WE TACKLE TOUGH READER QUESTIONS ON...

> Getting flight sim savvy

> The PC's future is bright

> Going behind the scenes

Where's the flight sim testing in Max PC?

I think it’s great that Maximum PC uses applications like games to give us an idea of real-world performance expectations for builds and accessories. This is a blatant request for the inclusion of a flight sim game or two in the mix. The games you choose for your tests may be familiar to others who would be otherwise buying your sister PC games magazine, but most of the time, I have no idea what they are.

I looked up a few of these to see how many people are actually using them. It was interesting to see that for the most part, they pale in comparison to, say, Microsoft Flight Simulator, which at the time of writing seems to be over 15 million! Originally, I thought flight sims weren’t being used because perhaps no one knew how to use one. But Guy disclosed his prowess in the Holiday issue Letters, so the jig is up. I do recall, in one issue way back there was a use of MSFS, but it was a one-off. How about making a flight sim part of the sstandard test suite for evaluations? There’s no doubt it’s a hardware-taxing application, and I believe it would increase the general interest of many that have no clue regarding the current lineup. What’ya say?

–K. St. John

Should Microsoft's seminal flight sim appear more often in Maximum PC ?

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CONTRIBUTOR, JEREMY LAIRD, RESPONDS: The choice of game titles for our review suite is always tricky. For starters, it's impossible to be absolutely comprehensive. That's more true today than ever before, what with the divide between traditional raster games and the latest titles with ray tracing.