Which X-Plane plane is good for IFR practice?

[StevieTimes]

Why not pause, set up all the instruments, and continue?

that's why I prefer fsx; can adjust view and instruments without excessive difficulty. pausing the sim is cheating. Can you pause the plane in real life to get your instruments set?

 

[Challenged]

Here's a picture of my current flight-sim setup. I think the main piece of gear that I really like is the TrackIR head tracking unit, it really helps with immersion and usability. Another thing that I like is that I was able to integrate the Garmin 530 trainer software as an overlay, and I use that to hand-fly approaches. This is pretty handy, since the built-in X-Plane GPS is rather lacking.

 

[JeffDG]

Here's a picture of my current flight-sim setup. I think the main piece of gear that I really like is the TrackIR head tracking unit, it really helps with immersion and usability. Another thing that I like is I was able to integrate the Garmin 530 trainer as an overly, with a plugin, and I use that to hand-fly approaches, which is nice since the built-in X-Plane GPS is rather lacking.

I see you're set up with a phone there for when you bust your clearances and get the "I have a phone number for you to call..."

 

[Challenged]

Ha, indeed.

 

[Tony_Fletcher]

I'm working on my IR and I use X-Plane to track VORs, LOCs, etc.

I use the stock 172SP that comes with XP 10 and I wirelessly connect Foreflight on my iPad.

I find the 172s "six pack" closely matches the panel on the Cheetah I fly. The Cheetah has a GNS 650, so no dice there, but I try to stick to "old school" navigation anyway for approaches, etc.

I just ordered a ridiculous video card for my Mac Pro so I'm excited to install it and crank up my XP rendering settings!

 

[Tony_Fletcher]

Here's a pretty nice X-plane set-up!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5BmA3ejyHY

 

[Pilawt]

The Carenado airplanes for X-Plane are much better than the default C-172.

The ones I have (C-152, C-172N, Archer II, M20J, Saratoga SP, V35B ) do about as good a job of simulating those types as the limitations of the hardware can permit.

I usually use the Archer II for IFR practice, because its panel layout seems the most complete (dual VOR, GS, DME, ADF) without having to change panel views. For GPS I use X-Plane's Wi-Fi connection to Foreflight on the iPad.

 

[PBristolJr]

I use the stock 172 or a Baron 58 that I downloaded somewhere. The 172 has the roll rate of an Extra 300 though so that makes it a bit of a pain when doing partial panel approaches.

 

[Headspace]

I see you're set up with a phone there for when you bust your clearances and get the "I have a phone number for you to call..."

And he can use it to request a clearance on the ground at a nontowered field. Bonus.