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Weather, on the other hand, looks splendid, with rain creating streaks on your windows and falling all around in spectacular fashion.Īnother particularly bad graphical element is the trees. Clouds themselves are a particular eyesore, even with the settings turned up. The skybox is an important one for flight simulators, and while X-Plane 11 improves over predecessors, it isn’t the best either. Cities like New York City feature not just accurate buildings, but traffic and road layouts that really add to the experience of a living, breathing world below you. That said, they can quickly become too complex for basic users.Ĭities like New York City feature not just accurate buildings, but traffic and road layouts that really add to the experience of a living, breathing world below you.Īside from the planes themselves, the environments you pick from feel great, with realistic cities properly laid out to their real-world counterparts. The menus in X-Plane 11 have been more streamlined overall versus previous installations of the series, which is a welcome addition. Users also have the ability to fine-tune their aircraft’s specs, with options for weight, fuel level and more, allowing for some interesting setups. The game is definitely more geared for the enthusiast who wants to replicate true to life experiences. These options allow for a good bit of diversity, but there aren’t a ton of cool custom missions aimed at simply having fun as you’d see in FSX (no landing planes on moving buses here). For environments, there are lots of major airports and cities to pick, and you can either select custom weather effects or go with real-world conditions updated in real-time. X-Plane 11 allows you to choose from a limited range of aircraft like basic prop planes to huge jumbo jets (though you can purchase more in the form of DLC). If you’re not a newcomer, however, you can jump straight into the plane and environment of your choosing. If you’re just getting started, the Flight School will teach you the basics of flight in the game and allow you to get acclimated. While not nearly as deep as FSX, there are a lot of things you can pick between. Lifewire / Zach Sweat Gameplay: As close as you can get to flying a plane in your homeīooting up X-Plane 11, you’re greeted with a host of available options to choose from before your flight. You’ll also be able to fine-tune things based on your preference from there. When those have completed installing, you should be able to see the HOTAS connected in X-Plane 11 under the control settings.

Once you’ve got it hooked up, Windows should recognize the device and download the necessary drivers. Don’t forget to connect the pedals to the throttle with the included cable. Beginning with the obvious, connect all the cables to your computer’s USB ports.

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This unit is one of the more popular, affordable options, so we’ll briefly discuss how to set it up.

There are a number of these to choose from, but we went with the Thrustmaster T16000M FCS HOTAS which includes the added pedals. Combining one of these with X-Plane 11 will increase the immersion considerably. A HOTAS, or “hands-on throttle-and-stick,” is a set of peripherals that allow you to control your in-game aircraft with more realistic inputs. Be sure to adjust the settings in the menu to your specific setup for things like resolution, quality, controls, etc.Īside from setting up your game, it’s a good idea to connect your HOTAS during the initial setup.

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Once your software is fully set up, you can now launch the game and get yourself flying. While many popular flight simulators are starting to show their age, X-Plane 11 is a breath of fresh air in the genre, and a breathtaking one at that.