This page contains a Flash digital edition of a book.
Great Planes RF7


Rather than reaching for a mouse, all of the selections can be done from the front of the transmitter case. The menu button (at left) brings up the left side menu allowing selection of aircraft, fields, scenarios and gadgets by using the up-down button on the right to scroll through the menus. Another screen shot (above left) from another photo field. The turbulence off the trees is “interesting” when the wind speed and parameters are up, and you can see that the binocular view box is enabled showing the attitude of the airplane. Greg finds the binocular function very useful. A screen grab from RealFlight 7 (above right) comes much closer to looking lifelike at the Evergreen Airport photo-field. The grass blades actually move in wind, the windsock will swirl and fill and gravel flies up if you get off the edge of the runway. The white binocular silhouette at the top left signifies that the binocular function is on, but the airplane is close enough that the view screen does not need to be enabled.


For optimal performance (i.e., for the best graphical performance) a Dual-Core 2.4 GHz CPU with 2 GB RAM and a 3D dedicated video memory card are needed.


If you desire to participate in the Multi- player scenarios, a broadband internet con- nection is needed as well as a computer mi- crophone for voice chat. If you are a “gamer” I’m sure that all of these specifications mean things to you, and that you are able to scoff at the minimal computer requirements. If not, you will find


that these requirements are pretty much middle of the road for newer computers. Loading the software is much faster than the older versions were, and all the informa- tion is contained on a single disc. Let’s go fly. Upon opening the simulator, you are met with a welcome screen which can take you to sub-menus in order to choose an aircraft, fly- ing site, scenarios, challenges or training videos. Alternatively, you can just click on “FLY” and fly the last aircraft from the last airport you selected.


As with earlier versions, you can use your mouse to pick and choose from the drop- down menus located in the upper left of the screen just as when clicking on the welcome screen. Now, add in a new twist: a menu bar is available on the left of the screen, accessi- ble either via the “Menu Button” on the Elite transmitter, or with your computer’s mouse. I think they have made it pretty easy to ac- cess the menus!


Having not upgraded my simulator for 10 years, you might ask: “What were the biggest changes I noticed immediately upon opening the simulator?” That is a simple an- swer—the realism! Attached are two screen shots, one from the old, and one from RF7. You can very easily notice individual blades of grass and gravel at the edge of the run- way in RF7, rather than just a green blob. The second thing I noticed is that the air-


RF7 has two ways to modify an aircraft’s physics: (1) An in-depth edit, like increasing weight, wingspan and flap deflection; and (2) a “Quick Edit”. For this 35% Sbach, Greg felt that the overly powerful engine of the stock setup was the only thing needing to be modified to fly like one at his club field, so a power reduction to 70% fine tuned the feel quickly and easily.


28


planes fly much more realistically, and very similarly to a “real” model, even without tweaking their parameters, and the third thing I noticed was the “Binoculars” gadget, which lets you see what the airplane’s orien- tation is as it gets further away from you (if we could only have that feature at the flying field!) which has always been a complaint of mine on my older Real Flight version. One might ask about the blades of grass and leaves on the trees—there are a number of “Photo Fields” (computer rendered ver- sions of “Google maps” style photography)— including the Santa Clara County Model Aircraft Skypark. And yes, the trees at the right end of the runway are really there, and yes, they eat airplanes. There are also 3D Fields you can choose from, so the number of options is huge (40 different airfields). As in older versions, these 3D Fields are strictly computer simulated. However, the amazing graphics and “True to Life” model physics al- low the flight realism and frame smoothness to be very good.


MARCH 2014


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68