If only they both joined forces,What an amazing sim this would be,but i suspect as egos go that would be .a pipe dream,and squash the competition.

I loved your video. I've owned all three primary sims in the past -- XP, P3D, and MSFS -- and I've totally gone to MSFS all the way now. One correction: MSFS does indeed have trees swaying in the wind. But you need a significant wind to make them sway.

The mere fact that older GPUs are not supported in xp12 is a clear no for me. MSFS runs great at high settings

As a hardcore X-plane virtual pilot, I did the update on my MSFS On the 4th of January and till then I didn't fly a single minute with X-plane 12! Fenix A320 despite some minor issues at the beginning works flawlessly at the same level as the Toliss A319 or 321. Visuals are on a different level and third-party developers are coming really hot this year. The main reason for me not to fly with MSFS was they didn't have some good Airliners to fly with on Vatsim, PMDG and Fenix are a good start, so I think I'm gonna stay for now on both, but when PMDG comes later with 777 and 747 Aeroft with the A330I'm gonna migrate to msfs full time!

Thank you for an unbiased opinion, and vid ,both sims have there merit.What an age to be in with so much choice,enjoy simming.

I love what both teams are doing. I'm staying with Laminar/12, because it better suits my real world flight training needs. But The scenery in MSFS is AMAZING. I own them both

I literally felt the exact same way you did. Its clear you wanted to love XP12 as did I, add to the fact it has literally taken MSFS 2 years to mature to a point it was even a viable candidate for a homr cockpit with multi-screens. So my copy of MSFS has not been used for 2 years until a few weeks ago when I could finally try it in my home cockpit. I am also a long time user of XP and thought that XP12 would be a little more of a candidate for competition than it actually is. Given the fact that MS/Asobo went deeper in to the gamer direction for a while there to. They must have been somewhat concerned that Laminar were going to pull some of their 'longer term' users (to use a cliche, more serious simmers) that they recently upped their game with multi-monitor support (seriously overdue when you figure XP10 and even FSX from 2005 had it)and some really fundamental flight model fixes and are steaming ahead with this. I think Laminar over-sold what XP12 would be in some respects and when there's a product like MSFS that can be directly compared with, it leaves you feeling somewhat underwhelmed. I'm not on team MS or Team XP, like yourself but I was rooting for Laminar, but feel they are delivering XP11.70 not XP12 with this product and it will still need injecting with $100's of environment upgrades to get it even close, but with current lackluster frame rates it could be quite a while until you can even do that. p.s I subscribed (something I rarely do) based on your balanced views and the way you respond to people. Keep it up mate !

I also like the sense of community in xplane where anyone can be a creator on the sim.

I am really thinking I'm going to switch over to XP 12. Just finished building a new PC (Intel I9-12900K with an RTX 4080) and I can't even download MSFS 2020; keeps getting stuck on downloading/decompressing the very first file. Did lots of benchmarking/stress testing the new PC and everything else works flawlessly. Ended up doing a backup of my original Community and Official folders and ran the installer, which seemed to work OK. I tried a few flights using just a keyboard/mouse and I did experience two CTD's and fit froze once during a short test flight. I deleted/created a new cache file and will now see how it performs now that I have all the peripherals (Honeycomb yoke/throttle and rudder pedals. I'm just nervous about how it will behave with downloading the next update. As a real-life pilot (own a Beechcraft Musketeer) I also fly Cessna 172F models as well as a Piper Cherokee 140, I'm really more interested in actual flight models.

Thanks for the video, very honest and balanced review. As a Mac user, I would say there is no alternative civil aviation simulator, so XP 12 is definitely a must have product and I really hope it will improve and develop

May I ask if you were using a Mac Book Pro 13" with a M1 chip or a newer one with the M2 chip? And, can you explain why you had to keep your settings low? I have never owned a Mac so not sure what that means. I am waiting to purchase the new Mac Mini M2 and hopefully it will be highly compatible with XP11 or XP12. It features an M2 chip, 8-core CPU, 32 GB and a 10‑core GPU. Apple claims it is 1.4 X faster than the Mac Book Pro with the M1chip. Do you think this would be a good match for X-Plane? Thanks!

I've got R13 for MSFS 2020 three weeks ago. And then I got a refund from Microsoft and uninstalled it. Two main reasons: (1) the lush green July scenery of North Virginia - in December! Went to Helsinki - the same thing. I can add snow. But expected that the weather engine would do it. (2) the models are still unrealistic. They are better than in FSX. But they are still game-like. I've got X-Plane 12 - for the first time in my life since I started to "fly" in 1998. And it is a completely different world. It took a week to make my first decent flight on Zibo mod (thanks to your videos!). It took hours to get at least some skills in hand-flying. I have never felt inertia in flight simulators, a need to add small and controlled inputs. It has never been needed in MS flight sims. Yes, there are some bugs in XP12. But I will better stay with it until Asobo improves weather engine and flight models.

Good review. One thing that could be added is the usability as an IFR training tool for real pilots. As a flight instructor, I find FS2020 is weak here compared to x-plane in terms of x-plane has a true instructor console. Comparatively, FS2020 is incredibly frustrating to set up for a specific approach (i.e. position the aircraft at an specific IAF). x-plane also interfaces well with custom hardware and things like air manager. While FS2020 visuals are better, I've found x-plane is better as a true IFR training tool for pilots working on their rating or currency. Thanks again for a comprehensive review.

I would love to play MSFS, but I use Linux daily, and don’t know how it would perform through proton, is there any chance of a proton performance review of MSFS?

Great Video!

Appreciate that this is one of the only reviews/comparisons/overviews that mentions the OS X and Linux support. It's just very _nice_ to have a game, and a pretty good game at that, with native support. I believe I have seen ways to run MSFS2020 under wine but such heavy games tend to not be smooth, and multiplayer would still be inaccessible. I do just like to give my support to those that help out the non-Windows users. X-Plane for the proper sim and FlightGear for the community and tinkering is a nice combination.

As for clouds, I think they need to create silk shaders for clouds because when looking at real clouds, there's a certain sheen especially at high noon.

Seems as if I came to MSFS 2020 at the right time, haven’t experienced all the negatives found in the early days, 2020 works like a dream for me it’s just graphically better 10 times and more, and with the addition of payware aircraft coming from Fenix, FlyByWire, PMDG, etc with other various mods such as the black square analog series and other improvement mods it’s safe to say I wouldn’t be moving to XP at all in the coming future.

I bought X-Plane 12 yesterday after using MSFS for 2 years, including Fenix A320 as my main airliner. I've been a flight simmer since 1998 and used P3D, XP11 and all FS versions from 98. I bought X-Plane 12, I am impressed by what they achieved and I am going to give LR an opportunity just for one reason: philosophy. The fact that Microsoft thinks and markets the ATR as "expert" being how bad it actually is, makes me hate Microsoft more than how much I love their graphics. X-Plane has always felt like a simulator instead of a game.

I love MSFS with its realism. I wish Asobo would work on the atc side.

I love MSFS 2020 but it simply stinks on how it displays bridges, well, the bottom part of bridges. Is that fixed by using Google Maps mod?

I feel the same way, Trying to love and enjoy X-Plane but can't due to the scenery. I've Been playing mostly X-Plane 11 and am fed up with either spending hours upon hours trying to make it look better or the new addons tanking my fps. I have played MSFS before but very briefly on Xbox game pass. From what I have played, MSFS just felt a bit janky. The main menu is another thing I didn't like. I like how X-Plane keeps it simple. Also like the default aircraft systems better on X-Plane. Anyways great video

Thanks for the video, a very balanced review. I started with XPlane 11 and really enjoyed it. However switched to MSFS, it has lot to offer. At this stage XPlane 12 doesn’t warrant the expenditure.

Very good comparison and I can't fault any of the points. Well done. I also agree that MSFS is going to be my main sim for quite some time, as I just place more value on the overall experience (visual looks and terrain fidelity). I know MS/Asobo are working on improvements to the systems, so that will come with a bit more time, vs no plans from Laminar for improving the look of their terrain and autogen any time soon.

lol i stopped playings msfs, but i still love waching your such vids, keep it up and make sure to try war thunder. it also has good graphics and bad ass planes

Both sims are good they both have there pros and cons I use all 3 sims Prepar3D, MSFS and X-Plane 12 and I can’t complain

Great video.. but I think the flight model in MSFS isn't really as bad as people claim compared to XP specially after asobo added the new CFD and its being used by 3rd party addons , however I think it really depends on the dev , the fenix a320 without a doubt the most realistic a320 any desktop sim offers and it has the best flight model available according to real pilots.

I just started using it and think its great. I can run it also in Virtual Reality even though i have a modest laptop with only a 1050Ti.

Thank you for your assessments of X-Plane 12, I've always preferred X-Plane's flight model and dynamics over FS 2020's. I have both XP-11 and FS 2020 installed on a powerful PC on 2 separate NVME solid state devices and the one thing I never liked about FS 2020 is it takes too long to load the sim, typically about 2 minutes at startup then another minute or so to load a flight after selecting the aircraft and the starting location, and that's with about 600-700 MBPS internet connection speed, whereas XP-11 loads in less than 10 seconds at startup and another 10 seconds after the aircraft is selected. That's one comparison I'd like to see between XP-12 and FS 2020, load times, I'm sure XP-12 will be superior in this category.

So the biggest complaint about X-plane when comparing to FS2020 is the graphics, which I think is a bit unfair. I don't believe Laminar is trying to make a simulator that looks pretty. They care more about functionality and physics. It's almost like critizing a professional boxer for his/her ballet dancing skills. Both simulators are great for what they're aiming for.

xplan hat einige vorzüge ! wie pysik wetter und realystischer Flugzeugtiefe schadensmodele wen du die natur geniesen willst gehst du raus oder ihns msfs wen du Airliner fliegen wills dan Xplan 12

X-Plane 12 towers just keeps me circling around when I'm trying to land.

I have been using X-plane since X-plane 9 on my first iMac. I would get X-plane 12 over MSFS2020 for one reason, Microsoft is rich and I want to support laminar research. In addition, I daily drive linux.

you sound a little Shia Labeouf ish lol. Wonder if you come from same region?

I have used msfs and xplane for fun and as training supplements. I like msfs more than xplane, but the avionics in msfs are appalling. The garmin 430/530 function nothing like they would and doing proper approaches is nearly impossible. Xplane has always had good avionics.

People seem to say "MSFS 2020 has the better graphics." But has anyone compared it to real life? The colors, textures, and atmospheric perspective in X-Plane seem closer to real life, whereas MSFS seems closer to Unreal Engine on a Samsung screen. Like always, "better" depends on one's goals. Is the goal to have highly saturated colors and stylistic 3D CG imagery, is the goal to look similar to real life, or is the goal something else entirely? Your goal is subjective, and only after arbitrarily choosing one can you come to objective conclusions based on your subjective goal.

Xplane has always lagged behind. When the second version was due for release, people thought they would step up to the plate and deliver dreams. But they have not and really need to get into satelite imagery for terrain. Square buildings don't really cut it any more. MSFS spent something like a year to get the shorelines to not look like those u see in xplane. I finally bought xplane the other day and now on the hunt to find the satellite terrain, real time traffic, and airplanes that I want and seem to have more to functions than any in MSFS. Xplane seems to be a start and not a full package sim, never was. Comparing two different things here.

Xplane12 hasn’t even been out a month yet! Msfs has been out for two years and is still yet to get the systems modelling accurate without the requirement to “hack” the numbers that many devs have had too in order to get the performance figures that testers with real world experience report. One thing you didn’t mention either is rotary wing aircraft are fully modelled in xplane 12, this is a huge market win for laminar as msfs with two years head start is still yet to implement rotary wing modelling and physics behaviour. I fly fixed wing and have no idea how to fly a heli and Xplane does prove that lol, yet and I can jump in msfs fire up a heli and blast about all day with zero concern. There’s things that need fixing in both sims but it does feel both sims are pulling in a different direction to each other. Msfs is visually stunning and tons of users will tell you that, but systems wise and the UI set up for controls and cockpit builders is pretty much a nightmare and you end up having to utilise 3rd party software to map peripherals to use in the sim.. Xplane has the “feel” of flying and users will attest to that also.. you notice the aircraft drop when you pull power, you have a sense that it’s a big o wide body when you’re trying to turn compared to the c172. And B4 has seen a marked improvement to the weather visuals but still has a lot of work to nail down the modelling. BEM theory vs CFD is a no brainier to anyone who understands it. CFD has the ability to release far more accurate models however it boils down to the developers more than anything. 3rd party devs who design the aircraft need to have the CFD data for their aircraft to input into msfs in order to yield any accurate flight model and it’s this that takes thousands of hours to do and to do it accurately requires more knowledge than just writing code and playing with blender. Look at A2A for example. 2 years and still trying to get it accurate for msfs because they won’t release something that’s sort of accurate. I do think a lot of devs are chasing the cash with msfs and know that a huge portion of the users are teens with zero real world flight experience and their level of flight physics or the principles of flight ends with making a paper airplane so as long as it is close it will do.. that’s just not right.. sims will have limitations but you fly a Piper pa28 and just as you enter ground effect reduce power, as you do that you raise the nose to the end of the runway where you eyes are. The aircraft will drop initially with the loss of thrust and the speed will bleed off quickly, but in msfs this doesn’t occur. The speed take way to long to bleed and ultimately the aircraft floats on down the runway then settles with -8 FPM landing yet your pitiching 14 degrees nose up and the wings should be fully stalled. You try that in real world and it’s gonna be felt in your arse and spine. Remember it’s not just on msfs and Xplane it’s on the developers to bring accurate representations of the aircraft they are pitching to us. Now that’s enough of a rant from me.. blue skies and forward thrust a plenty 😁

i was wondering what plane types are there?

The ground and buildings at distance flickering !

I am a Full Stack C# Programmer/Developer and I do heavily depend on Microsoft Tech Stack everyday and I am also a user of XPlane 11, 12 from Steam. I do have a suggestion... Microsoft has the best Tech Stack in the World really. C# is now is the Best programming language ever created for sure! Only fool would question it... Microsoft has Bing Maps means better Scenery source for Geo generating Maps ,better modern modular Tech Stack but MSFS lacks Flight modelling so... What I will suggest to Microsoft is why not offer Laminar Research to be part of Microsoft! So both Sim creators teams join together and make absuletely the Best Flight simulator the World has ever seen! And also end the War of Best Flight Simulator forever!

I get terrible cloud flicker in XP12 Demo using my Rift S. And MSFS2020 I have had about enough of. When it works, it's fantastic, but it only works 5% right of the time. Glitches, errors, CTDs, skipping, stuttering, freezing, for over two years now. They can't seem to fix this. The MSFS2020 Community folder is a nightmare to update and maintain with every SU or WU, and one thing in the folder will affect ten other files in the folder, and you dont know which or why. And MSFS is now server based so you are completely at the mercy of THEIR server speeds. This is why your buildings look like they have been through a nuclear war sometimes, and then other times, they are crystal clear. This is why Azure voice quits working. This is why the weather is often inaccurate. And I believe THIS is why framerates suck so often with MSFS. I think computers and sims with VR are about 5-10 years away from actually working smoothly in either sim. And ATC is terrible as is AI behavior in MSFS. I have not been impressed with Asobo whatsoever. They should let someone else complete MSFS.

XP-12 has a glorious one-key flyby view, something MSFS will never have. No matter how good the sound engine in MSFS, if it can't be enjoyed with instantly activated flyby view, it means absolutely nothing.

FS 2020 has too many updates and now when I touch down it pauses. It pisses me off. X Plane is smooth I feel the more they add to FS 2020 it gets worse.

Xplane 12 is still beta 2 you need to keep that in mind , fs2020 was crap in early beta , ctds and bugs galore , real world weather not even working

Buy them all xplane for the tu154!! N rotate md80! Msfs for scenery n stuff! P3d for the quality wings 787 N 717

I got MSFS. Worked when I was living in the west. Doesn't work where I live regardless if I have 100 mb/s internet speed, and I can netflix or youtube 4k videos. Country-limitation so all I see is a big paintbrush stroke world. That's why Xplane 12 is for me....a lot better than Xplane 11 and it works unlike MSFS. I'm fine with that.

I didn’t saw any physics in the xpl 12

I don't understand why x-plane is rushing though. I know its early access but come on they have quite a few things to iron out. I was very okay with waiting a couple of months for this.

I hope fs2024 catches up to x plane 12 with some of the big features that are missing in fs2020

X PLANE 12 BETA it should be. Rember you are testing a 2 year old sim against a beta. 😊

which has a better frame rate, x plane 12 frame rate dropped from 11

I was disappointed with your views in this comparison. After just watching your excellent Aircraft Dissected series on X-Plane 11 that you produced and your comment that you will now be focusing on the Microsoft sim. For me it really comes down to what you are looking for in a flight simulator, the experience of flying or the reality of the scenery. The scenery in MS Flight simulator is always going to be fictitious, because it was taken at a point in time. whereas the dynamics of the flight in X-Plane is very close to reality, according to the experts and real world pilots. For me the feel of the flight is far more important than the make believe scenery in both flight simulators. I truly enjoy your video's though and do hope that you continue producing X-plane content

MSFS, as always, still has horrific ground handling. Water handling? There is none. But when it comes to flying physics, I find both MSFS and XP12 are very similar. As always, depends on the quality of the plane, but both engines are very good physics wise. I'd even argue, dare I say it, that MSFS is better at spin training; at least in it's current version. Visually, there's no comparison. If you want to navigate by dead reckoning, MSFS is the way to go. IFR, you're better off with XP12

People can never deny Msfs has the greatest graphics in any sims out there close to reality. I believe there will be a time that Msfs will progress and will get closer to the desired flight physics. Considering the fact that community mods has been progressing since the release, I find true potential in this SIM. You cant call it reality if it doesn’t look real.

A lot of rapid talking. While X-plane 12 seems to look more like FS, its the instruments and instrument flying as to where the competition is as to its ability to be a flight simulator rather than a game which is won by FS 2020

Tbh I'll just buy and use both, problem solved

At this point a comparison is unreasonable. X plane 12 is in beta release, msfs has been out for 2 years and has had many upgrades, initially it was buggy, slow, poor to download, limited. Not at all what it is now. Wait 2 years and then compare. X Plane has by the opinion of many professional pilots a better flight dynamic. Msfs is still ,in my opinion, very game oriented. Short term, quick gratification. Yes the graphics are great BUT if you fly above 10,000 feet you can hardly see the ground. This is where accurate and functional instruments are important to fly with.

After all the half baked sh*t called XP 12 I noticed that xPilot has updated itself and it doesn't work anymore with XP 11. Ok, that is enough, I will enjoy MSFS for the next months. And I was an XP fanboy with 1600 hours. But XP 12 there is nothing but problems. BSS soundsets not working, horrible clouds, flickering clouds, addons not working, aircraft upgrades necessary for $$$ and many other things. Basically, there are so many things broken that you just can't use it XP 11. I will try again in 3 months.

Not better… just different. Like DCS isn’t MSFS…

It’s not a decent upgrade it’s an excellent upgrade “Decent” is a very bland description

Im sticking with XP

XPlane 12 is such a disappointment. The graphics look like it’s from 2013/2014. And the clouds are blurry and terrible. What an awful release by LR.

Lets not forget MSFS is primarily a development for XBOX - thus a platform for the casual gamer where eye candy is all and everything, above and beyond aerodynamic accuracy.

both games xplane 12 end fms 2020 is so terreble in VR best game in VR aerofly fs 4

The most spectacular simulator is the DCS WORLD -incomparable ! MSFS last updates improved a lot but no replay, ! X-PLANE 12 is very bad (scenery, no flight plan)...

That all was quite predictable. Unfortunately, the Laminar didn't have a chance, except the flying model.

X Plane clouds are a lot more realistic. MSFS clouds are idealized and too beautified. In fact the entirely of MSFS is "idealized" and "beautified". You want realism you go with X Plane.

Xplane 12 is a good sim but Msfs 2020 is just..... waaaay waay too much..... And now wait for Msfs 2024

MSFS Have now ProATC X Top one to have in msfs2020 it take you fhrom a to b in a real way atc xp 12 stil a game

XP is done folks. And this is coming from someone who spent many years with XP. MSFS just has way more to offer and you have to be kidding yourself when you say “I rather have a more realistic sim”. If you really want a realistic sim, go and buy million dollar D level simulator. I’m so tired of people coming up with these statements that XP is more realistic when at the end of the day, it’s really up to 3rd party devs that make those planes act realistic. As of now, you have many real world pilots already stating that planes like PMDG and Fenix are more to real life representation in flight physics. MSFS might not be perfect right now, but it is light years ahead of XP in all levels.

Xplane’s VR is alot better then Msfs2020

The notion that XP has better flight simulation is just a notion. It may be valid in the past but XP12 seems still uses Blade element theory. This flight dynamics calculating tech is pretty old. Haven't found CFD visualization option. P-Factor with Perf. Data on MSFS more accurate there. MSFS on the other hand has Boundary layer theory and CFD, in which you can actually see the simulation and simulated surfaces on the airplane. XP maybe use 5 simulated surfaces on an airplane and MSFS uses hundreds of simulation surfaces in an aircraft, thus making it more accurate and realistic. Here's the CFD simulation in visual and data form. And I would like to see XP to provide their simulation data as well. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/hMqcY5qQnLbXh5s.html

All of these comparison videos of a sim in Alpha vs a sim two years in are pointless. It’s hardly comparing apples with apples is it? A fairer comparison would be to compare it with MSFS in Alpha, and as an Alpha tester, I can tell you, it was an absolute shambles!!

no it keeps crashing, you cant move aircraft over, so no its not worth it.

X-Plane should just give up.

I always prefer X-Plane Vs. MSFS !! Zibo (free) Vs.PMDG (70 €) Zibo is best A320Neo FBW (free) Vs. A320Neo Toliss , Toliss is best Microsoft/Asobo = > Money is more important Vs. Laminar => Pilots are more important Time ! 2023-2025 the world change X-Plane 12 ❤ Asobo is arrogant.. How many bugs not fixed since 3 years ???? 🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬 and they want MSFS 2024????? SHIT ! I have switched on X-Plane 12 since october 2023 and i Was Flight Simulator since 1990 and never more !

X-Plane is dead and no one has the guts to tell yet....................................

X12 is for pilots . MSFS is for sim/causal gamers.

Microsoft Flight Simulator is an amateur flight simulator developed by Asobo Studio and published by Xbox Game Studios. Remember MSFS is a Game ! Not a real flight simulator Unlike Xplane 12 - Flight simulator X or Xplane 11 … The MSFS will never be used in real Flight simulator Devices operating CAE and Flight Safety Have nice day!

I switched out of MSFS 2 days after I bought it. Xplane 12 for me all the way.

I disagree

Quite surprising that you actually prefer msfs lighting over Xplane 12s. In my honest opinion, taking out the scenery derivative, the lighting, color depth, saturation and dynamic range in Xplane 12 is just miles better than MSFS. It just looks more true to life. Msfs has this over vibrant and often washed out look that lacks depth. Specially noticeable at day times. On my LG C1, Xplane 12 looks insanely realistic. Know that I am NOT taking about the scenery here. That is a different discussion altogether.

the bias here is annoying to say the least. ms is a gaming platform with the sale purpose of making money. the so called awesome colours are more reminiscent of 1950's Kodachrome - that is to say pretty. but not real. XP is driven by passion first. Anyone who loves aviation can feel that in. every inch of XP. People rushing to compare an early beta with something that has been struggling to refine itself for a few years is more indicative of one wanting to make click bait that anything else in my view. And after MS abandoned FSX and left us hanging - no thanks.