Soon X-Plane 11 will be released. It is currently in Beta testing and many of those in the FS community have already had a look at the game. At a first glance, it is very impressive, and its light rendering engine is superb. X-Plane 10 was always known for having those curved runways, darker colors, and a different flight simulation method. FSX however became a community staple, where thousands were playing it at its height. Addons upon addons were added to the base game by a loving sim community, to make a 2006 game look good 10 years later. FSX spurred the FSX movie, where aviation lovers would post airplane videos on YouTube with epic music in the background, using the FSX game. But in the end, it was the community that loved FSX, and aviation that has kept it so alive and well. PMDG, REX, FTX, Flightbeam, FSDT, HiFi sims, and the list goes on, all kept the game looking good. But now X-Plane 11 is coming out, and its impressiveness had me asking myself the question: Is it time to leave FSX for X-Plane 11? P3d never looked that amazing to me, especially for its pricing. Although I am still considering P3d, that would be an easier move. Light rendering has always been the problem in FSX, and all video games for that matter. Most video game designers go for photo realism and not unaided eye realism. But even in the realm of photo realism, FSX did not really get it spot on. So for me, a game that boasts a new, and far more improved light rendering engine is exciting. Here are some examples of that better light rendering. Here are four pictures from the real world, X-Plane 11, FSX, and X-Plane 10. The X-Plane 11 pic is default only, and the FSX pic is the PMDG 737-800 with REX, and FTX and a payware airport.

You tell me which ones look real. FSX certainly looks good, but X-Plane is almost real, and that is a default plane. If the entire community that supports FSX eventually moves over to X-Plane 11, then we all could use X-Plane 11 as our new base and have all these different teams continually build upon the game and make it better, just as we have with FSX for a decade. Another pro would be that the X-Plane developers themselves are still around and can edit the base game over time, unlike FSX. It does seem that X-Plane 11 suffers a similar problem (at least in beta testing) that FSX did upon release, which is that no computer can handle its maxed out settings. However, many of the home built rigs can handle almost maxed out graphics. Almost.

So here is the dilemma in the most basic sense.

For me personally, I will be buying X-Plane11 since it only costs $60, and the default planes are quite good. The default 737-800 and MD-82 look visually impressive, though their sound packages are not so great. However, I do not know if this game will replace FSX. If PMDG make the T7 for X-Plane11 and REX and Hifi make addons for it, as well as FTX , then yes, I'd likely move to X-Plane. This is where I realize what I love about FSX. It's not the base game, it's the game the community has built, and if that community moves from one base game to another, it will still truly be the same sim we all love. So maybe we have our new base game. We'll have to wait and see after beta testing if everyone from FSX really wants to make the move. It has been 10 years with FSX. Maybe it's time to invest the same energy we did into FSX, into a newer, better base game.