Features and flight model is great. Visuals are extremely dated which really is a pity. I can live with the exterior. It's nice enough. But the interior is not up to MSFS standard's I'm afraid and looks more like a converted FSX plane. Since we spend most of the time inside the plane, that's simply something I can't live with. Especially since I can see no improvement over their freeware P92.
Was really looking forward to this and I must say, it flies well and I like the flight model. To me it feels a tad overpowered, but I lack experience in the real aircraft so that might just be me. The exterior isn't spectacular but decent. The interior though is not up to snuff. Modelling and texturing is far below what I have become used to for payware. In fact it doesn't look any better than his P92 freeware which was released in September 2022 and reminds me strongly of the good old FSX days. So absolutely no progress there, which is really disappointing. On the positive side the price is quite attractive and the plane offers good realism and a lot of features like an EFB etc. Since I spend my time mainly inside, however, I think Erasam needs to seriously improve his 3D and texturing skills before I invest any further money.
This plane is a little gem. A friend of mine recommended it to be. I had already been using a very nice freeware version of the Fouga Magister so I was initially reluctant to spend money on a second one. But after my buddy pestered me for several days I pulled the trigger. To make it short: Azurpoly produced an extremely detailed, beautifully textured 3D model that doesn't have to hide from the likes of JustFlight, Carenado and Asobo. The sounds also feel quite good to me (never listened to an actual Magister) and the plane is a real joy to fly. While some MSFS aircraft have a very generic feel to them, this one has a few quirks and it has character. Can't put my finger on it, but it just feels right. In this price range you will find few aircraft with this level of quality. Actually there are many many planes out there which are significantly inferior and cost more money. So if you're looking for an old fashioned 1950s IFR capable subsonic jet trainer search no further.
It's not really bad. But it feels like an old ported FSX airport from 10 years ago. I've seen far better freeware airports out there.
Adding to my first review from February 5th I'd like to say that with the newest update the plane's flight model has improved a lot and I not like flying it. Still not perfect for my taste, but that might just be me. Thank you Sim Skunk Works!
Delightful little plane. Easy to fly slow and land anywhere you like. Ideal for sightseeing. Perfect visibility. You can look directly down. The only thing I don't like are the textures. So -1 star for that: The whole plane looks a bit like it comes fresh out of a 3D developer's program (which it does of course). Not only is there to wear or scratches. But the textures look too perfect and don't come across as real as if the whole plane had perfectly even surfaces and 100% perfect paint. The engine looks a bit like a toy.
I had impatiently been waiting for it since I saw the first previews: a classic small late 50s Cold War subsonic military jet. A bit more modern that a F-86 Sabre, but still much more raw than the more sophisticated (while by today’s standards still old-fashioned) MB-399. So of course I bought it right away. I loaded it up at EDMO Oberpfaffenhofen, where the first German-built G.91 rolled off the assembly line. The first impression was a kind of walk around with the exterior camera. Much attention to detail. Canopy up, speed brakes out, ladder mounted to the cockpit. Nicely done German Luftwaffe livery. Sitting inside the well-worn oldtimer the level of detail also reminded me of the MB-339 again. This simply looks real. Start procedure behind me and the Bristol-Siddley Orpheus first sizzles a little and then comes to life. High pitched at first, but after letting it warm up a little and pushing the throttle to the stops (with the parking brakes on of course) the roar comes. Far removed from IndiaFoxTecho’s vacuum cleaner sound track. This feels like more power than the little Fiat actually has. I can almost feel the vibrations. Strangely enough before I started the engine, the clicks of all the little buttons and switches were not simulated. I also cannot hear the rain on the canopy or the sound of the flaps being lowered and raised. One could argue, that wearing a helmet one couldn’t hear them anyway in real life, but somehow I miss those little sounds. Ok, throttle to idle. Parking brakes off, and I’m rolling towards the runway. The front wheel feels extremely direct. I dispense with asking for clearance put the flaps down a notch and press the throttle to the stop as soon as the front wheel touches the runway. The Fiat gathers speed quickly and takes a gently tug on the stick to lift off. Gear and flaps up and off I go toward the mountains. In the hilly terrain I am keeping low following first a big lake and then a larger winding river. The ailerons responds instantly to any command. A little too instantly in my opinion, so I apply some more throttle and climb to 10000ft in order to play around a little more. Climbing I noticed that - contrary to the aileron input, the plane takes a lot of elevator input to react. The same is true for tight turns. It’s tremendously difficult to pull it into a high-G turn. The roll rate however is totally off the chart. Flying straight and pulling the stick hard to the side the plane suddenly rolls extremely violently. It appears like it’s rolling faster than even the Extra could. When I keep the stick pulled for 2-3 rotations the plane spins totally out of control for a moment. Releasing the stick stablises the plane quickly - mostly in a high speed dive. Flying straight also gave me difficulties. Despite the rather sluggish elevator control, the plane is extremely hard to keep trimmed properly. All this behaviour feels very alien to me. While I have never flown a real fighter jet I can only compare it to previous simulator experiences, the MB-339 and common sense. All of which tells me the roll rate is much too high, the elevator is much to sluggish and the plane overall is very twitchy and sensitive. I tried solving the issue with the sensitivity settings, but couldn’t find any setting that made the exterme roll tolerable apart from using the extremity dead zone and more or less crippling the aileron input. Still it somehow feels wrong to me. Maybe it’s just me, I don’t know. Another thing that is probably more easily solved than the flight model, is the simulated “head camera”. In all planes of MSFS the head movement is simulated so that the view shifts slightly when the plane climbs, sinks or flies a curve. In the Fiat, however, during more harsh maneuvers the simulated head/view/eyes - whatever you like to call it moves around the cockpit so fast and violently that it becomes disorientating for me. People with sensitive stomachs beware! One last thing about the sound: while I like the engine sound so much, that I tried it out with the MB-339, I noticed that the gear bump on touch down is rather harsh, no matter how soft you set down the plane. The P.149 has the same problem. Maybe something to do with Italian planes license-built in Germany :wink: All in all I find the Fiat a terrific looking plane with lots of little details. It really makes the impression that the developers put a lot of love and effort into it. However, as it is currently, it will only be something pretty to look at for me. I simply don’t enjoy flying it. But I really hope SimSkunkWorks will change the flight model.