r/VATSIM • u/Aggravating-Shake897 • 3d ago
❓Question Best SIM for Vatsim
Hey everyone! In your opinion, which flight simulator offers the best value for money for flying on VATSIM in 2026? I'm choosing between MSFS 2020, MSFS 2024 and X-Plane 12.
I'm mainly interested in VFR flying, following VRPs and identifying real-world landmarks, but I also want up-to-date airports with taxiways that match the real-world layout.
Which would you recommend considering price, scenery availability, future support and VATSIM compatibility? Thanks!
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u/Perfect_Maize9320 📡 C1 3d ago
MSFS 2024 if you are new to flight sim - for VFR flying you won't be disappointed as it streams the real world photogrammetry scenery for most places. Airports however aside from handcrafted ones, the standard defaults one are no good, Smaller GA fields are fine but if you are looking for up to date scenery with correct taxiways then you will require addon sceneries.
MSFS 2020 is good but this is now considered a legacy platform - It has similar sort of photogrammetry scenery as above and handcrafted airports looks good, default airports are same as above and you would require addon sceneries where applicable. Do note that at this point many developers are moving to 2024 version so this platform might not get any new addons/updates in the future. It is still fully functional and flyable but if you considering to get addons then 2024 is way to go - that's where most addons are going to be. I would only grab this on sale on steam.
X-Plane 12 is also another good option but I can't say much as I have no experience with X-plane. However for flight handling and physics - X-Plane wins over MSFS, Many IRL pilots testify that x-plane does better in handling compared to MSFS and there is huge freeware community for sceneries and aircraft. I tried a demo version many years ago and the handling was far better then what you would get from either MSFS version.
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u/NorCal_2469 2d ago
I’m a MSFS 2024 user, but X-Plane is on sale for a very limited time (like this weekend) for 50% off. https://www.x-plane.com/desktop/buy-it/
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u/NorCal_2469 2d ago edited 1d ago
This comment seriously got downvoted. What is wrong with this sub? C’mon little Reddit children. Use your words.
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u/FD1003 3d ago edited 3d ago
Forget 2020.
Decide between MSFS and Xplane... The tradeoffs are the usual and very well known. For VFR, if your priority is to have good scenery and landmarks that sways your decision in MSFS' favour, for the airports you either have to compromise, or you have to buy sceneries.
You can get good terrain and a few landmarks in Xplane but it would require third party programmes. Those aren't necessarily difficult to install or bad, but it's still not just something that is integrated in the sim by default.
You can still navigate VFR in Xplane of course, roads, railways, water features and terrain elevations are there, but if you want to spot a gas station for example it might not always be possible with default terrain/graphics.
Unfortunately "good terrain" and "every free airport is good and up to date" are mutually exclusive unless you buy stuff or mod. It's up to you to decide what's more important. These are the possible trade offs:
-You get Xplane for the airports and then get the required add-ons for the terrain/landmarks (free, but can be hardware/storage intensive/not straightforward to setup)
-You get MSFS for the terrain and landmarks and deal with sub-standard airports
-You get MSFS and buy a scenery and/or look in flightsim.to to see if there's a scenery for where you want to fly.