Microsoft Flight Simulator X: Gold Edition

by Microsoft

Product Features

• Choose from more than 80 missions that will show you the world with fun assignments from around the globe
• Race alone or against friends online
• Experience the day change from afternoon sun to evening dusk while flying at 32,000 feet
• Keep track of how you¿ve done on each mission and improve your skill levels until your ready for the next challenge
• Fly from your local airport during the winter and then experience the change as you fly from the same airport in summer

Product Details

• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B001DPZE84
• Product Dimensions: 5 x 7.5 x 2 inches ; 8.3 ounces
• Media: DVD-ROM
• Release Date: September 23, 2008
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (180 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #228 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #1 in Video Games > PC Games > Simulation > Flight
  • #31 in Video Games > PC Games > All Games

Product Description

Flight Acceleration X-pack enables gamers to play head to head against their friends or others in exciting racing missions, in addition to 20 new missions and new content.  Looks better than ever with enhanced DX10 graphics.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

363 of 373 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well-refined leader of the genre, March 20, 2009

By 

Jon L. Albee "Faulkner Wannabe" (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Microsoft Flight Simulator X: Gold Edition (DVD-ROM)

Flight simulation for your PC just doesn't get any better than this. Microsoft has been at this for a long time, and they make it better with every release.

A few things seasoned flight simmers will know that new users will certainly WANT to know are:

The system requirements to really make this software work well are dauntingly advanced. You'll need something approaching a top-level gaming machine, with a huge video card, to get the full benefit of the entire visual, audible, advanced controls experience. Got a laptop you think is pretty smokin'? Forget it.

Microsoft follows every release of this product with massive service packs you must download and install, and each one takes a huge chunk out of your hard drive. Be prepared with LOTS of disk space. This particular release (meaning, the "Gold Edition") includes service packs one and two, so you won't need to download them.

An internet connection is required to register the product.

A note to real pilots (I am also a pilot): Keep in mind that this is a $30 product for a home computer, not a Flight Safety training machine. The flight model is basic and stable, and is not intended to simulate extreme attitudes and emergency procedures. If you're looking for a realistic spin trainer, or a procedural instrument trainer there are expensive add-ons that will get you CLOSE, but you should generally be looking elsewhere.

Bottom line is that this is, hands down, the best of the lot, but you really DO need vast hardware resources to run it. If you own those resources, be prepared for a real-time, audio-visual feast.

93 of 97 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars First time for Flight Simulator [Played Three Days Straight], January 3, 2009

By 

David C. Richey "The Geeker" (Anderson, SC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Microsoft Flight Simulator X: Gold Edition (DVD-ROM)

Fun once you've downloaded the three disks. There are over 5,000 Airports, 30 planes plus three if you buy The Gold Version, and Loads of Missions to fly. My Favorite Feature is Free Play. You can take off from your Hometown Airport or any other and vist landmarks like The Egyption Pyramids, The Leaning Tower of Pisa, and Niagra Falls. You can download any plane you want online like UFO's, Futureristic Fliying Cars, and my favorite, a Thunder Bird version F-16. I love this game. Make sure you buy a controler like A Saitek X52 joystick and throttle. This game is unplay able witout one.

212 of 231 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Dumbed down to dumb, January 8, 2010

By 

Maine AV8R (Maine, USA) - See all my reviews

= Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars 

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Microsoft Flight Simulator X: Gold Edition (DVD-ROM)

As a Pilot, I bought this version because it included the G-1000 glass cockpit. The G-1000 simulator from Garmin is $119, FSX was only $34.95.

So, overall, I got what I wanted. I was very disappointed that MS decided to dumb down the flight physics even more than in FS9. Lot's of silly things too: For example, the left turning tendency is pronounced in a single engine propellor aircraft. This is caused by Torque, P-Factor, Gyroscopic precession and slipstream. Why do the 2 and 4 engine Commercial Jets in FSX also require heavy right rudder on take-off? They are immune to these forces. (They don't have props!) Stalls are so subtle and gentle as to be pointless, FSX wings never drop and full recovery is possible without relieving back pressure on the stick. FSX Planes will not spin, even when forced into cross-controlled flight. It's impossible to get the spin started and spin recovery; one of the most important basic flight skills to master, is impossible to properly simulate in FSX. Forward slips don't work properly and the glide ratios (at least for 172's) are ridiculously exaggerated (maybe I'm flying really "dirty" planes in real life?). I was also disappointed that there are no physics included to simulate the F-18 breaking the sound barrier. :(

It's great for learning instrumentation and navigation, but as a simulation of flight; it is pretty useless. The things this simulator lets you get away with (Yes, on Full Realism) would kill you several times per day in a real aircraft.

Graphics are good, but not the quantum leap you would expect from FS9-FSX (I'm running a quad core i7 940 at 2.93ghz, 6gb ram and a nVidia GTX-260 and have pretty much everything set to medium. Even set that low, NYC can knock me down to 6 FPS.

Buy it for fun, or to experiment with cockpit instumentation (it's really good for that, especially for student pilots training in G-1000 equipped aircraft), but don't fool yourself into believing that it is as Real As It Gets, because it flies like a video game.