I am actually fairly pleased with the planes in the Reno pack, maybe because my expectations weren't all that high.
I quite like the P-51A even taking into account John's criticisms, which I agree with. Nice cockpit, plausible flight model, feels different from the Ds.
I'm very pleased with the variety in cockpit layouts which really makes it feel like they are different airplanes. I can see that I will be choosing my planes based on what navaids they have that I want for the flight I'm planning. I also like that the fictional P-51 and T-6 with the generic liveries comes with something pretty close to a stock military cockpit, albeit with a jump seat and no gunsight in the case of the P-51, and I assume that version will be what most repaints are done for. The variety in the L-39s is nice too, ranging from fresh out of Czech military surplus to full glass panels. I hope that we will see some accurate military repaints done for those, both in camo and for the many display teams in which they have been used.
I think there are some issues with the P-51D 3d model but it is hard to tell, partly because that yucky texture that they use for bare metal makes it hard to see what the curvature of the surfaces really is. The vertical tail seems a bit wrong, either the dorsal fin is too large, or the stabilizer is too short or tapered, or something. The tailwheel struts should be longer so that the bottom of the tail is not so close to the ground. Handling is okay, I don't think it rolls fast enough. A stock P-51 is supposed to have about 70 degrees per second roll rate, I find it hard to get mine all the way around in much less than 8 seconds. The T-6 actually rolls considerably faster than the P-51D, which doesn't seem right. In general, I would say that the Wabirdsim and A2A Mustangs for FSX/P3D and the IL2:GB Mustang are better than these. They certainly all sound a lot better, and my ported-over Warbirdsim P-51s are definitely staying in my MSFS hangar for now. But, I have warmed up to the Reno P-51s after a few flights and they are not trash, they are okay, about as good as all the other Asobo planes for the sim. I will keep flying them, especially as we get better skins for them.
The T-6 generally looks all right, although I think they screwed up the cowling, it's not curved enough at the front. Pleasant to fly, maybe a little on the forgiving side.
Don't neglect those Pitts's. Next to the P-51A, I think those are my favorites of the new planes. They exhibit the most diversity with the different wings, cowlings, etc. Not sure yet how much this is reflected in the performance, but they are great fun to fly.
I notice that the canopies tend to have fingerprint smudges rather than scratches in the glass, which I find more realistic.
Most of the P-51s and T-6s have significant errors in the paint schemes. How hard is it just to copy the paint job directly from a plane that you have access to, to your skin? Too hard for Asobo apparently.
There is a gauge error in the P-51 Bunny, three of the gauge dials are the wrong size/alignment and you can't read your manifold pressure, RPM, or vertical speed. Should be an easy hotfix to the panel coding. But this, along with the propeller bug in the P-51A and a few of the other things people are pointing out online, makes me think that this DLC got pushed out the door just a little bit early, before it was all quite tested. But there is a lot of content here to test. Knowing that the obvious bugs will get fixed soon, I'm satisfied with my purchase, and I haven't even gotten around the pylons yet.
August
I have temporarily applied the brakes on purchasing the Reno Set.
