Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A great way to cut your teeth., December 18, 2007
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
If you have any serious interest in getting into RC flying might I recommend this as your first purchase. It comes with a full size 8-channel remote console that plugs into your USB port and behaves exactly as a real RC remote would. The software loads quickly and seamlessly, although you do need a rather advanced graphics card to be able to run it. My personal laptop computer (all of 3 years old) cannot run it, so I'm forced to take my work laptop home to play with it. Once loaded you have a plethora of aircraft to choose from, including:
- Over 40 fixed-wing aircraft ranging from simple 2-channel electric trainers that fly no faster than a slow jog, to gas powered fully aerobatic stunt planes, to complex jet turbine planes with retractable landing gear and flaps capable of 200mph. There are even four float planes. Some are scale models of real-life aircraft (Piper Cub, P-51 Mustang, and even the 1903 Wright Flyer) while others are simply-built `wings on a stick' designed for RC flying. Every plane has its own unique flight characteristics, so it's a great way to 'try out' various models before deciding on a purchase. As I understand you can download additional aircraft models.
- 20 helicopters, both gas and electric. Some are so simple to fly a 6-year-old could do it, and some are so difficult I have yet to fly them for longer than 10 seconds without a spectacular crash.
- 6 gliders
- 1 blimp, which is nearly impossible to crash.
After only a few hours on the stick with some basic trainers I was feeling pretty confident in my RC piloting skills. I'm progressing slowly up the ladder to the more complex aircraft. Another feature the G4 allows is both a cockpit and chase plane view, which makes this double as a flight simulator.
And there are over 20 photorealistic scenes you can choose from, including a tropical paradise complete with wrecked pirate ships.
And when you crash, the planes come apart piece by piece. If you land hard, or clip a building, you may only lose a wheel or one rear stablizer. The plane still flies, but it's flight characteristics change drastically and it's a real challenge to keep it in the air. One fun thing I discovered was that the jet plane's engines will still run even after being stripped down to a bare fuselage, and it's a riot watching it scoot uncontrollably around the field like a deranged rocket-powered pinball. After a wreck all you need do is press the `reset' button in the controller and you're right back to the beginning with a fresh plane.
My only complaint is that there's no depth perception. Looking at a 2D screen it's extremely difficult to tell how far your plane is from obstacles. Several times I've had my plane on a perfect landing approach only to crash into a tree that I thought was further away.
In conclusion I'll agree that the price tag can be a bit steep, but this is an excellent training tool, and it will pay for itself several times over on un-wrecked airplanes.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A must buy for first time flyers, March 16, 2008
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
G4 is probably the best way to learn to fly without an instructor. After purchasing this product I quickly learned that flying was more difficult than I had imagined. After a few days of flying in G4 I was able to land and even pull off a couple stunts. There are training lessons and you can fly in actual photograph fields.
The plane physics make each plane act very similar to its actual RC plane. Lighter planes can be carried away by wind easier. The BLT Trainer (a light balsa stick plane) can even break by too much stress being put onto the body.
Even my friends that have no interest of getting into RC flying love to put this simulator into chase view and fly around. The other night a friend played with G4 for over 4 hours. I asked him if he wanted to fly my real RC SKYFLY airplane (which is also in this simulator) and he said "no, I just like the game"
If you are serious about getting into RC flying this is my recommendation:
1. Buy Real Flight G4 and practice till you are quite ready.
2. Buy a Hobbico Skyfly RTF (around $100). It is a great first time plane and is easy to fly.
3. Build whatever plane you wish as you will have a good grasp on flying at this point. Just do not get carried away and build a $900 plane or a helicopter till you get a lot of experiance.
The best feature of G4 over the real thing is the little red RESET button. Imagine all the money being saved as crashing the real thing can get expensive fast.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This thing is saving me big dollars, January 3, 2008
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
Got it, installed it, ran it. No problems.
The only oddness was having to enter serial numbers for both the controller and the software. Ummm, why? Doesn't having the controller plugged into the computer imply that I paid for this stuff? The directions said to turn off virus checkers and similar applications. As always, I cut the internet connection (this time by disabling the WiFi radio) before unloading my security stuff.
Five hours later, I reloaded the security stuff and turned WiFi back on. Those hours passed as quickly as if I'd been playing WoW.
During those five hours, I saved a lot of time and money. I flew model planes and helicopters back when the simulators weren't very good. The rule was fly 'em til ya break 'em. After every crash, you rock back and forth on your heels and guess how much this one is gonna cost.
I don't know how many time I crashed during my hours on the sim. I know I tried things I'd never done with a flying model. The crashes were fun for the pilot (for a change). For example, I rubbed the landing gear off a few times and ended up flying a gearless bird. Also, helicopter rotors still explode on contacting the simulated ground.
As for quality and all that... At first, I thought the controller felt cheap. The real ones have smoother gimbals and stuff. Once the flying starts, it works flawlessly. A real controller can be connected in, but I doubt I'll bother. The simulation software itself is very good and the whole rig is responsive and predictable.
What isn't simulated is the operator. I think I flew through myself a few times. I guess you can't really practice flying while fleeing.
Next step is using the big screen as an external monitor. Then I can practice from the comfy chair.
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