TriStar L-1011 Flight Simulator Expansion Pack - PC

I bought this L-1011 after reading many, many reviews. Reviews seem to be mixed. My main worry was that the aircraft wouldn't be as deep as I crave, as a person who owns all of the PMDG craft and expects that high level of complexity in my sims now.First, let's talk about the aircraft itself. The Lockheed L-1011 TriStar was Lockheed's only entrant into the commercial jet airliner market. This fascinates me, because I like to see how different companies and different engineers tackle the same problems. Each engineer has his or her own way of looking at a problem and crafting a solution. For instance, we're all pretty familiar by now with the Boeing autopilot, for instance, as it looks the same and works almost exactly the same way across the whole line of Boeing aircraft. The Lockheed autopilot, though, has its own flavour. Its own vocabulary. The shape and colour of the glare panel are different. The whole cabin has its own unique flavour, and it's jolly fascinating to sample the work of these engineers. I must give this a star right off the bat for being such a unique offering. This is one of three TriJets with a wing/stab engine configuration (the others being the DC-10 and MD-11).Now, regarding the sim. It's deep and complex. Clickable cockpit buttons abound. The majority of the buttons are clickable; in fact, there are only a few that aren't clickable -- the fuses. Since I didn't expect the fuse buttons to be clickable in the first place, I will add a star for the excellent clickable cockpit. The manual is thick and comes with a fantastic tutorial. Indeed, this sim comes with a tutorial flight which can be launched from the desktop (!!) -- something that is almost unheard of in other sims. The tutorial flight takes you on a whirlwind tour and is well worth the price of admission. The tutorial flight and the included hefty manual each get a star from me.I have a way to go with this aircraft. I've owned it for a month or two and I'm still having a great time exploring and expanding my knowledge and ability with it. I rank it right up there with some of my other favourites - the PMDG 737NGX (the benchmark which sets the bar so high for other sim entrants), the excellent Flight1 DC-9 (a marvel of detail and a must-have for VOR flyers), the Accu-Sim B-307 and B-17 (both outstanding experiences in realism), and the F/A-18E Superbug (another must-have for its realism and its several hundred page manual).It should be noted that the TriStar must be updated to get the full experience. If I recall correctly, you can install the update from the Internet or from the CD. Please make sure that you are using the latest version of the sim, as I understand it fixes many bugs and brings a more complete experience. This gets another star from me for the fact that the company listened to users and followed up on bug reports and feature requests, and instead of selling the upgrade as a separate product like some other companies have been known to do, they made this available free to users.As an FSX expansion addict, I have spent thousands of dollars on my hobby. This plane ranks in my top 10 favourite addons. My top 10 addons all get five stars.

I just got this loaded yesterday and tried it out and it is a very smooth flying aircraft with both 2D and VC cockpit and all kinds of other popup panels which I have not tried yet. It also has a 1/4 inch 4x 6 manual that comes with it. Also, the Price at Amazon beat everyone else by 8.00 or more....SHALOM.....Brother Randahl

Excellent Graphics

THIS IS A SUPER AIRLINER TO FLY, GREAT FUN AND WELL WORTH IT. I LOVE SETTING THE OUTSIDE SETTING TO LEFT OR RIGHT WING AND HITTING FULL THROTTLE IT LOOKS AND SOUNDS REAL ON TAKEOFF. THE L-0111 IS A GREAT PROGRAM AND I REALLY LIKE THE COCKPIT ALSO. A FUN PLANE TO FLY.

Very unrealistic performance! For example, L-1011 needs shorter runway to take off than a B-747 with MTO. The 747 will take off from that relatively short runway but the L-1011 won't!! Also the graphics in general and especially the cockpit graphics are not good at all.

Overall, very good. Not all aspects of SP1 work however.

I purchased this as a gift for husband not realizing you had to have a prior flight simulator. Very disappointed