FSX in it's current form is the best ever release in the MSFS
series, but there is still something lacking; realistic ambient
sounds from within the cockpit. Most of us will have sat in a
tube-liner bouncing down the taxiway before we head off on holiday
and then heard the wind rush (more on that later) as the 737
blasts down the runway. Simmers fortunate enough to have flown in
some of the old classics will have moaned that the cockpit looks
great but doesn't sound realistic as it doesn't rattle and shake
as it should – although Accu-Sim does help solve that.
All this is now a thing of the past thanks to the latest add-on
from the development team at A2A Simulations. Accu-Feel is a
program written for FSX that 'uses additional physics and sound to
elevate your entire aircraft collection' (helicopters are not
currently supported). The beauty of this add-on is (if you choose
to) after installing it you never have to make any changes to it.
Accu-Feel sits in the background, analyses your aircraft.cfg file
and makes the appropriate changes to create a custom sound and
physics profile, which is stored outside FSX.
What's Included?
* Ground physics – dependant upon the aircraft being used and the
surface you are on, the aircraft will behave and sound differently
* Tyre screeching – land hard and your tyres will cry out in
protest
Hard Landing
Soft Landing
Landing and Brakes
* Runway/Pavement seams – your aircraft will now bump and bounce
it's way down the taxiway
* Cabin sounds – older planes rattle more than the newer
tubeliners, as you would expect
* Dynamic wind – as the speed increases so does the wind noise
* Fuselage drag rumble – is dynamically created, recreating the
dropping of flaps, gear, or high pressures developed when
approaching
an airframe's Vne (Never Exceed Speed). Both IAS and
Mach limits are simulated
* Stall buffet – Prior to the onset of a stall the aircraft will
begin to shake
* Brake squeal – As with the
tyres, if you abuse the brakes they'll let you know
Brake Squeal
* Open cockpit experience - allows you to hear the suction of the
wind, deep wind, propeller, or turbojet whine when opening a
canopy or door
Ground Wind Noise
Documentation
With a program such as this the documentation is always doing to
be on the small side. The manual is 13 pages long, explains the
installation procedure and what each variable is and which way to
move the sliders to increase/decrease the effect. No more than
that is required.
Is It Any Good?
In a word, yes. I think it is a fantastic improvement over what we
are currently used to when in the cockpit. My personal preference
is to leave the settings as they are when Accu-Feel has created
them; Accu-Feel can interpret the physics of the aircraft far
better than I can. That said, some of the sound settings may need
altering depending upon your personal preference. I found that the
wind noise in the heavies did seem a little unrealistic at times.
Take-Off
I've been using Accu-Feel since it was released and have tested it
with a variety of aircraft, each time the aircraft is improved
above and beyond the default offering. I do feel that Accu-Feel is
better suited to the smaller GA aircraft, probably because the
changes are much more noticeable than they are in the heavies –
although adjusting the parameters could change this.
It was fun to test out the GA aircraft for the stalls and wind
noise by inducing a stall then diving down at maximum speed. The
cockpit begins to shake and shudder when you are flying on the
edge – good job that 'Aircraft Stress Causes Damage' is turned
off.
Stall Shake
Dive to Stall
Taxing around the airports is massively improved now as you feel like you are moving along an uneven surface. Once you switch from tarmac to grass the drag on the wheels increases and the aircraft bumps around a lot more, as you would expect with a much more uneven surface.
Taxiing On Rough Terrain
My major criticism is that a lot of the wind and structural noise
is better heard when you load up another window over FSX e.g
Firefox. The drag rumble effects are best heard this way, which
can spoil the approach slightly. They can still be heard from the
cockpit but not as well. I managed to combat this by lowering the
engine volume in FSX itself but then the structural sounds are
louder than they need to be, so the master volume of Accu-Feel
needs lowering. It starts a vicious circle!
Verdict
Overall this is a massive improvement over the default offering,
and at the bargain price of $14.99 is well worth adding to your
FSX set-up. I feel that Accu-Feel is more noticeable and better
suited to the GA aircraft, but still works well with the heavies.
The one drawback is that some of the sounds are not very audible
from within the cockpit, but maybe this could be fixed with a
service pack. It's difficult to describe this product as it is an
audible package, I hope that the included movies have done it
justice!
I find myself awarding this a
Mutley's Hangar score of 8.5/10
Rob Scott
Review machine Spec: Intel i7 2600k @3.40GHz | 8GB DDR3 RAM 1600MHz |NVidia GTX570 1280MB GFX Card |Windows 7 64bit Home Premium