For gliding, I find X-Plane far superior to Microsoft Flight Sim. I also prefer the flight dynamics to SFS ( http://www.sfspc.de/index_e.htm ). Here's an executive summary of X-Plane from a glider pilot's point of view:
Pros:
+ Fluid and smooth flight dynamics. The best 'feel' of any flight sim I've used.
+ Realistic adverse yaw. You really need to get the coordination right.
+ Photographic scenery available.
+ Pretty good ridge lift (and corresponding sink) simulation.
+ Should be good for cross county navigation practice as well as basic flying practice. But not a substitute for real experience of course!
+ Winch launch and aerotow supported.
+ The replay option is great for analysing flights.
Cons:
- Requires a set of pedals. There's no 'auto-coordination' like SFS has.
- Needs a pretty powerful PC and graphics card to run the photographic scenery. 1GB of RAM recommended.
- The thermal simulation is much more basic than SFS's. The thermals don't appear to have any structure - you just either fly into them or out of them. Nor do they push the glider around like they do in SFS. Also, the clouds bear no relation to where the thermals might be (just like real thermals around Camphill?).
- Stalls are simulated OK but spins never develop.
- The photographic scenery looks best from about 2000ft+ AGL. Any closer and the details pixellate. Also, structures like buildings and masts generally aren't present in the scenery pack.
- Lookout options from the cockpit are limited. You can look left, right, left-up, right-up and backwards but there's no arbitrary view control like SFS's mouse controlled view.
