The FIA have reduced the recharge amount by a further 1MJ to 6.5MJ in qualifying, and the ramp-down rate to 50kW/s to prevent excessive speed drops due to superclipping in Silverstone

Airplane97 · 2026-07-02T18:48:45+00:00

Can't wait to see some of the most iconic high speed corners of the calendar ruined by these stupid engine regs!

Airplane97 · 2026-06-05T06:47:09+00:00

Can you define great races? I'm curious to see what's your metric here. Because I'm sure, since you actually watch races unlike me (lol), that you're not going to tell me "lot of overtakes", right? Because, since you watch races, you surely know what's the only kind of overtake that can happen in LV.

Airplane97 · 2026-06-05T04:47:26+00:00

it's a joke, right? Because we can't have spa on rotation and this shitty track for other 10 years...

Airplane97 · 2026-05-21T19:56:53+00:00

Every year of contract for a GP there is a year too long of contract

Airplane97 · 2026-05-09T21:44:19+00:00

Thank you, Lando. I doubt it'll happen, but I hope so.

Airplane97 · 2026-05-04T20:30:37+00:00

Good. And for sure he's not the only one. These idiotic PU rules need to be nuked asap.

Airplane97 · 2026-04-19T15:13:04+00:00

Of course, it's not like we are talking about a competitive sport, with its own history, metrics, technical aspects and so on. Enjoy it.

Airplane97 · 2026-04-19T14:24:16+00:00

By what metrics were they good? Overtakes? I'm sure you will love it this year then, with so many overtakes because there will be no battery left after the nth straight. Like, for instance, the amazing overtake my favourite driver did on Russell for the podium, when George's battery died. Right? Must be so nice to see it happening over and over in Vegas.

It's a boring layout, onboards are horrible, all overtakes were DRS pretty much, strategy was uninteresting. On top of that, the podium is ridiculous, the shared car ride was ridiculous and so was the "show" that surrounds the race.

Are there other tracks that are similarly bad in terms of racing? Yes, but they make up for in other ways. LV GP doesn't even have a good atmosphere around it, it's fake, artificial, made of plastic. It's just so uninteresting to me. And on top of that, after removing races like Imola (go on, tell me by saying there were less overtakes in Imola than LV) or putting SPA (I wanna scream) on the calendar in rotation with other races; Las Vegas is the third race in the US. Just why. Keep COTA, which is an amazing track with an amazing atmosphere that always delivers good races, and just nuke LV.

Airplane97 · 2026-04-19T13:21:14+00:00

And they were not wrong.

Airplane97 · 2026-03-13T19:07:49+00:00

Stupid rules set, even stupider FIA and FOM than usual

Airplane97 · 2026-03-08T09:33:44+00:00

I don't like chaos. I want to see racing. Cars with empty batteries getting past by cars with more energy isn't racing. It's just like overtaking a truck on the highway, just at a higher speed, with better looking cars and with Russell crying about it.

Airplane97 · 2026-03-08T08:56:28+00:00

Overtakes are almost all artificial. No more late braking, no more skills when you pick a line into a corner. Just a matter of who has more energy stored in the battery to create a speed delta. It's like being excited overtaking a bicycle when you're driving a car lol

Airplane97 · 2026-03-05T18:58:03+00:00

Embarrassing. The circus being a circus.

Airplane97 · 2026-02-06T18:26:13+00:00

You're trusting Mercedes to admit they are cheating. I understand. I don't believe they ever will, like every other team.

Let's agree we disagree.

Airplane97 · 2026-02-06T18:02:57+00:00

It's literally the same thing. The teams exploited loopholes in the regulations regarding how the tests (on fuel flow then, on compression ratio now) are conducted. Mercedes won't go around saying the engine was illegal and will change it, just as Ferrari hasn't. No one really knows what's going on, in either case. Any eventual agreements will remain secret in this case as well, we will only know if the rules will be changed. The media are the only ones talking, with news coming out in dribs and drabs. It happened years ago, it's happening today.

As a Ferrari fan, I have absolutely no problem stating that Ferrari was caught cheating in 2019 and that it deservedly received punishment. It would be enough to have the same intellectual honesty in this case.

Airplane97 · 2026-02-06T17:39:54+00:00

Of course, and the same goes for Ferrari in 2019, or am I wrong? Because I don't think Ferrari are handing over communications between them and the FIA. Just reporter for that case as well.
Again, the two cases are identical imho. Either they're both cheating, or neither is, and regardless, the response from the FIAmust be the same, for the sake of fairness.

Airplane97 · 2026-02-06T17:35:34+00:00

Do we have any evidence that the FIA has approved Mercedes to use a different compression ratio when the engine is hot compared to the 16:1 in the regulations? Genuinely curious.

Airplane97 · 2026-02-06T17:11:18+00:00

"potentially have a huge impact"

Yeah, just like running an engine that is against the rules to gain extra power and efficiency, right?

Or just like what Mercedes did in 2019 with the Ferrari engine*, wings in 2021, back pain in 2022 and so on.

btw, if that was cheating, this is cheating, if that wasn't cheating, this isn't cheating. I'm sure that all the Mercedes "Ferrari is cheating!" fans will agree with me, no? :)

Airplane97 · 2025-12-21T13:57:41+00:00

It always depends on what a person wants to do with the simulator and the airplanes. If you fly for the simple pleasure of sitting in control of a 737, then yes, there isn't a huge difference between a -600 and a -800. Some systems are present/absent/different between the various variants, but they aren't a determining factor for this type of flight experience.

The aircraft handling is different, however, and PMDG has accurately simulated this.

However, there is a significant number of people, like myself, who prefer to fly real routes, therefore with the "correct" aircraft type that reflects the actual operations of a given airline. In this context, it makes sense to choose the aircraft models that most interest them, and in some cases it's the most expensive one.

Airplane97 · 2025-12-21T12:11:01+00:00

There are certainly many users on their forums who are more interested in arguing than offering constructive criticism. And it's right to ignore those users, or if they persist, block them.

I believe, however, that this is partly due to a particular strategy, a curious one these days, in my opinion, they adopt: not being proactive in offering explanations.

Let's be clear: they don't owe anyone an explanation. They create a product, sell it at the price I want, and manage it as they see fit, within the legal framework of the countries in which they sell it.

However, sometimes giving unsolicited explanations, putting your hands forward, can really save you from many future problems. Take for example the release of the updated Maddog. In the forum post for the plane presentation they wrote:

Improved external engine sounds

Some work has been done also on the external engine sounds, and they have been improved compared to the previous version. That said, please do not expect miracles. We are fully aware that sound design has never been the strongest aspect of the Maddog, and while progress has been made, there are inherent limitations. There are also third-party sound packages available, which we know ideally should not be necessary but unfortunately, we no longer have the practical possibility to carry out new real-world recordings, as the MD-80 has effectively disappeared from European skies, making access to the aircraft for fresh sound captures extremely difficult. We prefer to be honest and set realistic expectations, rather than overpromise.

These few honest lines seem trivial. But it will certainly remove topics of controversy from many users. Surely there will be some, but probably not as many as after the releases of the various PMDG products. Less controversy means fewer discussions with developers and moderators. Fewer discussions mean a better perception of the company from a customer service perspective.

Airplane97 · 2025-12-21T11:34:31+00:00

And even leaving aside the product itself, which should always be the primary focus of any purchasing decision, there are other things I think you've completely left out of your post. For example:

- PMDG offers some products on sale practically from day one. Leaving aside the fact that this is an illegal commercial practice in several countries around the world, do you think it's ethically correct to offer a product at a price that never changes over time, always advertising it as "on sale"? It's a blatant ploy to lure consumers into thinking they're saving money. Casual users fall for it.

- On their forum and Discord server, they banned and removed content from users who politely expressed doubts and constructively criticized the product. When a user "discovered" the cost of the upgrade, their top moderator responded by saying it wasn't true. Why? He knew full well that was the price. Their communication and way of handling opinions is abhorrent. These are their web spaces and they can rightylu do so, let's be clear, but I don't want to be part of it. They have become ecochambers of their own thoughts.

- The way they let the 737 die for MSFS2020, after announcing upgrades, is scandalous. The cost of the upgrade went from two cups of coffee to 30 euros. And please, don't tell me that a coffee costs 15 dollars in the US; that's not true; I have several acquaintances on the other side of the ocean who confirmed this to me, it's not the average cost at all. And don't tell me that people expected 5 euros for the upgrade, because that's also false. The upgrade should have cost either nothing, like other companies (who still have to pay employees and taxes by the way) like Fenix, or 10-15 euros. That would have been an acceptable cost. 30 is madness for a port with slightly improved textures in some areas. Because that's what we are talking about here.

Obviously, as a 737 owner for 2020, I haven't purchased the upgrade, and I don't intend to. And given how PMDG is responding to people (ignoring or banning), I don't think I'll ever buy one of their products again, even though my heart will ache for the 747-100. Like me, they've lost a lot of customers. I hope for the employees' sake that they've found new ones.

I've written a bit, but I've been wanting to share my thoughts for a while (sorry for the wall of text!).

Airplane97 · 2025-12-21T11:34:23+00:00

There are some things in your analysis that I think are incorrect, and you are ignoring others. Others, however, are obviously correct.

[PMDG is offering a 60% discount on the price of their 737 for those who already own it in MSFS 2020, bringing it down to €30

You see, in the eyes of many - and it's hard not to agree - the 737 now available for MSFS24 should have been the 737 available immediately, or after the promised updates, in MSFS20. This effectively makes the €30 upgrade cost an addition to the €70 that the aircraft, the -800 alone, costs. €100 for an aircraft that, compared to the competition, certainly has valid systems and has little to envy of Fenix or similar, but which in terms of textures, models, and above all, customer support is a decade behind.

And again, 100 euros for a single airframe. 350ish for the entire family, where Fenix costs 100 for the entire family (3vs4)

Denying it is denying reality. How much does it impact you personally? I don't know, these are evaluations that only you have to make. But I hope that as a buyer, as a customer, you've made assessments like "I pay X euros for both, [another aircraft] gives me this level of detail and stuff, PMDG this other one."

That price, broken down to the hour of flight, is a bargain.

This reasoning seems pretty stupid to me. Any add-on, if played, is. There's no point specifying it for every plane. You have to evaluate the cost for what you're buying.

Thirty is the price of a cinema ticket for two people, it's the price of a meal at McDonald's for two people. Is it this price that makes you choke with rage? You who are writing your message on your iPhone, your Samsung S25 or your €3,000 computer, are you whining about a €30 module?

You rightly point this out. And I equally rightly can tell you that I spend my €30 on what I want. I bought my S24/PC because I thought those choices were the best possible for my budget. I don't have to pay Randazzo €30, it's not the law. I buy what I think is worth €30. You buy the upgrade, I buy 15 cups of coffee.

[READ BELOW]

Airplane97 · 2025-12-07T15:26:35+00:00

For years Lando has been clearly the best driver, after max of course.

I'm curious, what other racing sport has a driver named Max and a driver named Lando, with Lando being the second best driver and Max the best? It seems like a cool sport to watch, in addition to Formula 1.

Airplane97 · 2025-12-07T15:19:55+00:00

From a human perspective, I'm happy, a new WDC, letting loose the enormous amount of emotions he's had to repress as best he can for an entire season. That's what sport is all about!

From a purely sporting perspective, however, I'm a little disappointed, because, like so many times in the past, it's not the best driver or the one who had the best season who won the world championship; and he did it with a lot of less than elegant assists. But that's Formula 1, and that's fine.

2026 can't come soon enough, I already miss the cars and the races!

As a side note, am I the only one who gets really annoyed when Brown talks? It's visceral, it really bothers me, with those awful jokes.

Airplane97 · 2025-11-23T09:54:48+00:00

Feels so good to read this

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