If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to fly a plane, even a commercial airliner, you might have considered trying Pro Flight Simulator. It’s a flight simulator that isn’t for one of the major gaming systems like Xbox or Wii, this one is played right on your computer, using the keyboard for controls. Proponents of the game say it’s great, and definitely recommend it, but some naysayers say it’s not all it’s cracked up to be, so which is right?
Overview
Flight simulators have been popular for many years, and the most popular of which has been the one from Microsoft. Who hasn’t dreamed of what it would be like to fly a plane, without all of the responsibility and accountability if you screw up? What a thrill it would be to feel a plane leave the ground, knowing that it was in your control. What a view you would have as you soar through the sky and see distant objects move closer and closer to you. To be above the clouds with nothing in site for miles and miles. And to have no need for a rear view mirror! Can a video game or a simulator really capture this experience?
The Claim
They say that Pro Flight Simulator is the most realistic flight simulation game ever created. They say they accomplish this by using real world imagery for the terrain, as well as real world aircraft, airports, and scenery.
Pro Flight Simulator also claim that it’s the next best thing to being up there. If you’re a pilot, or have a hobby of flying planes, you probably look for ways to replicate the experience. While nothing is going to match the thrill of flying, if you can get the sights and controls down, you’re off to a pretty good start.
The Hype
The hype is that this game is very similar to Microsoft’s flight simulation game, Flight Simulator X and that’s where a lot of the comparisons come from. People want to know which one is better.
The Cost
They say that it usually retails for $100, and that you can get %50 off, but these type of products always seem to inflate the “normal” price in order to create a sense of urgency. That being said we think the price is usually $49. There is, however, a deluxe version of the game that is $97 which gets you all of the world scenery, greatly enhancing the experience.
Tip: You can get the deluxe version for $20 less if you try to close out the window, but then opt to stay on the page.
One thing that is unique about this software, is that you will be able to try it out for a full 60 days and get your money back if you don’t like it. Try doing that with an Xbox game.
The Commitment
You don’t have to make too much of a commitment, other than installing and playing the game. If you’re a fan of flight sim games, or just flying games in general, you’ll probably have no trouble losing several hours to this one.
Evaluation
They’ve tried to mimic a lot of the controls you’d see on a real airplane, as well as the functions and cause and effect type of actions you can make while you’re in the cockpit. This includes things like system failures, and instrument failures, that you’ll have to figure out how to contend with in order to safely fly and land the plane.
Certified pilots will even have to admit that some of the situations it presents you with are true to life. It might not have you prepared to take over the controls of an airplane if you’re ever in that typical movie situation where the pilots get killed or are unconscious and the flight attendants ask people on the plane if anyone can fly this thing, but it can provide hours of enjoyment.
We like that you can install Pro Flight Simulator on as many computers as you want, which is great if you have more than one computer in the house, or want to try installing it at work. It also supports several different controller options case you want to take it a step further in realism.
Final Pro Flight Simulator Review
When compared to its biggest rival, Flight Simulator X, Pro Flight Simulator is blow for blow just as good if not a little better. The two are very similar as far as the controls go, and how much time you can spend playing each one. But PFS excels at offering plenty more airports, tons more planes, and much more scenery, which is really what makes the game enjoyable. The fact that you get free updates for life with it is icing on the cake. Unlike with FSX where in classic Microsoft fashion they are always coming out with a new version, but making you pay for each one as they’re released.
Our Recommendation
If you’re going to try it, you might as well opt for the deluxe version for a few dollars more. It’s got plenty more scenery, which means you can get more use out of it before getting bored. No matter which way you go, you’re covered by the money back guarantee, so there’s no point in not picking it up and putting it through its paces to see if you like it. If you do like it and want to keep it, it’s a reasonable price, seeing how you get free updates, so you don’t have to worry about buying future versions.
Official Website: ProFlightSimulator.com
I bought this before looking at the reviews. I was so excited to get this installed and begin flying. I have yet to get it to run very long. When it will load, it looks like a cartoon drawing my 3 year old granddaughter could have given me. I would not recommend this at all.
I have owned My version of the Pro Flight Simulator Suite, cd version, for more than 4 years. I have removed and reinstalled it many times. I have downloaded the latest version from Pro Flight web site. I have read and reread the installing instruction dozens of times. And except for the default airports and airplanes, I have NOT BEEN ABLE TO GET ANY OF THE EXTRA SCENERY FILES AND/OR EXTRA AIRPLANE FILES TO LOAD AND WORK PROPERLY. What trouble tickets I have submitted to Pro Flight, I did not get satisfaction results. I switching to another vendor. Sorry Pro Flight but I not fighting your software anymore.
stand by fore crap VIRTUAL PILOT 3D 2019 SAME LOT.
I have a very suitable Dell xps 8920 with loads of memory and a Nvidia GE force gfx 1070 graphics driver with all the latest updates, yet pro flight simulator will not operate correctly, it blinks and spins and does all sorts of weird things. And it will not automatically find and install my joy stick, you have to go through all kinds of files and copy and paste into various locations. It is advertised as user friendly, boy what a stretch that is! Its one of the most compilated and time consuming programs I have ever seen. An just try to go to support @ dovetailgames for help? you can forget it they are no help at all. Just a waste of money, bought the entire 4 disk set and never could fly the simulator one time!! Its going into the trash!
One of the most pathetic product on the market. One of the worst customer service. I made a mistake but I consider this a donation to these folks.
Stay away from this product. It is just mesmerizing advertising self proclaiming to be the best product. It is worse then some basic free games you can download.
Normally I do not write negative reviews but this product does not stand among the top 100 simulation product. Unfortunately, there is no way to test it unless you buy it and by then you will be sucked out of $100 of dollars. Their support and contact might not work from time to time.
This a scam: the software does not work, is missing important files for aircraft. What a sham…..I hope the government looks into this company. I believe they are out of Europe.
After realising that this scam freeware does not resemble the sales video I disputed this with PayPal and got a full refund today. This company is a fraud and do not buy from them.
I bought PFS and it is just a copy of an old FlightGear version. The only difference is the launcher is different and some of the places the program would usually say “FlightGear,” it says “ProFlightSimulator.” However, most of the time it still says “FlightGear,” especially if you get into the more advanced menus of the program.
Technically it is legal for them to sell this copy of FG because FG is an open-source program, which means that anyone can get it for free and anyone can download the program’s code. They basically just run it through find-and-replace software to replace “FlightGear” with “ProFlightSimulator.”
PFS’s website says it comes with “120+ aircraft” – but the only ones that are even DECENT are the default ones (Cessna 172P and B777-200ER). Many of the planes are nothing but hollow shells that you can only fly with the shortcut keys, as there is no cockpit and thus no learning experience. Another chunk of them aren’t even the same planes as advertised. (Example: the Antonov An-225 is replaced by the An-22, if I remember correctly). The “+” means that after the 120 aircraft they have, they added miscellaneous garbage that they found on the FlightGear forum, like this dumb car thing). There are even some aircraft that are just a GRAPHIC of themselves that do not even fly. It is very laggy on a computer that exceeds the software requirements.
In addition to all this, the site says it offers tutorials “for every aircraft.” This is BLATANTLY false, it only comes with tutorials for the planes that had them originally in FlightGear. It says it has video tutorials, and I will have to look into that, but as far as in-game goes, good luck finding any help.
Now, considering PFS is a copy of FlightGear, you must be thinking, “well, at least if you bought it, you could use any aircraft for FlightGear,” but NO. Most well-developed airplanes from FG (such as the B777s) are downloaded in a single .zip file that contains multiple aircraft (like a pack). The PFS launcher isn’t able to handle installs of multiple aircraft from a single file. Even some that do NOT come in packs will crash the game before it loads.
The graphics are worse than FG because, so far as I’ve seen, PFS is based on a previous version of FG. The default aircraft are different as well, making it hard to find tutorials on them. The default aircraft for FG are very well-covered on YouTube as far as tutorials go.
I don’t know about others, but for me, my computer REFUSES to download scenery files (which have to be installed individually, in chunks of the world) in .tgz format, which is a compressed .tar file. It will only download the file as .tar, which will not install to PFS. (This is another difference between PFS and FG – FG scenery is in .zip files, not .tgz files.) The files are almost all over 100MB, which is the maximum limit for essentially all online file converters, after which you have to pay to convert files. The files that are small enough to be converted don’t work even after you convert them.
The support team is of no help. They say, “We are referring this to level 2 support, please wait for 2-3 days for a reply” but never answer after that, especially if it is a question based on the similarity between their program and FG).
Here is a copy of my email to them, before I had purchased the program and when I was wondering if it was the same as FG, as many people had said but had yet to be confirmed:
“Hello guys. I was checking out your site and I would definitely be willing to pay for a simulator that lives up to these expectations. However, I go to YouTube for some reviews and most of the stuff that comes up is people saying you guys just copied the code of FlightGear (a free simulator) and added slightly better graphics. I would like a straight answer, because it’s not right for you to be hustling people (many say you are). I’m worried that my $97 could be wasted on a ripoff, but please prove me wrong!
Thanks.”
And their reply:
“FlightGear is a great game in its own right but ProFlightSimulator is better in several aspects.
– We have over 120+ aircrafts to choose from and our database is growing. ( we add planes on a regular basis and you can get them for free as a member)
– We have the entire world scenery to explore. Our monthly updates includes updated real-life objects and landscapes to fully enhance realism.
– Members have lifetime access to all updates. There is no hidden or recurring costs.
– We are constantly developing the game to make it better with new features all the time. Microsoft is much slower in producing updates as they are a large company. As a smaller outfit and a tighter development unit, we are much more responsive and committed to make this the BEST flight simulator.”
This is almost a direct copy of an answer from the FAQ, where they were saying “Why we [they] are better than Microsoft FSX or any other flight sims!” – they just substituted “FlightGear” for “FSX, “shown below:
“Microsoft Flight Sim X is a great game in its own right but ProFlightSimulator is better in several aspects.
– We have currently over 150+ aircrafts to choose from and our database is growing. (we add planes on a monthly basis and you can get them for free as a member)
– We have the entire world scenery to explore. Our monthly updates includes updated real-life objects and landscapes to fully enhance realism. No other flight sim in the market provide updates as fast or as accurate as we do.
We have a paid team of full-time scenery developers working 24/7 to model real landscapes and objects based on Google Maps.
– Also, unlike other flight sim games, there are no add-on costs or hidden costs. Members have lifetime access to all new aircraft and new scenery packs. There is also FREE program updates for 5 years. Unlike our competitors who “force” you to purchase new software every year, you’ll get 5 years of main program upgrades for free.
– We are constantly developing the game to make it better with new features all the time. Microsoft is much slower in producing updates as they are a large company. As a smaller outfit and a tighter development unit, we are much more responsive and committed to make this the BEST flight simulator.”
In conclusion, DO NOT, and I repeat, DO NOT even THINK for ONE SECOND about paying $97 for a crappy version of a game yoh can get in much better quality for FREE.
And trust me, I am not trying to just hate on the program because I don’t like it. It’s because it truly IS a scam and nobody deserves to be tricked like this.
I am going to make a video of myself using PFS to show how it is a copy of FG, because there are currently no user-made (not company-made) gameplay videos of PFS on YouTube. When it is uploaded it can be found here: https://m.youtube.com/c/lordmaliscence
I am also planning to file a case against them with the Better Business Bureau, because though the selling of open-source software is legal, much of their false advertising is not.
Thanks.
-Lord Maliscence
Totally agree with you
Thanks…I’ll try the download version first from the actual developers. It’s almost impossible to get a good flight sim for a Mac. Speedbird above, said it’s not as good as MS X. I wouldn’t know, since I only use Macs. Again, thanks for the link.
Why do you try to rip off people by asking for money for something they can simply download for free – the work of many enthusiasts who spend lots of time on coding it and then you just steal their work and sell it under your own name shamelessly?
Anyone interested just go to http://www.flightgear.org/ and get the real thing in a better version for free!
Thankyou.
to any innocent person who read this. THIS IS A SCAM! PFS is actually a FREEWARE packaged as a PAYWARE! THe real thing is flight gear. Also, FSX with the right payware addons is better then an y game! ANd to anyone who thinks this is boring. Thats because it is. If you try FSX or X plane 10 with GOOD addons (Aerosoft PMDG Flight factor) you will find it VERY exciting! THe planes are harder to fly, and their is a LOT of VERY complex systems programming
This is awesome, and not because I think it’s good, but because it sounds to me like the most boring experience possible. It claims to be the most realistic flight simulator and the images on the covers suggest that it is all about commercial flying. Now, unless I’ve been hallucinating all these years, commercial flying is the most tedious activity one can partake in. I’m sure there’s lots of stuff gong on in that little room where the pilots sit, and I’m sure it takes a great deal of intelligence to qualify as a pilot. But playing a game that simulates flying in a straight line for hours and hours? Jesus.
I used to be a huge fan of MS Flight Sim X but my friend went over to PFS and after a quick go of it on his machine i also made the switch. The main factor for me was the level of detail seems to be much higher and as the review says it’s got more airports and planes (which is always good).
the free updates for life just sealed the deal.