Shared Knowledge
“Great Planes R/C G3.5 Flight
Simulation Software - User Review”
Summary: absolutely requires stated minimum computer hardware resources. Software seems very robust and fun to use.
Gave my uncle a RC model
plane kit several years ago and it was a real hit. He currently must have 10 or
12 fully assembled, detailed, RC planes hanging in his garage; problem is he can’t
fly them. Usually has to have someone on dual controls that can correct when
headed for disaster. Had some sort of DOS-based R/C flight simulator with a
joystick-based controller similar to his Futaba’s for a while but not realistic
in any sense and after I installed a WinXP system in
his home for his daughter, began a search for the best R/C flight simulation
software on the market.
Don’t know about “the best”,
but settled on Great Planes R/C G3.5 software. Now listed as requirements to
run, it clearly states: a DirectX 9 compatible video board and at minimum of a
1GHZ CPU. Well they were not or are not kidding. Tried to run software on
And here is the real point to
this little piece on Great Planes, when I looked to find a recommended video
card, I could only find a list of cards of which some had been tested and
worked or didn’t work but mostly the list defined video cards that they had not
tested with their software! OK! So what am I supposed to do? Why not just tell
me what video card to buy?
So, taking a chance, I bought
the
Now I am not sure I have
fully loaded down the video of the simulation as apparently you can optionally
add objects, but so far, video looks good.
Price of 5200 with 256MB was
$70 locally but sure it can be had on eBay and other cheaper.
Oh, finally, I have moved the G3.5 software from an 800Mhz PC to a 2.6GHZ as company spokesmen said really 1GHZ minimum and better at 3Ghz. I believe him.