I couldn’t let my Flight Sim Expo experience go without talking about all of the hardware. We’re experiencing a renaissance in the hardware space as it turns out! Flight Sim Expo was the place where quite a few hardware vendors could be found and one of the only places where you an get hands on with all of this equipment. You can’t go down to your local electronics store like you could in the 80s and try everything out. So, with that in mind, here are some of my experiences with hardware at the expo!

Moza’s entry into flight simming

Just prior to the expo we learned that long time racing hardware sim maker Moza was entering into the flight sim space. They arrived with their own pedals, HOTAS, and stick system. The stick is a high-end option with a force feedback system built-in which has instantly captured everyone’s attention. I’ve talked more about their since announced products and prices here.

My experiences at the booth were mixed. The hardware feels good to the touch with the limited time I spent with it. The pedals were smooth and precise, the throttle felt good and is a potential competitor with the other high-end devices on the market, and the stick itself was in a similar space too.

On the other hand, my experience with the force feedback system suggested to me that it’s not something they fully have online yet. The demo setup was plugged into War Thunder and Wolfpack345, Requiem, and I (all folks you may recognize for their YouTube channels and lengthy experience with flight simming and real world piloting) were all there to try it out.

We each had slightly different experiences and I can’t speak for the others but I mostly felt no actual feedback. Not when I stalled the plane (as much as you can in War Thunder anyways), not when I fired the guns, or yanked the Hawker Fury biplane into a tight turn. The others reported that they felt more than I did.

In my limited time it felt like a very tightly sprung stick. It’s got a lot of force right now but very little feedback. That may well change as the company was bold enough to bring what I assume are either early production or pre-production to the show and let us try it. I suspect software will make or break the force feedback experience.

I wasn’t able to learn too much about their future plans but hopefully software updates will make this work better because the prospects of a full up force feedback system at this level is going to appeal to hardcore simmers in a big way. They aren’t the only ones that are embarking on this either with WinWing showing off a prototype (no hands on for now) and whispers on the floor that a couple of other well-known vendors such as VIRPIL will have something in this space before too long too. Speaking of VIRPIL…

VIRPIL

I had a great time at the VIRPIL booth! They have built out their line-up of hardware to cover quite a bit of the market already and I got a chance to go hands on with some their newest products.

The first is the recently revealed FLNKR which is essentially a replica of the Flanker series stick. It’s got a lot of hat controls, analogue axis, and the grip feels big in the hand. As they explained it to me, they had some fun making this essentially a 1:1 replica without any scaling down. As a flagship I think that may appeal! It felt absolutely solid in the hand and, for a serious combat simmer, this might be one heck of a great experience.

The other product I really spent some time with is their new entry level stick – the CDT-AEROMAX. This is essentially a scaled down WarBRD base and grip. It still has an all-metal interior and if you compare it to the WarBRD you can see that although the scale of it is smaller it appears to be no less robust. The downscaling helps make it more appropriate for just putting on the top of a desk and flying that way. The grip designed for it feels great. It’s not as fancy as the FLNKR I was just talking about but for the price point I think this might be a terrific competitor to the VKB Gladiator NXT. Pricing hasn’t been announced yet but it may be $200ish USD. Really quite good for base/grip solution with an all metal gimbal! Looking forward to more on that soon.

VIRPIL have new panels on the way and all kinds of accessories and setup for dedicated helicopter pilots, general aviation folks and combat sim pilots too. Loved their booth!

WingWing

This is a company that I initially did not pay much attention to and that was a mistake because WinWing has built out their catalogue in a very serious fashion over the last few years and the excitement and enthusiasm at their booth this year helped cement to me that they are a serious piece of the market.

I was briefly hands on with their Orion 2 series which generally impressed. They have F-15E/EX, F-16 and F/A-18 variants with quite a bit of aircraft specific authenticity here.  They are following loosely along the Thrustmaster Warthog series although they have very quickly expanded their product line to include some other instrumentation for home cockpit builds. Their TOP GUN and PHOENIX MIP solutions with MFDs and UFCs for the Hornet and Viper looked really impressive and they were also showing off GA instrumentation at the expo too – not on sale but definitely coming!

The big news at the convention was centered around three product spaces. First, they were showing off a prototype force feedback stick solution. It was not available for us to try but it looked good from a distance. Like with Moza’s effort, I think this is going to succeed or fail based on how much force and feedback it can offer with an emphasis on the feedback. WinWing have some experience already with their software solution that uses haptic feedback to shake the stick on some of their hardware already in supported games so they may have a head start on this.

Another product I was excited about is their new Ursa Minor stick series. There’s an airliner-oriented version and a combat-oriented version with different grips and aesthetics. Both had $89 marked on the unit so these are very much an entry level stick. Given recent inflation, this is around what the old Logitech Extreme 3D Pro offered for pricing but I would suggest that it’s clear that the capabilities here are far in advance. The combat-oriented version has plenty of buttons for controlling systems and felt pretty solid in the hand considering the entry level price.

Finally, the other big standout was WinWing showing off their new airliner oriented product they are calling the Cockpit series. These are a series of products aimed at the 737 and A320 – two of the most popular airliners in the world and also in flight simming. There MCDU/FMC, EFIS, transponder, and other controls.

WinWing have decided to make these more consumer level plastic recreations rather than metal but I think that’s ok because there are more authentic options out there and they are exceedingly expensive. There’s space in the market for these. Pricing was announced at around $85 to $130 USD depending on the component.

There was a lot of excitement about these! I can see airliner fans picking some of these components up and I can see the extra hardcore fans potentially buying both if they happen to alternate back and forth.

Hyperionsim and other hardware

There was so much to see this past weekend that I know I missed a fair bit. I did have a memorable experience I wanted to write about at Hyperionsim’s booth. This was a VR setup with their own powered chair that, when connected to VR goggles, provided for an unbelievably immersive sim experience.

The chair was hooked up to a PC running X-Plane 11 and I was in the seat of a helicopter (didn’t catch the type). Getting the helicopter into a hover was an experience as I could feel the motions as much as I could see them. Moving into forward flight and taking the helicopter on a brief circuit around the airport it was setup at was just unbelievable in the sensations that I was feeling.

I was flying really well until the last bit of the landing. Still, I walked away with a sense of having flown a real helicopter in a way that I won’t get with my office chair/desk setup. What an experience!

There were other hardware setups that I know I missed. Next time around I’ll try and cover more! But needless to say, there was a lot to see and a lot of hardware out there for all kinds of simmers!

Final thoughts

I was really impressed with the hardware displays this year. VIRPIL and WinWing both had impressive booths with a range of products for combat simmers and civil aviation simmers alike. MOZA is new at this and I think it shows a little bit but they did attract a fair bit of attention too. Coming onto the market with a Force Feedback right away is definitely going to catch some attention. All of the booths for these and for other products were quite busy throughout the expo which was great to see but also telling that nothing beats getting some hands-on time with the hardware. One person I know tried out one of VIRPIL’s pedals and bought them on the spot after getting a chance to check them out – it really does help to be there.

The impending proliferation of new force feedback systems is also very exciting. The exact story here is still a bit difficult to suss out but as far as I understand there was a patent that made it prohibitively expensive to do anything with the technology for the better part of two decades. Now that the patent has expired, companies are jumping in. This is also just the beginning with high end pieces now and the potential for more affordable solutions down the road too. Getting the software and the hardware talking to each other will be essential for high end experiences.

So much to look forward to!