Reviews (by Bruce)

Drzewiecki always does great modeling, but this is astounding. Since I don’t spend much time on the ground, I don’t usually buy third party airports unless there’s something really special there. In this case, the chance to tour the Boeing 737 production line in Renton certainly qualifies! I parked a plane outside and used the drone camera to fly around the humongous Boeing facilities in VR. The sense of space is amazing this way - like I’m really wandering around in that building. A good part of it is the sound design. You can really hear that you are in a cavernous space. In stereo. You can perch yourself on a catwalk above the factory floor and watch a giant crane move a 737 fuselage from one side of the production line to the other where it is mated with the wing and tail assemblies. You can go inside the partially assembled planes! There are so many details even outside the factory. I noticed beds and other interior features when I flew by the adjacent Hyatt Regency Hotel! Giant factory doors and many other things are animated. Some years ago I took a public tour (non-VIP) of the Airbus 380 assembly facility in Toulouse. That was really cool though we were confined to just a few observation areas (and no photos allowed). I feel that I got a closer look at Boeing Renton from my VR “drone flight” today than I did from the real Airbus tour!

Because Asia is so diverse, the variety of flight locations in this package is quite amazing. It covers around two dozen countries, some with multiple flights. I've only tried a few flights so far, but there are some countries I barely know with amazing sights. Places like Bhutan and the Kuril Islands are gorgeous. I'll probably never get to Afghanistan, but the flight plan out of Jalalabad shows it to be a beautiful place indeed. Plus there are plenty of routes in the more familiar countries like China, Japan, India, and both Koreas. It's clear that a lot of thought went into choosing and defining these routes, which you can tell by just browsing the included 426 page book of detailed, illustrated briefings for every route. There is so much to explore in Asia and this package is a great guide.

Although I've done some travel over the years, I've never been to Africa, and I am curious about it. I have read a bit and I know it's a huge continent with enormously diverse cultures and geography. Beyond National Geographic and YouTube, and short of taking some real trips, Microsoft Flight Sim is a way to explore some aspects of this part of the world, but where to begin? This "world tour" series seems like a good starting point based on a few flights so far from Africa Visual Vol. 1 and Vol. 2. I like that fact that I can fly any aircraft, with runways chosen to support even jets. This allows me to quickly survey the route, and if I find some cool features, I can come back in a bush plane or in something with floats to have a closer look. Although Africa has not received any world updates, the terrain, vegetation, and the autogen buildings are beautiful in many areas, and you can quickly start to get a feel for the geography. I like that each flight plan is independent so I can explore where I like, using the illustrated briefings book as a guide. I've explored many other areas of the world in MSFS, but Africa is all new to me, and I really like it. One thing I suggest is using one or more weather preset packs from flightsim.to or the great SoFly Weather Preset Pro to really mix up the weather (or use Live Weather if it's VFR-ish). And don't forget to take pictures.