I had a session in a Redbird some years ago and wasn't impressed; later I bought X-Plane and found it was at least as good as the Redbird (though not useful for currency).
My opinion changed today - I did my six currency approaches in a quite new Redbird and it was far smoother and realistic than I recall from way back. It seemed "tuned", in that control inputs matched the real airplane quite well. Just a few minor annoyances - it's kinda erratic on the ground, and the manual trim has no feedback. But it was spot on in the air, and many of the tactile panel items behaved authentically. I used a 172 steam setup today with a couple Garmin boxes and it was almost eerie. I don't usually fly a 172 with steam much anymore, but the differences between steam and glass aren't that major.
X-Plane is great, with a good graphics card and some peripherals - can't log it, but it's valuable for IFR proficeincy - but the Redbird came with a CFII and some good hints and bad-habit spotting. I'll go back again.
My opinion changed today - I did my six currency approaches in a quite new Redbird and it was far smoother and realistic than I recall from way back. It seemed "tuned", in that control inputs matched the real airplane quite well. Just a few minor annoyances - it's kinda erratic on the ground, and the manual trim has no feedback. But it was spot on in the air, and many of the tactile panel items behaved authentically. I used a 172 steam setup today with a couple Garmin boxes and it was almost eerie. I don't usually fly a 172 with steam much anymore, but the differences between steam and glass aren't that major.
X-Plane is great, with a good graphics card and some peripherals - can't log it, but it's valuable for IFR proficeincy - but the Redbird came with a CFII and some good hints and bad-habit spotting. I'll go back again.
