On the plus side, even though the controls are limited, they are easy to use, so you can’t really fault it in that regard. There is only one you can take off from, and the scenery gets pretty boring after a while. More planes would have been much better, as if it’s this type of flight sim, you really want more options. While the detail on the planes is good, there are a very limited number of choices. You take off with no clear indication of where to go, the controls are limited, and if it’s your first time, it’s incredibly difficult to keep the plane in the air. I know you can’t expect as much performance from an iPhone, but nevertheless, I feel they could have done better. Out of the three, this is the most disappointing one by a clear mile.

Instead, better spend your money on a good joystick (as I did), so you can get the best flying experience possible. For Mac at least, there is no need to spend hundreds on a flight simulator when there is great free one on offer. What’s more, because it is open source, it is completely free, which is awesome. While it does run on my 2007 Macbook, it is pretty sluggish at times, so I would recommend having something with good graphics and processor. Performance wise, as with everything, the faster your Mac the better. Rather like a pizza, you download the base, and then you can add whatever toppings you want to suit your fancy. It is infinitely expandable, with many different aircraft available to download from the official site, as well as terrain and airports. The main reason this is so great is that it is completely open source. Let’s take a look at one of the best for each platform, Flightgear (Mac), X-Plane (iPhone) and F-Sim Space Shuttle (iPad/iPhone). What’s more, with the appearance of iOS, this category of game has been transitioned to mobile devices, with considerable success.

While the classic flight simulator is perhaps slightly less mainstream today than it was several years ago, there is still a huge audience for them.

Flight simulator for imac