Great Planes RealFlight 6.5 Upgrade for G4 and Above

I've been using RealFlight 4.5 for several years and decided the time had come to upgrade to a later version. after reading the reviews on RealFlight 7 and noting the price difference between the two, I opted for the 6.5 version. I'm assuming that I can still upgrade to a later version in the future if I feel I need to. In fact, I actually started with version 3 then upgraded to 4.5. The new one (6.5) is not appreciably different from the previous version for me because I had loaded all the free upgrades, airplanes and flying fields that RealFlight has made available. One thing I did notice is that the flight dynamics are subtley but significantly more realistic than in the earlier versions. However, I still find the 6.5 version more difficult to fly than when I fly in real life.I my opinion, if one can learn to fly well in RealFlight, he should have no difficulty in flying reasonably well in real life. As a result, I think RealFliight or a similar simulator is an absolute must for a beginning RC pilot.Learning to fly an RC aircraft (or car) is substantially different than flying a real airplane or driving a real car because you must control the model while it is coming toward you as well as when it is going away from you. When the airplane is coming toward you your controls are reversed and non-intuitive. It takes considerable practice for most people to adjust to this and RealFlight allows that practice without putting an expensive model airplane at risk.When I first start3ed flying RC, I crashed numerous times as a direct result of turning the control the wrong way or, more frequently, because of over controlling the aircraft which is a natural tendency for most beginners. RealFlight helps with this as well and it also helps build confidence, an important asset for a neophyte pilot.The full versions of RealFlight are significantly pricey but RealFlight Basic offers a fundemental training simulator at significantly less than the full version and which I assume can be upgraded at a later time. RealFlight is a proven RC flight simulator that gets excellent reviews from most RC pilots. And, even though it's pricey, it's a lot cheaper than replacing or rebuilding multiple airplanes while learning to fly. It will not, however, eliminate crashes but it should reduce them sufficiently to somewhat offset the cost of the simulator. It will certainly make for a better beginner's learning and flying experience.One reviewer criticized RealFlight's graphics. I really don't understand what that's all about. I have found, even from the earliest versions, the graphics to be quite realistic and exceptionally smooth. I strongly recommend this simulator for beginning RC pilots.

Great new features, aircraft/physics and scenery/locationsQuick change slide in menu on left of screen is nice new feature and can keep you on full screen view if you like it better.Runs smoothly at max settings, but can be fine tuned to match your system specs.Happy it works with my old RealFlight controller from G3 as I didn't really want to buy another one.Note the new Interlink Elite controller does have a couple more buttons and improvements, so check it out if you want more and don't mind the cost.I was going to use RealFlight 6.5 / 7 with my Tactic TX650 transmitter as controller, but forgot that the TX650 uses wireless buddy box so can't be wired to the PC as RealFlight uses the buddy box plug to do this. TX600 and lower work fine it seems. Just not "computer" radio without cable attachment plug.Seems if you buy now, (or have since Oct. 1, 2013) you can get a free upgrade to RF7 also... but requests must be snail mail postmarked by January 31, 2014Will report back if it works for this upgrade as well as full versions, but form says it takes 4-6 weeks so have to wait and see.I saw no restrictions on the RF7 upgrade form about this 6.5 upgrade version being disallowed.Update 01/12/2013; The free upgrade to RF7 was processed by Great Planes and all is well... very fast service even with snail mail involved.Or, just short cut right to version 7;  Great Planes RF7 Upgrade for G4 and Above

I bought this product but it is not compatible with the program I already have so if anyone wants it cheap, they wont take it back opened

Years ago when games and flight simulators first came out animation was not that good. As time went on we got better and better animation. Video cards are now 1 gig and 2 gig in size which is able to seei high end quality of gaming as seen on the best seller list.I went ahead and upgrade to Real Flight 6.5 hoping I could see people walking around on the ground, cars going up and down the road and moving rain storms and things like that.All I got was a few more airplanes and helicopters. On version 6.5 it did not import airplanes/helicopters and flight fields from the 5.5 version. I had to leave 5.5 on my computer so I could use it.What I did loose was the airplanes and helicopters and flight fields from the old version 5.5.If you want to upgrade for just the sake of upgrading go ahead, other words just keep your money.I just wish that Knife Edge Software will blow out socks off but right now it's not happening.Thanks for your time...

Great upgrade, but did not like having to do all of the updates all over again. There has got to be a simpler way!!

Great simulator. Nothing else compares to it! I have tried multiple simulators and this one, by far, is the best. Awesome graphics, easy set-up, hours of fun and learning to fly. And to further explain my review, I will never give 5 stars unless I feel that it cannot possibly get any better in that area. There is always room for improvement!

I have been using G3.5 for about 10 years so it was definitely time to upgrade. The upgrade went smooth and what a difference in performance. The physics is much improved and flying is definitely more realistic. Many new features that I didn't have in G3.5 so this is a great upgrade for me and I would recommend the product.

Most of the guys in my family love going out and flying RC airplanes, but I just don't have the hand to eye coordination. So I use this program, and my cousins who fly the RC planes tell me this is just like the real thing.