|









|
REVIEW
"As Reals As Can Be" 777 Collection & Panel
By FlightSim.Com Staff (22 Jun 2001)
Well
as in the flavor of Flight Soft's 767 collection (reviewed earlier by
me) we now have the "Definitive 777 Collection" to pilot through the
skies on our airliner flightsim flights.
This set of 777s, which includes many liveries from Europe and Asia,
still features the most detailed airliners for flightsim I have seen.
You'll marvel at the door handles, fowler flaps, leading edge slats,
speed brakes, landing gear doors, markings & lettering and of course the
great realistic paint job. In fact, many of the engine exhaust areas are
"shiny" - showing off the ability to have metallic texturing in FS
aircraft.
At night, several of the 777s will show off their tail logo lights
when your nav lights are activated. Luckily, for FlightSoft, their
aircraft are coded in such a way that no "lifting" of their paint
schemes is possible, so no other designers will be able to pirate these
phenomenal aircraft. You can be sure when purchasing any of the "As Real
as Can Be" airliners, that the paint is fresh and custom made by
FlightSoft.
Now, what good is a great looking aircraft if it doesn't fly well?
Well, you don't have to worry about that, as all of the 777s have
accurate flight dynamics good enough for some of FlightSoft's airline pilot
friends to boast they're "as real as can be" for a flightsim that costs
less than millions of dollars.
We have here the most powerful engines ever made on a commercial
transport. Each pod on a 777, produces almost 100,000 lbs of thrust -
enabling the big twin jet to cruise as high and as fast as a 747-400,
but at a fraction of the cost. These 777s will cruise easily at FL400 or
above once fuel is reduced a bit...and normal cruise is a brisk M.84,
such as in the 747. You will climb rapidly if lightly loaded. Climb
rates may exceed 4,500 feet per minute with ease. This big jet is made
to climb fast and fly high, with those big engines' mouths sucking in
more thin air than a conventional engine found on other heavy
transports. You can expect VR speeds near 147 kts when lightly loaded
and 165 kts when full. The 777 is a fast "rotater".
The normal approach speeds will vary again with weight, but in
general Vref's in the 130's are a piece of cake. This collection of 777s
will perform rock steady at all flight attitudes. Turning may require
some rudder coordination, but I have found these airplanes to be the
most stable and enjoyable to fly of all heavy flightsim airliners. You
can even autoland perfectly in FSFW95 with these due to the perfect
stability and refined flight dynamics that went into each airplane.
You'll also receive the great FS5 777 panel that is only
available with this collection. Although it looks much like a real 777
panel (the best I have seen for FS5) there is no more functionality over
their 767 panel or most 3rd party panels. Some guages are for appearance
and don't function, however, you still will enjoy flying with this panel
very much and all the working guages are easy and crisp to read. The
texturing on the panel is very lifelike as well.
This collection will also provide you a separate set of converted
".air" files to use if flying in FSFW95. First, convert the aircraft
over, then just use the FSFW95 .air files instead of the converted ones
as the team spent much time refining their FSFW95 dynamics as well, as
most converted airliners can change in flight quality slightly.
You'll love these "Franklin Mint" of FS jetliners, and you won't have
to wait for a plane each month - they all come at once to you...all 6
million pounds worth!
|
|
|