Best Diamond DA40 for P3D 4.5??

Obie311

Obie311

Charter Member
Who makes the best (most accurate flying characteristics) DA40 for 4.5? I'm not a rivet counter as far as outside rendering but I do like a virtual panel where the instruments look a little 3D and not just pasted on a flat surface. My yardstick is Ant's aircraft, MilViz, and some Aerosoft. I don't have the pleasure of owning any A2A. Thanks in advance.
 
Obie,

Off the top of my head I can only think of two options, the Alabeo DA-40 and the Lionheart DA-40 XLS. I have the Alabeo rendition and have generally found it to fly well although I haven't tried to compare its performance or handling to a published flight manual. I do have real world stick time in DA-20s but none in the DA-40. The DA-40 handling is believable to me as someone familiar with the handling of the lighter two-seater. Everything else about the aircraft is expected Carenado/Alabeo quality. It is lovely to look at and comes with a passable Garmin 430, at least for VFR flight. It does support the replacement 430s on the market. No systems depth although the real world aircraft is fairly simple. The version modeled is an earlier steam gauge cockpit.

I don't have Lionheart's rendition so I can't offer much of an opinion there. But Bill Ortis' work as Lionheart Simulations is generally well regarded. They've modeled the G1000 equipped XLS, so if you prefer a glass cockpit that might be your choice.

There may be others out there but to the best of my knowledge these will be the two best quality offerings. Though I'd be happy to learn of others!

Chris
 
I prefer steam gauges since I was trained that way "back in the day". However I was wanting to see if I could transition to a G1000 scan in flight sim. It seems ubiquitous now, but at first glance, it's a jumble of WTF info. I don't seem to have the same problem with a military HUD.
 
Obie311 said:
It seems ubiquitous now, but at first glance, it's a jumble of WTF info.
Click to expand...

I felt the same way when first dealing with the G1000! It does take time to absorb all the new ways information is displayed not to mention how to actually make use all the new features. My experience was that FBOs wanted to see you have specific training and a check out on G1000 equipped aircraft just because the systems ended up so different. I think I still prefer steam gauges for VFR flying. For IFR I suspect glass is far superior. With a glass panel I often found my eyes were in the cockpit way too much when flying VFR!

Chris
 
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