Microsoft Flight Simulator X Gold edition (PC, 2008)

This is a first rate flight simulator which has something for everyone. The avilable detail is amazing, and ads to the whole flight experience. I have rated this version of MS Flight Sim -- Good --. I would have rated it as excellent except for the fact that it so demanding of your hardware. I just built a computer which I designed to run Crysis. It runs Crysis with everything set on "High" detail and runs fast and smooth. MS Flight Simulator X runs OK with weather and traffic set to LO, and most everything else set to Medium. If I set anything higher the frame rate gets jerky. My system specs are: Intel i7 Quad CPU, TWO BFG GeForce GTX280 Video cards in tandum SLI configuration, 1.5 TeraByte SATA hard drive with a 300 MB per second transfer rate, 6 GB of DDR3 RAM, and Vista Home Premium 64 bit OS. Bottom line is this: Unless you have your own CRAY super computer you will not be able to make use of all the high detail features in MSFS X unless you don't mind watching the world go by at about 8 frames per second. They don't mention this fact in the Microsoft advertising Flight Simulator X. I will say though, that at the Lo and Medium settings I am using, to get a comfortable frame rate, the Sim is very usable.

UPDATE 10\2011
As soon as I updated the game with the latest improvements the whole experience was transformed. The game now makes full use of multiple cpu's and cuu's with multiple cores and threads. I am now able to max out everything and still have smooth frame rates. As a result, I have updated my rating from 4 to 5 stars. ENJOY!

Although I bought this to use on an AMD 64 X2 processor system with an Nvidia 9500GT graphics and Windows Vista, I found that it runs very well on an older Pentium 4, XP Pro system with a Radeon X850 graphics card.

I'm not into games much and this is the first decent Simulator program that I've had. I have to say that I'm quite pleased with it, in particular the step by step Tutorial Missions which teach you how to fly. I have some flying experience with RC planes and helicopters to relate this program to and as such can say that the realism of this Sim is quite good.
I would recommend using a better than basic joystick such as the Saitek AV8R. You can get by with a basic stick initially but you will definitely end up wanting a better one.

FSX is the final edge of PC based flight sims. Having flown with the previous FS9 for years and with its grand-fathers like FS2002 - FS2000 - FS98 - FS5, I must say that this product is, in every vay, the highest level of flight simming as of 2010.

The advantage of this FSX Gold Edition is that it includes both FSX Deluxe Edition and all the service packs (SP1 & SP2) along with the Acceleration Pack which is normally sold separately. And this full inclusive gold package has a relatively more reasonable price when you consider buying FSX Deluxe and Accelerator Pack separately.

In terms of playing pleasure and intuition, it is the best of the Flight Simulator series yet. Even as an experienced flight simmer, I had hours of joy playing with the missions from basic tutorials to carrier landings!

All lessons and missions have very easy-to-follow audio and visual clues which gives you even more fun while flying the mission / lesson.

In short you will, provided that you have a min. dual core processor + 2 gigs memory + 512 mb graphics card, years of fun with this latest version of Flight Simulator.

I used a demo copy of the simulation.

(+) Incredibly accurate, realistic and detailed.
(+) Highly customizable with own airports, aircraft etc. Also can be customized with freeware or paid add-ons.

(-) Needs a very very high configuration machine to run decently. Never mind what MS claims. It is always at least 40 % of what is really needed.
(-) Sometimes conflicts with Win 7 and crashes. No matter if you use the so-called "compatibility mode" or not.
(-) MS could have used other sound formats instead of Wav which takes an incredible amount of disk space.
(-) I have been writing to MS since FS 6 to include a usable FMS but apparently they disregarded my pleas. (Demo version neglects the feature maybe ??)
(-) Could not find the "time warp" function which FS 6 had.

If you are an aviator like I am and love your job, this simulation is just for you. If you are not an aviator whatsoever but still love flying it still is for you.

The FSX Gold is the best option to get because you get more for less, two products in one for a reasonable price. FSX Gold gives you the quality of FSX Deluxe plus the accelaration package with all the great missions which I consider to be the best feature in FSX as compared to FS2004. The realism level is good but not as great as I expected it to be, but is much more detailed and realistic than FS2004 including traffic, scenary, and aircraft. The highest level of detail is in US cities,where both traffic and weather come to life. global scenary is not as detailed or realistic. Some fascinating details in FS2004 were left out in FSX perhaps to save space and processing time but it makes global scenary in some areas of the world look boring. The missions in FSX are the best because it gives you so many flight options of location, weather and aircraft and it puts your skills to the test. The missions are categorized by level of difficulty and you can fly them at any time even after you already passed them and you earn rewards.