An hour with IL-2 Sturmovik. Does it get better than this? Here are a couple dozen screenshots, some showing contrail effects we've never seen in a sim, from Len "Viking1" Hjalmarson's first session with this incredible simulation.

As far as the ground goes, from the pictures I've seen on the Il-2 site it looks very good. The trees look like trees, I mean like a whole forrest of individual trees. Plus there were some shots of a fighter running through a city at low altitude and I swear I saw signs on the railroad station that said Kiev, or maybe it was Murmansk, I forget but it was spiffy. Real spiffy.

My only concerns now are whether or not UbiSoft will be as kind to Il-2 as Blue Byte had seemed as far as letting Oleg get it the way he wants it without rushing it out; and whether or not all of the planned addons that have been rumbling and bubbling around the rumor mills will get to see the light of day. Oh and also when I'm going to have time to eat and sleep when it comes out because my God that looks sweet, if the flight models and campaigns are as good as the visuals I'll be in heaven.

Ground detail will surpass anything else out there. The pre-beta I have did not have all ground textures or objects in place.

when does it come out, I have to have it!!!!

(can't wait........)

Ermm...Just wondering what the ground handling is like? B17II's fighters on the ground spin like pirouetting ice dancers, CFS2 turns the FF stick into some manic sex toy...From all I've seen so far, is this the one that's going to do it right ?

All the best,

Landing the 109 is a real challenge. If you know the history, you know this was also the case in real life. THe narrow gear spread plus the angle of the gear made ground control tricky. Also, when you drop the gear the thing bleeds speed like a rock.

Landing hte IL2, on the other hand, is a snap.

Will they do it right? Well, you are asking me to speculate, so I will. Yes, I believe they will get it right