX, X Plane 11 and more available on the site. Again here you can find a wealth of information, files to download and enjoy. Check them out and see what you can discover!
SIMVIATION.COM
Simviation.com is another downloads site that’s been around for many years. It has a great deal of resources for all the current flight simulator choices.
It offers add-on scenery, aircraft and utilities for your flying pleasure.
Simply make a free account and search your favorite flight simulator and find free and payware addons.
What is the Best Flight Simulator
What is the best flight simulator is a great question so lets look at whats available as well as whats coming. In the past the best flight simulator around as well as the best supported one.
Microsoft Flight Simulator – FSX
Microsoft Flight Simulator FSX was the beginning of home PC flight simulation. We have all owned it and had years of enjoyment. It is still available with its enormous amount of add-on aircraft, scenery and support by the major add-on producers out there. Worth a look.
Prepar3d – Lockheed Martin
Prepar3d was released by Lockheed Martin and took the flight sim community by storm. This simulator is based on the original FSX but it came with many great software and internal graphics engine changes. The largest one was that it moved finally to 64 bit removing memory restrictions. It is a great flight simulator for sure. Its certainly the 2nd in line of the GA simulators.
X Plane 11 – Laminar Research
In recent times X Plane 11 from Laminar Research has come to the fore as probably the best flight simulator on the market currently in my opinion. X Plane 11 is available for Mac and Linux as well as PC and I have flown them all. Its real time measurement of airflow using blade theory brings the most realistic flight model to date. So if your in a hurry my recommendation would be X Plane 11 but if your not in a hurry we have a new contender in the wings.
Microsoft has now re entering the Flight Simulation arena with what is a ground breaking out of the box product. It looks amazing with so many great features but at the time of writing this flight simulator has a lot to get to be the flight simulator it is made out to be. It now supports VR and has an easy multi player function so you can connect with your friends.
The performance of the sim is good with a decent computer. The min specs really don’t do it justice. The better you get the more you will enjoy this incredible flight simulator from Obi soft and Microsoft. It also comes with Ai technology which creates the amazing 3d scenery we see in the sim.
Certainly you can get a reasonable experience at med specifications and graphics levels but to really enjoy the eye candy you need a behemoth of a computer.
The diskspace is certainly an issue as it can be up to 150 gb as a download with large 10 gb downloads coming since release with scenery and more feature updates. There is a move to go to DX 12 which will bring a lot of new possibilities with Nvidia’s lighting technologies but much is needed on the optimization front first.
It also relies heavily on your internet connection as it downloads a lot of the map your going to fly each time. You will want as much VRAM and system ram as possible.
I would suggest 32 GB is going to be a requirement for a great experience. Its been filling 16 GB ram and then using system resources so be ware. Great simulator but have the system to run It is really the final piece of the puzzle. You will certainly enjoy the eye candy with its quality weather and scenery.
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