How does X-Plane 12 really compare to Flight Simulator 2024?

Today we’re flying out of Wycombe Air Park in X-Plane 12 in the JustFlight Piper Arrow with OrbX True Earth Scenery, XPRealistic, and the Tobii Eye Tracker - to compare and contrast against the many GA flights I have completed in Flight Simulator 2020 and 2024 over the past several years.

You can watch the video for yourself and make your own conclusions.

I would perhaps volunteer that both simulators are very good - Flight Simulator 2020 or 2024, and X-Plane 12. Flight Simulator obviously has the edge in terms of graphical fidelity (massively so in terms of VFR flight), but the commonly held view that X-Plane has a better flight model is demonstrably false - it’s entirely dependent on the aircraft you’re simulating, just as it is with any other flight simulator. The platform doesn’t magically make all aircraft work wonderfully.

As I mention towards the end of the video, there’s a lot of “defence of self” going on between the various simulators (I’ll include DCS in this too) - where people defend their purchasing decisions. It’s do different to people arguing about Playstation versus X-Box or Ford versus Chevy, or whatever else.

Flight Simulator and X-Plane are both great simulators.