Thanks for the video. What helps me as a student pilot that learns on msfs is the side view on airstrips and unrealisticly clear view of airport lights and rules to turn them on during IFR conditions. If you see things more like this please don't hesitate to do more videos!

Hey Russ, I am in complete and utter agreement with all five of you killer points. Paving textures I can just about deal with but ground crew, vehicles and clutter really does bug me also. Thanks for pointing these out in great form and hopefully MS and Asobo will start to listen to us.

I am 100% with you on this! In fact, all of these points can be put together on one heading: "airports". This is where xplane excels for me. You can also add airport buildings to your list too. I look forward to xplane 12 (using 11 now) and don't mind at all the visual limitations. Because there are things that sim does better too, I use both side by side. Airport environment is a bigger thing for me than world visuals

Excellent job! Hit the nail on the head (5 times) in a very soft and understanding manner. Hopefully MS will take note.

Just discovered your channel thanks to a link someone posted on the official MSFS forums. Fantastic video and I agree with everything you said , was vigorously nodding "yes yes" at each one. The runway/taxiway/ramp textures bugged me from Day 1. They look like large beach stones flattened into the ground. This is one of the FEW areas XP12 does it better. Trees at the approach end of a runway are a real PITA , they need to fix that desperately. Engaging content we are very lucky to have a person of such vast experience give their input into this game. Misobo should hire you! Subbed!

That's exactly my point. Trees on short final, taxiway lights all over and vehicles running around. Thanks for voicing these annoying things.

Great video! I’m in total agreement with your list. The taxiway intrusions is my #1.

What an excellent video! All you mention is spot on and let's hope we'll see these issues addressed down the road. As for flying in VR using the Varjo Aero, I know what you mean. It's nothing short of amazing being able to enjoy this beautiful simulator in that headset! I'll post a link to this clip over in the official MSFS forum and keep my fingers crossed the right people will see your input. Blue skies buddy and thanks for all your experience and thoughts you share with the community 👍

Helpful advise, Russ. Thank you very much!

Hello Russ, Just watched your top 5 list and am in total agreement with you but, for myself, MSFS is so much better than the original. I am thankful to be able to experience the thrills of flight with this program. I also wish when I was growing up in St. Louis and living 15 miles from McDonell Douglas where the jet engine was developed and tested daily that I would have realized that flying would become a passion in later years. With that said, I am both envious and excited to know people that have followed their dreams of flight and although the program is not perfect, it offers people like me a small thrill to experience the opportunity of sitting in an airplane. One other note, it is people like you who have the hours in these flying machines that will help make MSFS even better moving forward. I believe I also heard you flew in the military, so thank you and many others for your service to our nation.

Really interesting critique, appreciated 👏✊

Nailed it!👍 2 more true immersion killers are the trees when you fly close (with a glider for example) and the ash (and sometimes grainy) clouds and how they behave when they dissolve.

I bought add-ons to fix the trees and runway/taxiway quality, but I’ve had the same comments aligned with all of your points. Great video.

SOOO glad someone finally called out the glide path obstruction issue. My solution for this has been just having dead zones in front of runway thresholds, where foliage is not allowed to be drawn above a certain height. But I like your solution of using the FAA algorithm for it.

On top of that list, my biggest immersion killers are the massive 6-story tall terminal buildings and the control towers that make even small airports look like they're trying to compete with KLAX. The former being very noticeable at places like KPHX, and the latter being very noticeable at a place like KOGD.

Someone walking into your room and asking an errand is the biggest immersion killer.

Hey Russ...great upload !. Also a former Pilot here. I was surprised by your #1 Immersion killer. Aside from the few taxi edge lights just now and again. I have never seen larger clutter such as vasis lights on the taxi ways. Hopefully you are reporting them in a ticket. I find things, I report them, and seemingly they are gone on the next update . Good luck and enjoy the sim

Agreed! One of my top killers is that aircraft external lights are just to dim. Beacon's, Nav lights, and Strobes. Especially at night.

the lack of shared cockpit kills my vibe, 747's flying formation just to fly "with a friend"

2 huge immersion killers for me are empty highways and no smoke effects. Flying into Ft Lauderdale in Florida or Pearson in Toronto you fly over some busy highways and yet in MSFS these highways are empty. Also when I start a propeller airplane I want to see some smoke. And when I rev the engines I want to see a cloud of dust blow out the back of the airplane. Great video as always. Thank you.

Very solid advices. Hope MSFS sees this.

Definitely earned a sub this morning is a great video also very relatable 😂

As a long time xplane user, could not agree more. Fs2020 is simply amazing. Just finished a cross country and the weather system is true to life. No harsh transitions, what you read in the report is what you experience. You can actually get trapped into IFR through gradual declining weather. I just love it. Love the Laminar guys, but there is a steep hill to climb to get back to parity.

Solid list Russ. That last item is a bummer since it's technically an issue more specific to MSFS previous sims didn't struggle as much with. Two years later, quite sad it's still an issue but I will applaud the amount of progress the sim has made since I first tried it in alpha. Now developing for the sim, seeing it evolve behind the scenes, it's very clear that many of these items listed are considered small fish in terms of what has been a priority in improving. In other words, it's on the right track and eventually this will be dealt with.. just a different perspective from an end users standpoint though.

The biggest immersion killer for me is they types of areoplanes you see parked on the apron. For example I bought the spitfire and concorde, 2 externally rare aircraft and yet I see them constantly parked at airports and airfields. Why is there a concorde, 2 spitfires and an f18 sat at Leeds Bradford Airport when I arrive or spawn. Totally kills the immersion.

Hello Russ! Another great vid, thank you. As a fellow real life current aviator (airlines) I love using MSFS2020 (especially in VR) and I can't agree with you more! All good points and it leaves one wondering, if only just those few points were fixed it would really improve the immersion! Having said that, still a wonderful product!!

Fantastic video, Russ Thank you very much. May I ask what video card are you using ?

Great video! The pavement texture size is a huge problem for me now with helicopters. It throws off your sense of height. The number of handmade airports is one thing XP12 has on MSFS, but Laminar Research needs to step up their scenery game for sure

I totally agree with you, but the good thing is that there are small add-ons to improve those things. And you also have the SDK developers kit. Where an exclusion BGL can be generated, and thus eliminate obstacles in the unreal approach or objects in the middle of the taxi ways.

Yep agree on two counts- the 5 issues raised as well as the fact these are endorsements of the product. Well done - appreciate what you do for the simming community

Great list!

I agree with what you said on X-Plane 12. There's been a negligible improvement over X-Plane 11. If this is the kind of development pacing they're gonna take with the next iterations of X-Plane, Laminar is gonna fall out of the flight sim race.

watching this video, I've realized how much I've become used to these immersion killers on msfs, that I just don't notice them anymore. Thanks for pointing them out, and I hope MSFS fixes them in the near future.

Quick cuts: 2:43 5. Pavement 3:32 4. Ground Service 4:47 3. Airport Lighting 6:23 2. Glidepath Obstructions 7:28 1. Taxiway Clutter

Well said, I agree on all of your points, and your choice of number one is right up there with my biggist irritation too. I always imagine that I just flatten the obstructing items with my landing gear and then hope they don't show up again the next time 😀

Spot on! As a private pilot, I agree. MSFS is great in VR in my Aero. Much room for improvement, but overall it has exceeded my expectations. XP12 looks like a huge let down to me, so I have no plans to get it. The two immersion killers that bug me the most from your list are the glide path obstructions and the beacon and runway lights always on.

thanks! They do and in stock. Thanks, really appreciate your KZfaq channel.

My biggest graphical detractions are the hard horizon line in terrain at low alt and that horrible glowing edge of objects in shadow

Agreed, great video Russ.

These are valid points. On the plus side, they're almost all related to default airports, so installing custom airports will fix these issues. The only one I can imagine was intentional was the lighting issue. I wonder if MS/Asobo did it on purpose to help newer simmers find their way and have "more fun", but I can see what that might make it too easy for people who want more of a challenge and more realism.

Hi, These are great visual immersion killers. I'm interested, how immersive do you find the flight model, and the quality of your flight controllers?

I'm thinking of getting the pimax 12K when it comes out. How do you control the plane and all the buttons. Right now I use honeycomb gear for toke and throttle, and mouse for everything else. Thanks and appreciate your videos!

Very good video thanks 😊 👍

Great list

For me, my top 5 (ish): -No shared cockpit. -No damage model. -MP /AI aircraft appear as generic (eg Bonanza instead of a 747). -No water dynamics. -No way to quickly position aircraft where you want like in previous versions. -Pushback system is a joke. -ATC is a joke. -No post crash analysis. -Route plotter (main menu map) is a joke. -Severe weather is a joke with turbulence exaggerated on clear air and light inside cumulus. -Airports/taxiways doesn't match reality. -AI live traffic isn't live and has no livery. -No bird strikes? -No Voip/in game chat (zero interaction with random MP people) -No fires -TCAS doesn't work on MP

Nailed the list man

Thanks Russ....what we really need in MSFS is a cockpit free view.

Would like to know how do you find the flight dynamics? Thank you.

Another pilot here. It’s fantastic but it does need some fixes, even here in 2022. A feel like a lot of things can be fixed by the developers spending more time at FBO’s (both in the US and Europe) to get an idea of the ambience and setting of 90% of GA ramps in the Western world. Creating and adding more assets to improve the immersion, like country/region specific ground vehicles. It’s strange being in a rural airport in the Midwestern US and seeing a state of the art French/German fire engine cruising around the ramp. You’re absolutely right in stating that the sim is so immersive that these things really stand out. In a weird way, it’s graphics and success work against it in that regard. Airport fences are another one IMO that need more work. For my biggest gripe though, I have to throw the cartoon-like generic AI aircraft in there. For both static and in-air traffic they are such a bizarre choice for a simulator. They have have licensed aircraft in the game, so I have no idea why they added them. Hopefully a traffic addon comes out that removes these, but Asobo really should remove them from the base sim.

as a pilot in a country in the third world I was just cracking when you said about the texture of the pavement. It looked exactly as in real life to me (I have never flown outside Colombia)

That was pretty interesting. I just fly around casually looking at things and other than the lights everywhere i never noticed any of this stuff. Its neat to hear a real pilots opinion. Also, the way you talk reminds me of Kevin Costner.😁 thank you for the video. Peace✌

Totally agree with you on the glide path into KSMO. Watch out for those trees! 😂

Amazing. I also thought that the airport vehicles were distracting and unusual as compared to real life. Same with the Ground crews. I always just thought it was some setting I had set up or some add on that I could not remove such as ground traffic or something like this. But it seems that everyone has it.

Surprised u did not mention the stepping/studdering of the entire scene when in taxi, turns or take off, great feed back thanks for another video

Very true about night flying. From the side during my night flying at KHIO we always look for the dark patch, which is easy(er) to see since it’s right next to the Intel factory.

You were flying in my hometown KMSO! That's so cool

Great video and I agree with your list. My personal opinion, shoudnt it be all resolved with a payware dedicated airport such KLAX and with GSX to improve the realistic mecanisms of ground handling ?

Thanks Russ. As always very insightful. From my perspective whilst I certainly acknowledge the eye candy of FS2020, and more recently improvements in flight model, what is missing is the ability to modify your aircraft as you can do with XPlanes Planemaker. This is especially useful as a multi monitor cockpit builder where you dont want to see cockpit elements when you have them physically in front of you, or window cutouts to the sides. Talk about an immersion killer, that would be the top of my list....a cockpit inside of another cockpit......

I tried flying with VR but i quickly stoped, the cockpits are way too blury for me to see anything and i can't manage to fix it. And as for lighting, i agree with what you say, but would add that some parking areas are way too dark with no light at all on the ground to folow.

Good video. I like how you pointed out they did a good job with the runway lights from the side. I think they can eventually fix it so the airports aren't so easy to find. I know people don't like the runway lights on during the day but I don't mind it. It's better then the old school FSX way of only having them on from 6pm to 6am or whatever it was. And The cars driving around are very annoying. I just turned them off because they seem to be hunting me to drive directly towards me

Way to go Russ! I could not agree more. And while they’re fixing the airport Night via. Please add Pilot Controlled Lighting. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve flown into small airports and had to turn the lights on via mic clicks.

I might be nitpicking, but why does the prop strobe with differrent rpms? That is an effect of the camera shutter not the human eye? It may be trivial, and I drive racing sims in vr a LOT, but I noticed it straight away

My biggest pet peaves in unmodded msfs: 1)When you change anything from the default flight plan that was entered before loading into the flight, either through the flight computer or atc, ATC or autopilot gets so glitched out and everything breaks down terribly. Ex: Changing approaches in flight computer, then updating atc for a new approach. Yet no matter what, they classify you as missed approach or autothrottles don't recognize the new decent profile or ILS waypoint constraints, etc, etc. Maddening. 2) After flying for well over an hour, ILS or other instrument systems simply stop working and the whole flight is ruined. 3) Almost every part of the 747. SO glitchy 4) Spending +30mins in pre-flight and cockpit prep just to release the parking brake and find out the plane is perma stuck into the ground and even repositioning the plane manually doesn't do anything to fix it. 5) The entire ATC system

Sometimes, we use MSFS and just 'accept' certain things. We aren't sure if our set up is unique or that we have the wrong settings - so it is very reassuring to discover we are all in the same boat! I agree with your 5 gripes Russ. But also agree that it is a remarkable piece of software and that XP12 always was going to have a real struggle to keep up.

You can turn ground vehicles off or you can set a % 1 to 100 so you can control the amount of cars at the airport.

What type of VR goggles are you using? And what are your PC specs?

Totally agreed, and as you said, many of these can be fixed with add-ons, however, the BIGGEST problem for me with MSFS is the ground physics or handling or whatever you want to call it. Aircrafts seem to be sliding on the smoothest surface that's ever created, and although it is a bit less exaggerated in some aircrafts, still when you turn to one side even slightly, the aircraft changes direction so quickly that my brain cannot comprehend it fast enough! Also agree with you that X-Plane is pretty much unusable at this point, unfortunately! By the way I wish to see you upload videos more often. Have a nice day.

Does Russ have a post where he lists his complete hardware setup anywhere? I'd love to know what he's using but cannot find anything as of yet mentioning it.

Two killers for me: 1. Approaching an airfield a couple of miles out and the buildings in and around all suddenly disappear then slowly 'grow' back. 2. Short finals and roads nearby suddenly have traffic pop into view and start traveling backwards and forwards.

I know of no one else with the experience you have and, as such, I wish to put a question to you: The light planes in FS2020 bob around quite a lot, much more than other sims, and much more than I'd expect even when drawing from my limited experience in light planes. In VR it's quite uncomfortable (long time VR user in DCS, Elite Dangerous and iRacing, almost 10 years). So all that said, what is your opinion on the ways the light planes in FS2020 bob around while in flight?

Ok so what add ons correct some of these immersion killers ?

Very good list. I had never rated them in my head but if I did I think my list would be very close to yours. The good news is that I believe all of these are fixable.

I 100% agree with them all. Mostly with 1,4 &5. Great job.

Spot on! Not a pilot IRL here, but if I may add to your list, is the discrepancy between PAPI lights and ILS glide slopes in many airports where I usually fly. GS usually puts you way too high on approach so I have to disengage AP further out than where I would have preferred, especially on the Fenix A320.

I completely agree on here points. My local airport has all of these issues.

My real weather on my flight simulator 2020 is not working,any advice?

As a helicopter-guy in MSFS I would like to add another massive immersion killer: The massive lack of model matching. Not talking about liveries but the aircrafts themselves. Until today Asobo/Msfs were not able to integrate the helicopters fully into the sim. Whenever I fly with a Cowansim MD500E or the HPG Airbus H-145 all other players around me won‘t see a helicopter (only if they purchased and downloaded the same model). They see a generic Bonanza airplane hovering over the airfield. This is an absolute nogo. I‘d like to compare with Eagle Dynamics (DCS). They demand from the developers for each created aircraft a simple AI-/Multiplayer model that they use to show it up for the multiplayers. Only the liveries do not fit if you do not have downloaded the same.

Thanks Russ for the excellent comments!

Hello. Can you in FS2020 assign a buttom like in Flight Simulator X to restart you flight? It is namned Restart Flight in Flight Simaualtor X. I dont mean "Slew mode" i mean one push on a dedicated button and right back to you airport for a new start. Thanks for any information how to do och info taht it is not possible. Regards Carl / Sweden.

Glide path obstruction, ground vehicles, and taxiway clutter are my top annoyances in msfs

at the end of the day this game is amazing and it big step into improving flight simulators or any simulator in this case.

I'm super proud, that this game is being developed, only a few kilometers away from where I live, in a small german town. land at EDLP (the first free airport you could download). that's not far from ASOBO and my hometown Lippstadt ;-)

Approach lights, those strobes that lead to the runway, are they as bright IRL as they are in sim at night? It also seems like they are on on both ends of the runway at the same time, thats not how its done IRL is it?

You are absolutely right hope this will help msfs

thank Russ for this video! :)

Fair call and I agree with your points, although I can't say I've seen signage and lighting on taxi-ways at airports. I might be lucky with where I fly in and out of course.

Thanks for this. I don't use VR but #4 is right on, especially the vehicles. So many times I am landing at my small airports and a vehicle including a airline catering truck is coming down the runway.

Thanks for pointing these out, especially from a real pilot.

Good vid, good picks. I would also nominate the occasional little cliffs produced by the elevation mismatches between scenery tiles, especially when you get a 2-foot cliff that crosses a runway. It makes certain airports like Flabob in SoCal or Paine Field in WA unusable. Nothing quite so immersion breaking as making a nice landing only to have a 2-foot shelf across the runway rip the gear off your plane.

was the airport shown in the beginning of Washington Warren airfield?

Hello Russ, Greetings & a big thank you for your excellent sharing of your comments on msfs2020. Indeed it can be irritating sometimes but I trust they will improve it in due time, certainly through comments like yours, an experienced pilot. One thing, in the beginning of your video I thought you should comment on the tight horizon. It is far away from the blurred horizon you have to deal with as a real pilot, anyway in the dutch skies. Maybe you can pay attention to that phenomenon sometime. Thanks again & greetings, Skydreamer

You nailed the list. I have all 5 of these in my top 10 killers. Actually, these 5 are in my top 6. Though, your lighting issue is PART of one of my top 5.. So this is also my top 5. LOL The one that's mixed in is I don't like that at night, at about 8000' in some areas you can see aiports 20-30-50 miles away. One of the issues of that is that many if not all regional aiports have pilot activated lights IRL. So you would never see them unless someone/you turned on the lights to land or takeoff. I hope MS or someone else makes that a reality. But as of now, where you would maybe see 2 major airports (say KCVG and KDAY from say 12,000' and you were between them you would not see the other 8 aiports that are between them at 3am. I have a friend that ONLY flys night flights when doing fun missions in his career mode addon software because he can easily find all the airports. Where those of us that fly day missions sometimes have to really look to find them.

Another one is aircraft not vacating the runway at the earliest convenience. There are very few flights in busier airports where I have to do 3, sometimes 4 go-arounds because aircraft slow taxi the runway’s full length rather than vacating at the earliest ramp.

Is there a way to lock windows on monitors so when msfs boots up the set windows always come up?

Great video. Thanks. Hope they get picked up. But you are right. Its a brilliant game. Lots to look forward to.

I'm just a casual gamer, but points 4, 2, and 1 are absolute standouts for me. In a game where the visuals are this realistic, it's surprisingly easy for something tiny to break the immersion.

After watching this video, I have to say that I agree with almost all of your points. The airport lighting does not bother me too much but then I am not a real world pilot. The oversized pavement textures are distracting without a doubt. The ground service vehicles driving straight through me are probably my biggest immersion killers.

Excellent stuff, and I fully agree, though I have waaaaay fewer hours, only in the C172 ;). One other thing about MSFS 2020 - it's not yet as stable as XP11.55, or even XP12b13, the current beta as of today. Hopefully that will improve with time, and I expect it will.

Hello Skipper, another great presentation, one related topic that needs a major overhaul with MSFS. Is their ATC, it tickles me pink when I am flying the 747 and request descent on a real time LHR/JFK flight, ATC requests that I report a traffic at my five o'clock position, (747's don't have rearview mirrors, LOL).

You're right about beacons...on at night, off during the day unless the field is IFR. Also, High Intensity Runway Lights (HIRLs) have 5 settings...from very dim to very bright that are set by a very specific formula laid out in the 7110.65...the ATC manual. MIRLs have 3 settings, also laid out by a formula. Strobe lights and approach lights also have very specific guidelines. It seems like an easy thing to fix if they would just give it some attention and look it up in the tables. Have to agree about the vehicles...if they meet an airplane RL, they pull off of the taxiway. The rule is do not ever interfere with aircraft. Taxiway clutter always leaves me shaking my head. As for my personal pet-peeve it's the obstruction lights which should blink on and off when outside the airport border. In X-Plane, ORBX had them working right and it was incredibly immersive...added a lot to night flying.