Just Flight/ FS Quality's Roads and Rivers of Europe
By Dave Gorman


An oldie but a goodie!

The roads in Flight Simulator 9 have always been pretty unimpressive. Microsoft got most of them in the right place, so that the roads are reasonably recognisable as long as they’re on their own. However, the complex road layouts and junctions that are a part of everywhere on Earth nowadays have been simplified far too much in the simulator. Massive spaghetti junctions have been reduced to mere crossroads, and many smaller roads have been left out altogether. They do not bend or curve in the right places or intersect in the right way. Aesthetics aside, for navigation purposes, they are, in short, useless.

However, Just Flight and FSQuality have teamed up to provide a solution. High-quality NAVTEQ GPS data was used to give the roads exactly the same layout as they have in the real world. And not just with roads – rivers and coastlines have also been vastly improved. The River Seine in Paris is restored to its true beauty and the M6’s Spaghetti Junction is once again a true representation of chaos.
 

A closer look at another not too far away. Roads and Rivers and Ground Environment make a good combination.

“So how big a difference is there?” I hear you ask. The answer is: "A big one". A very big one. This product is aimed mostly at those virtual pilots among us who love to take it low and slow, in a Cessna piston plane or perhaps a Robinson helicopter. At low altitudes in a large city, the difference really is mind-boggling. Main roads to side streets, motorways to towpaths, it’s all there. They use default textures but the point is, these roads actually go somewhere and you can rely on them. You can really use a road map to fly in FS if you so wish.

The best bit, however, is how far the changes spread. They’re everywhere – you can go from the middle of Oslo to Kilkee in Ireland and the roads will be exactly as they are in the real world. The rivers and coastlines will be the same, too. And it’s not just in the UK – the changes are applied to Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland too. And remember, it’s everywhere, not just in the major cities. I’ve never been to the Greek holiday island of Zakinthos but I can tell you that Roads and Rivers is a vast improvement over the FS default roads there. It is very interesting to go to somewhere like Amsterdam or Venice and see how well the famous canals are modelled there. Harbours all over Europe are represented nicely, with jetties and piers poking out accordingly. Unfortunately there aren’t many boats. The access roads to the airports in FS do not disappoint either. This used to be a feature that only the best scenery add-ons could provide – now every bog-standard airport or airfield in the sim has a decent road layout around it.

The changes and improvements I’ve mentioned may seem trivial, but believe me when I tell you that once you are flying over them, with perfect road and river layouts visible from the cockpit stretching in all directions, it gives a wonderful sense of realism. When you’re following a road you know especially there really is a sense that you are going somewhere. As an experiment I flew over the roads I take to school every day, and then I followed the roads that I took back, and they are recreated flawlessly.
 

    
The canals and interesting lack of any topography around Amsterdam. The detail in R&R is incredible. More improved roads around Schiphol.

To be honest I had been expecting the night textures on the roads to be the default ones, and therefore a bit disappointing. How wrong I was – the roads come alive with red and white lights all over the place as cars turn on their headlamps. Nothing moves but you’ll be flying too fast to really notice anyway. Unfortunately the nice effect has not been re-created in the daytime textures; one improvement I could suggest would be cars drawn onto the textures.

As with all products however, there are a few criticisms to be had. I have two main complaints which I have mentioned already. They are that I would have liked a bit more detail in the daytime road textures, and a few more boats bobbing about in the rivers and seas would have been nice. On a more minor note, because of FS’s autogen you may find some buildings and trees poking out over the water or sitting at the edge of it. It’s mostly rare though, and you’d only really notice it if you went looking for it. Occasionally however, it happens with airports too.

In conclusion, this is a truly stunning piece of work and a credit to the abilities of the guys who produced it. The fact that I am saying this when I spend most of my time too high to see any roads underlines that fact. If I didn’t already own this product, I would go out and buy it right now – I advise you to do the same. Remember that you'll need a road map too.


email dave@mutleyshangar.com
Reviewed 18/02/07, last updated 18/03/07


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The River Thames in London. Drag your eyes away from the beauty of the improved river and you'll notice a big difference in the roads too. A road intersection in London - you can almost smell the petrol fumes. A closer look at another not too far away. Roads and Rivers and Ground Environment make a good combination. The improved road layout around Belfast International airport. I can personally attest that it is accurate.

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The improved rivers and coastlines showing in Lough Neagh, beside Belfast Intl Airport. The very, very detailed coastlines around Venice in Italy. I really wanted to look here to see the famous canals. I wasn't disappointed. Flying over this gives you the sense that you are in a living, breathing city. The canals and interesting lack of any topography around Amsterdam. The detail in R&R is incredible.

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More improved roads around Schiphol. A detailed highway and major intersection, again taken in Amsterdam. Unfortunately R&R's improved rivers and coastlines can cause little glitches, like this one in London! And it occasionally happens at airports - this is Venice in Italy.
 
       
 Links:-  
 Just Flight.
 R&R product page.
 R&R - Q & A's
 JF General Forum.

 

  Mutley says.. . . .

Thanks to Dave for reviewing R&R

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