Help me pick my first payware - a single and a twin

[Craig Keating]

Hi all,

Looking for recommendation on some payware planes. I'm running XP 10. System specs i7 3.5 ghz, 32 gig ram, video Nvidia GTX 560Ti 1 gig.

For singles, I was thinking of getting Jason Chandlers Piper collection based on Keith's and others recommendations Anything else I should consider?

For twins, I'm considering the Carenado King Air C90 or B200. What scares me about those is I've read of frame rate issues based on VRAM usage. As noted above, I have a Nvidia GTX 560Ti 1 gig card and not sure if that's sufficient. If insufficient card, what spec card do you need to run the Carenados?

Thanks all

[Jeff N]

For a single, Carenado's old school 172N is nice; well-modeled and flies pretty realistically from my experience. The new 172RG is great too, other than requiring constant yoke pressure to avoid rolling in level cruise. I really enjoy their C210 as well though I hear that it reacts too aggressively to flap deployment compared to the real aircraft, but I haven't flown a Centurion in real life so I can't comment on that.

At the risk of this sounding like a Carenado ad, I quite like their Mooney and Bonanza F33 as well.

As far as their King Airs and frame rates go, I have the C90 and get good performance with my 2GB GTX660Ti, for whatever that's worth.

[BK1984]

My favorite single is Carenado's BE33 Bonanza. My favorite twin is either Carenado's BE58 Baron (pretty easy on the frame rates) or their King Air 200 (pretty harsh on the frame rates). I have a 512mb video card and I can run the BE20 fairly fine given the right rendering settings.

[Keith Smith]

Chandler's Pipers fly beautifully, but the panels really aren't up to modern payware standards. That said, they're only $1 each, so it's hard to complain too much about them.

The Carenado aircraft look beautiful, but the flying characteristics can be a little off IMO. They make certain compromises to give them a soft, smooth feel, but if you try to land the Baron in any kind of crosswind, you are going to have next to zero rudder authority. I haven't tried the other GA aircraft, but something similar was reported in another one of the single engine pistons.

I will put in a mention for the vFlyteAir Grumman Tiger...it's a nice ride with a nice panel. I've flown it a bit recently and was quite happy with it.

[Craig Keating]

Thanks everyone for the recommendations. Does Jason's Piper pack include 3d cockpits?

Keith, that Grumman looks really interesting! And also, I have to say I've grown pretty attached to the stock Baron.. it really is a nice plane! I notice it's one of your favorites from the Pilotedge videos you've done with it.

[Steven Winslow]

Yes, chandler's Pipers all have 3D cockpits, but they still use the stock Plane-Maker instruments. Regardless, you won't find truer flight models anywhere else.

[Craig Keating]

you won't find truer flight models anywhere else.

Then it's a must-purchase for me then, cuz dat's what I care about most

Thanks again

[mikealphacharlie]

I will put in a mention for the vFlyteAir Grumman Tiger...it's a nice ride with a nice panel. I've flown it a bit recently and was quite happy with it.

I got the Tiger recently and have found it to be noticeablyt less docile than, for example, the Carenado equivalents. Definitely an interesting ride. However, either I am missing the blindingly obvious or there is no DME readout in the Tiger, which somewhat limits it for IFR usage (which is not what it was intended for I imagine).

Steve

[letsgofly]

I highly recommend the B200. 10.30 with the G430s is just the icing on the cake.

[mcqueen]

I will put in a mention for the vFlyteAir Grumman Tiger...it's a nice ride with a nice panel. I've flown it a bit recently and was quite happy with it.

I got the Tiger recently and have found it to be noticeablyt less docile than, for example, the Carenado equivalents. Definitely an interesting ride. However, either I am missing the blindingly obvious or there is no DME readout in the Tiger, which somewhat limits it for IFR usage (which is not what it was intended for I imagine).

Steve

Can anyone comment on if the Grumman Tiger has DME? Kind of intrigued by this plane and was trying to figure out if it'd make a good IFR platform.

As Keith mentioned above, I posted on the forums a few weeks ago about running out of rudder on the Carenado Mooney in a relatively "normal" 10 knot crosswind. Fortunately, as Keith found, there are some settings you can tweak to help with this. The Carenado planes look really cool and function well from a systems standpoint but I've been a little disappointed with the flight dynamics, especially in a crosswind situation.