I love to fly IFR and just sit and watch the scenery go by but I also love to see my instruments/buttons/guages clearly. Ive looked at PMDG but Im kind of tired of the large jetliners and the like, can anyone recommend some good aircraft, large or small, with clear virtual cockpits? Nothing bigger then a 737 please. Thanks for looking!

Go down to the Payware section, all the way down at the bottom of the forum, and you'll see the best Payware products  :)

Dont know how I missed that, my bad, thank you very much though. :-)

The PMDG JS41 is nice, haven't flown it much lately myself but it's a great plane. Too bad it doesn't look like PMDG is going to do more small birds.

My favorite for flying IFR is the captain sim C-130. With no moving map, it really helps improve your VOR to VOR skills.

reachva wrote on Nov 17^th, 2012 at 12:16am:

The PMDG JS41 is nice, haven't flown it much lately myself but it's a great plane. Too bad it doesn't look like PMDG is going to do more small birds.

Anything PMDG, but you have to have the witt to learn it... or you crash and die :)

You said your tired with big large jet liners so PMDG isn't really what you're after.

Personally I would recommend something by Carenado maybe the C340 or the new B200 kingair. These aircraft give you all the NAV gear you need for full IFR but allow you to fly low and slow to take in the scenery.  They also provide you with a different challenge when flying in hard IFR weather conditions.

Or if you want something totally different the VRS Superbug is fun to fly in IFR conditions especially landing on an aircraft carrier in pretty much zero visibility.

Hope this helps!

Ant87 wrote on Nov 22^nd, 2012 at 1:43pm:

You said your tired with big large jet liners so PMDG isn't really what you're after.

J41 ;)

Carenado aircraft!

BlackAce wrote on Nov 22^nd, 2012 at 2:53pm:

Ant87 wrote on Nov 22nd, 2012 at 1:43pm: You said your tired with big large jet liners so PMDG isn't really what you're after. J41 ;)

What is your problem? Every post I make you undermine it.
nn042 clearly said he had looked at PMDG and wasn't interested also the J41 is big compared to anything I mentioned the J41 is a commercial airliner even if it is a turbo prop and smaller. It's not in the same league as something like a Cessna C340.

We get it, PMDG are good probably the best but it's not the be all and end all of flight simulation.
I ranked up 200hours plus at UKfly virtual airways a while ago before I retired because I got bored of it. There's so much more to flight sim than starting up your PMDG NGX setting up the FMC lining up pressing TOGA and engaging the NAV computer.

Same goes with the 747 I've literally just took off in the 747 from Perth to Wellington (I'll be posting shots in a min) I flew until I left the SID and engaged the NAV computer I'll now do absolutely nothing for 5 hours apart from make sure it hasn't crashed. 

PMDG are amazing but there's more to FSX than PMDG especially if you actually enjoy manually flying something.

Late suggestion, and new aircraft, but I find the new A2A Civilian P-51D with Accusim an excellent IFR platform and probably the most enjoyable aircraft I have flown in a long time.  Unlike those PMDG airliners, or the shiny Carenado King Airs, this is truly a man's plane with just enough equipment to do those NDB approaches the way they are meant to be done without those wussy arse glass cockpits/Flight Management Computers  :P

The plane is fast and challenging to fly.  It features a century III autopilot which is adequate for IFR but also requires you to keep track of what you are doing.  You can shoot ILS approaches and LOC BC, but requires you to hand fly like a pro.  Besides that, you are also taming a Merlin engine with all the sputters and vroom vrooms while keeping everything in check.

And of course you can also break free of the conventional IFR regimen and do some aerobatics and spins with this bad boy.