Which Microsoft Flight Simulator would you recommend? Joystick recommendation?

I'm interested in purchasing Microsoft's Flight Simulator, however, I'm not sure if I should purchase Microsoft's Flight Simulator 2004 or their new FSX. And, I would appreciate recommendations for a joystick for flight simulator.

Which Microsoft Flight Simulator would you recommend? Joystick recommendation?norton antivirus 2007

I agree with Justin, you can run FS2004 on most systems in use today and get a good flight experience, FSX however, does like some horse power so unless you have a fairly new system or plan to upgrade expect some ugly performance on any system more than a year or two old. I use an HP media center with a Dual Core CPU, 4 GB of RAM (2 gb will work fine) and an ATI 2600 Pro Video card - a GOOD video card is a must, something with at least 256 meg of memory. I happen to use Vista Ultimate, but XP works very well (might even be a little better for FSX), I believe the biggest factor with FSX is the Video card, if you are using an on board card you can expect ''performance issues''. You can get a mid range Video Card now for $100.00 - $150.00 (or less in some places) which will make a huge difference.

The Joystick is really a personal choice IMHO, I use a Saitek X52 and I love it (still using a Beta driver for Vista but it works), it really depends on how much $$$ you want to spend and how much time you plan to spend ''Flying the Friendly Skies''. The X52 has plenty of programable buttons and a seperate throttle which is very nice especially if you like jets and military aircraft. Saitek also make a less expensive ''Aviator'' stick with a dual throttle control built into the base of the stick which is perfect for general aircraft and a great stick to start with. There are many other choices but I have not tried them so I can't comment, although I have seen many great comments on CH products so if you have the CA$H to spend you should check that brand as well.

Hope this helps.

Regards,

Mike ''Ears Hopin'' P

Which Microsoft Flight Simulator would you recommend? Joystick recommendation?product key

FSX takes a high-end PC, FS 2004 runs well on anything.