X Plane (Mac)

Rating:
Summary: Simply Amazing
Review: I've used x-plane for over 3 years now and find it to be the most versatile and entertaining flight sim around. I even used it to practice when I was studying for my own pilot's license. It's feature rich as well with tons of different planes and situations available. Would have gotten five stars if it supported a round earth model and provided more detailed scenery. Don't let these two things discourage you from getting the best mac flight sim around.

Rating:
Summary: X Plane
Review: If you ask me, I think that this is the most realistic flight simulator for Mac's. I play this game all the time and I learn new stuff evertime when I fly around to different places.

Rating:
Summary: Great Sim, but flawed
Review: This is a terrific flight simulator, but it has some serious flaws. Because the world is modeled as flat, long flights do not function properly. Distant bearings are often not correct, one can't fly over the dateline, and worst of all, the ground shakes violently after significant distances are flown. In addition, though the flight model is vastly better than most sims, there are problems in the flight model that prevent acrobatic manuvers in planes that should should be able to handel them (loops don't work well at all). Finaly, the scenery is bland and although there are tools to improve it, the tools are themselves quite limited. There is hope, though, because Laminar Research is constantly adding to and fixing X-Plane. Perhaps a round world and acrobatics are in X-Plane's future. Only the developer knows for sure.

Rating:
Summary: Great Sim, but flawed
Review: This is a terrific flight simulator, but it has some serious flaws. Because the world is modeled as flat, long flights do not function properly. Distant bearings are often not correct, one can't fly over the dateline, and worst of all, the ground shakes violently after significant distances are flown. In addition, though the flight model is vastly better than most sims, there are problems in the flight model that prevent acrobatic manuvers in planes that should should be able to handel them (loops don't work well at all). Finaly, the scenery is bland and although there are tools to improve it, the tools are themselves quite limited. There is hope, though, because Laminar Research is constantly adding to and fixing X-Plane. Perhaps a round world and acrobatics are in X-Plane's future. Only the developer knows for sure.

Rating:
Summary: The most realistic flight simulator
Review: This is definately the most realistic flight sim. In other flight sims, a flight model is used, that tells the simulator what the flying object should behave like in given conditions. In X-Plane however, the flight dynamics are calculated during the game based on the flying surfaces present on the object in question. The result is an extremely versatile and realistic flight simulator that allows you to fly some of the world's strangest planes (like the Pogo, V22 Osprey or the Space Shuttle!!) along with the world's most simplistic planes (Gliders and Cessnas)

The autopilot is excellent for flying long distances, I have had no trouble so far flying across the continent. (west coast to east coast)

The downside is that most of the terrain is pretty featureless. Bad if all you want to do is fly around buildings. The game does allow the user to build custom objects, so in theory you could build the golden gate bridge and fly around it and under it if you like. It takes time to build good scenery.

Using the tools included, you can even build your own plane based on your own specifications. How would you like your own flying car? Someone even has made a model of the International Space Station. You can download them all