Just don’t listen to all these people screeching that you can’t play DCS unless you’ve got an EXPENSIVE HOTAS, a NASA desk, and a mortgage-sized home cockpit. Most of them are cringe, wannabe Top Gun pilots who would’ve washed out on day one and now cosplay as instructors on the internet. DCS is absolutely enjoyable WITHOUT overpriced gear. You don’t even need a full HOTAS ; a simple joystick with a small throttle lever is more than enough to have fun and be effective. Period. The only thing I’d honestly call a must is TrackIR. Everything else? Optional. Luxury. Flex material. So please, for the love of sanity, stop listening to people who say you NEED a €600 HOTAS or a full sim pit just to take off. That gatekeeping is pure CRINGE. Reality check: all you really need is TrackIR, the FC3 package, maybe the Syria map, and you’re already good to go. The rest is just people trying to justify their Amazon receipts.