Hi everyone,
I'm a newbie to FS9 (got it a couple of weeks ago)
I had been playing with Austin Meyers X-Plane by Laminar Research.
Both products have their strong points and weak points.
If Flt Sim 2006 could incorporate the following it would really be a huge improvement
1)get rid of the tired old bitmaps that are blurry and lacking in really good detail.
X-Plane:You can now resize the INSTRUMENT FONT layers for the instrument panel to any size you like,
with no restrictions. If you want fonts that are 50 pixels tall that is fine... just resize the PNG files to give any size
font, and X-Plane will figure out how big the fonts should be based on the size of the layer-3 or layer-4 PNG file.
2) More precise control of settings. Click on an auto pilot altim gauge in X-plane it immediatly gets up to its increment speed and stops immediately when you stop pressing the mouse button. Going from say 1800 to 23454 is effortless. In FS9 it's painful to set the altimeter. I'm seem to go past the target height in both directions several times untill i get it right. There seems to be a lag .. it goes real slow then it picks up speed without any warning and before you know it you have passed where you wanted to go.
in X-Plane all of the gauges are extreemly precise and easy to set.
3) I'd like to see better autopilot stuff (new in Xplane :Better autopilot on the glideslope, including auto-land.)
if FS9 already has auto-land my apologies I just have not found it yet

4) The ability for ATC to give instructions for a Radar Controlled approach (non ILS) where they essentially talk the pilot entering the airspace onto the runway.
5) In addition to the GPS ( a great FS9 gadget not found in X-Plane) is to get the Nav Computer the little gadget with all of the key pad button (that is found in X-Plane) This is not really a big item for me cause I find the GPS a facinating feature that's really great.
5) find a way to improve the frame rate.
That's abou it.
If you want seriously accurate physics, an FAA certified simulator
http://www.x-plane.com/FTD.html, fast frame rates to practice your tricky manuvers, the ability to create your own custom instrument panels, custom planes and terrain then X-Pane is your ticket.
BUT
If you want the entire ATP experience and you want virtual cocpits, really stunning more realistic night and day visuals, a realistic ATC, a very cool GPS feature, full fleged gate to gate realism with taxi ways, terminals, intelligent radio chatter, easy to use database for finding airports, better sound, huge amounts of scenery, flight planners, a much better and easier to use map, etc. Then FS9 is your ticket.
I appreciate X-Plane for what it does, but the overall experience, I have to admit, even with the lower frame rates and the horrendous knob settings that react as though you had a pair of oven mits on, goes to FS9.
I'm still impressed with the night visuals in FS9.
X-plane may have moving cars on the highway but take of from KLAX to PHNL and within three to five miles the coastline behind you in X-Plane becomes completely dark. I even wrote to Austin saying that was kind of bogus (that was three versions ago - still no change) In FS9 you can still see a glimmer of the west coast 45 miles away. Now that's what I remember seeing (at least something similar) when I was on a flight to Hawaii several years ago)
Lastly I want to say thanks to all of the people, most who will never see this message, thanks for all fo the hard work and dedication to the community.
Happy flying

wizbang