OrbitalMartian | FlightGear Fun Times

FlightGear, The Only Flight Sim Worth Playing

First released all the way back in 1997, FlightGear has been the only Free and Open Source flight simulator to exist. There are quite a few things that really give this flight simulator the edge over large sims, such as MSFS and X-Plane.

Aircraft

There is a huge collection of aircraft for FG, which range from small general aviation (GA) aircraft like the Cessna 172 and 150, all the way up to the Space Shuttle. With GA, Commercial Airliner/Air freighter, helicopters and fast jets, honestly one of the biggest selling points for FG.

Scenery

The scenery in FG isn’t always the best, photoscenery exists which adds a lot more to the scenery tiles on the ground, but there isn’t really anything in terms of buildings and airports like what’s available for MSFS and XP. I do believe that there is some work on this though for future versions of FG.

Visual Quality

When you first launch FG, the visual quality sucks, but I promise, you can really get it looking better, not MSFS better (yet) but better than the default settings. There is work on HDR in progress at the moment, which brings MSFS level quality to the sim which, having tested out, is amazing, just needs a bit of work.

Cost

Both MSFS and XP have a large price tag, which is the complete opposite for FlightGear. FlightGear is free and open source so there is no cost, there are no hidden costs for addons or aircraft either which are also completely free and open source.

Conclusion

I have not played MSFS, have flown the free trial for XP and I always fly in FG, and honestly, being free and open source, I have never had more fun in a game. FlightGear is so versatile with no limit in the sky, we can even go to space, whereas MSFS has an altitude limit, which FG surpasses greatly.

I always have fun when in FG, I am especially fond of helicopters, GA and military aircraft, of which there are plenty to choose from, and before the end of this blost, check out some of my favourite screenshots below.