With SU4, I really think that 2024 has matured to the point where it is as stable and feature-rich as any previous MS flightsim. I'm pleased that I can still run it at reasonable settings on my old system, with a real improvement in GPU usage with SU5 so far, and there are some improvements in the visual issues I've had since 2024.
Recently there was a discussion on the MSFS forum about immersion, and one of the main suggestions was VR for immersion. I'll always kept away from this, but now that 2024 is getting better at VR then I might take a look at some point. My only experience with VR was back when I made a pilot practice scenery for Martin Jetpack, and they let me fly the actual jetpack sim. Basically a jetpack frame with VR goggles. I admit I was blown away by the realism flying around the scenery in VR.
Speaking of immersion, lately in the local supermarket carpark I've been seeing a bloke who is the spitting image of my MSFS avatar, down to the colour his shorts. Might be time for me to take a break from the sim...
One pet peeve of mine is still the Marketplace. It really needs a UI update, but mostly it's the content which ruins the implementation. There are a lot of included developers who just saturate the marketplace with poor quality, but there are still a huge number of developers who are no closer to gaining access after all this time.
Although I have been collecting free simverse coins for a while now, so I can try all the local scenery addons, there's till next to nothing available in the Marketplace. Here's the marketplace map from the sim, showing what's there:
The map shows which ones I own, but I also have Flightbeam's Auckland and Wellington, thanks to a simmer who has supported me above and beyond.
I'm awaiting NZA's Mount Cook, which they've released for 2024 now, but still no sign in the Marketplace.
Luckily, this dearth of local payware airports is made up for with a lot of freeware. I really should finish one of the projects I'm working on one day, but time is more of an issue than it was before I retired -- I spend around 4 days a week taking care of the grandkids, which is exhausting for an old man like me. I thought I'd get a break this year, when the boy goes to school, but they went and had another kid, so there goes the next 5 years....
My grandson actually goes to the Steiner kindy now, which makes things easier, except for the morning drop-offs which can take an hour on the motorway with the current road works.
Hopefully all this keeps me young.
