New X-Plane submitted to Apple

[dannys95]

Austin did a whoops on an email to me but he told me I could post it. X-Plane Racing is submitted (well tonight it's being submitted). What he say:

This is X-Plane RACING, the FIRST-EVER X-Plane (for any platform, including desktop!) with timed race-courses that let you race against the computer, or your friends, in multiplayer-mode! This is the most polished and optimized version of X-Plane for iPhone yet, with a LOT of testing done on the AI and multiplayer modes!

Of course, as we always do with these types of features, we will soon apply multiplayer as a FREE upgrade to ALL the X-Plane flavors, but FIRST we are introducing it in X-Plane RACING to let everyone test it out. We will then upgrade ALL the X-Plane versions with this new technology as free upgrades as soon as it is proven for a little while in RACING.

So here is how it works: X-Plane RACING comes with 4 regions (for now.. of course we will add more in free upgrades, same as always) and 4 planes (for now.. of course we will add more in free upgrades, same as always) with a race course for each plane in each region... a total of 16 race-courses. These course are presented as 'highway-in-the-sky' 'hoops' that you fly though, racing against the clock, right alongside the AI plane. X-Plane RACING will show you the time through the course, and number of hoops missed, at the end of the race. Can you fly faster than the AI plane? Some courses race down river-valleys.. others through mountain ranges, other through clouds. Some through snow-covered rocky mountains, others through desert. My favorite is the F-15 course in Anchorage, Alaska... can you handle it? To our knowledge, this is the most realistic flight physics for any aerial racing sim ever done. Pulling these peppy WW-2 fighters, or massive jets, through the hoops in the Mach 0.5 to Mach 1.25 range at low altitude through mountains and canyons is... special.

Then, once you get the hang of racing against the computer, it is time for MULTIPLAYER: Race against your friends! Who can get through the courses fastest? Both of your times are tracked and posted. This works on both iPhone AND iPodTouch... you just need to be on the same wireless network for the phones to se each other.

Racing, you can choose from the:

F-4-U Corsair: A tricky hi-speed fighter of World-War-2. Being a tail-dragger landing gear configuration, it will be VERY tricky to land. You must land in a full-stall, nose-high attitude.

P-51 Mustang: The premier fighter of World-War-2 .Being a tail-dragger landing gear configuration, it will be VERY tricky to land. You must land in a full-stall, nose-high attitude.

F-4 Phantom: The King of the 'Jet-Age', this plane is amazing to take through the desert canyons at Mach 1.25.

F-15 Eagle: This powerful machine is the pinnacle of pilot-friendly jet-power... IF you can handle Mach 1.25 between the mountain peaks of Alaska... can you?

We also have some new tweaks in here like tire-skidding sound that is accurately hooked up the street-racing-accurate tire-physics model, visible afterburners, and a basic autopilot... all cool stuff we will shortly add to ALL the X-Plane flavors, but are testing out here in RACING first.

Want more? How about screenshots? They are attached. Enjoy.

UPDATE:

More info from Austin underneath in new post:

[jawslover]

awesome! multiplayer!!

[spyker3292]

Ugh, I haven't really liked all these different X-Planes coming out (I just want free updates after I paid $10 for the standard X-Plane!) but I *might* have to get this one. Hopefully it's $5.

[dannys95]

More info:

this is the new stuff for ALL the OTHER versions that is coming out as a free update shortly (already coded, will upload tonite)



9.08:




NEW FLIGHT MODEL ADDITIONS:


As requested: An AUTOPILOT on the glass-panel planes!
Turn it ON to lock your ROLL AND PITCH.
Hit HDG to hold current HEADING... Hit it AGAIN to go BACK to holding ROLL!
Hit ALT to hold current ALTITUDE... Hit it AGAIN to go BACK to holding PITCH!
All of this is exactly like the Garmin 1000 GFC-700 autopilot in my Columbia-400.
As well, hit the AUTO-THROTTLE button to hold your current AIRSPEED by adjusting throttle.


Like ALL of X-Plane for iPhone, this autopilot behavior is a very ABBREVIATED version of the real
thing, but is very accurate in it's presentation of the way that PART of the REAL system works.
Get used to this, and you will be 100% ready to PERFECTLY use the first 10% of the REAL
Garmin-1000 autopilot system in the real plane!


If you hit another plane in flight, the result is... interesting.




NEW SCENERY AND SOUND ENHANCEMENTS:


Visible afterburners: Bad as heck on the B-1 in Extreme.
And now it gets good: They move with pitch in the F-22!
This is NOT gratuitous motion, as in every "game" I see: This is the actual
deflection used to steer the plane in pitch, as determined by the Fly-By-Wire and your control inputs.
I have always been annoyed at the cheap, unrealistic animations of all the GAMES out there, where tires,
control surfaces, afterburners and the like have simple, gratuitous motions. In X-Plane, you are actually seeing
the real deflections that are actually being used by the physics engine!


The sky color change with altitude... This is kind of nice in the SR-71 where you can find yourself around 100,000 feet!


New data presented for the other guy: Gear, flaps, stabilizer trim, wing sweep,
flight-control deflections, speedbrakes, rotor-disc angle for the helos,
afterburners and afterburners-angles for the jets: The works!
This stuff is visible in the AI plane you fly against in RACING and EXTREME, and the multiplayer
friend you are racing against in RACING, or flying with in all other flavors of X-Plane!


New skidding and touch-down sounds!
Touch-down skid is even realistic, tracking the moment of inertia of the wheel, tire friction with the runway, and touchdown force!
In the REAL plane, a HARD landing just give you the sound of a hard THUMP, but a really SOFT landing gives a long
Squeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaakkk of the wheels as the slowly spin up to speed due to the low load on the tires to spin them up!
X-Plane for iPhone simulates all of this accurately!
This is NO GAME: The physics are are REAL!
Can you touch down smooth enough to get a nice long squeeeeaaaakkk on touch-down?
We can!






NEW FLIGHT INTERFACE:


You now have a pointer to the other guy on your HUD, right around your compass-rose.
This is kind of convenient if you get separated from the AI, or want to find your friend in multiplayer-flights!


View-control buttons are now laid out a hair nicer, especially in the panel-views.
This is needed to get nice auto-pilot control on the EFIS-equipped planes.






NEW GENERAL INTERFACE ENHANCEMENTS:


'Final Approach' buttons are now available for all starting locations, as per common request.


Compass rose on the map to see your map heading... kind of nice as you rotate it.


Remember: Drag the map with 2 fingers to control it!


X-Plane Helo version has option to invert the collective now... Push the collective UP to RAISE the craft.
This is a BAD idea, and NOT recommended for real helo pilots, because in the real helo, you pull the collective TOWARDS YOU
to raise it, an action much more ergonomically similar to dragging your thumb TOWARDS YOU on the iPhone, and this option
REVERSES that logic so that you push your thumb AWAY FROM YOU to increase collective: The exact OPPOSITE of what you do in the real helo!!!! So, this option is BACKWARDS from the best ergonomics, but people kept asking for it! So I am putting in the option to make the collective backwards for those that want to push their thumb AWAY from them (to the TOP of the screen) to increase collective. DON'T do this if you ever want to fly a real helicopter: It will train you to do the OPPOSITE of what you want in the real machine!
The setting is in the SETTINGS window, where you set the phone nuetral-tilt attitude.








MINOR ENHANCEMENTS:


Frame-rate improvement! We are working amazingly hard to squeeze out every last percent of the performance this thing has!
Our iPods become quite hot when we run X-Plane on them, if that is any indication of what is going on here!


Minor tweaks and refinements to various aircraft to make them a hair more realistic.








BUG-FIXES:


First-ever iphone bug-fix for us: Super-high-altitude flight-model improved:
The SR-71 (and, for that matter, any other plane) will NOW run out of breath at the appropriate altitude.

[dannys95]

I thought more people would be excited. The news was on the home page a bit ago so a confirmation it was submitted and screenshots; I thought it would excite people.

[yourofl10]

Sounds Sweet cant wait (I might just have to pick it up)

[Oliver]

(rant )

I'm not that excited. The reason is, that the whole iPhone X-Plane-series looks like testing what the people want to have and testing, on how to build it. But since development costs time and money, they create different kinds of X-Plane to finance the development. That's fine, but I don't wanna pay for every little step. That's like Bootant showing of "games" with their upgraded graphics engine and then finally releasing the first "real" game (Crazy Tanks) after letting us pay for a bunch of small "games".

I'm sure, that we will see other different X-Plane variants coming in spring and summer and they will offer less simulation, but more "game". And in autumn/winter, there will be a new X-Plane version for the new iPhone offered, which as a conclusion offers a real combat flight simulator, merging everything into one product, what they learned from their customers and technically.

[sjleworthy]

whatever, i'll be buying it

[dominator]

Posted and translated here www.ipodtutofast.com by me

It sound awesome, totally awesome
i cant' wait

[Brendonian]

I can't wait. All of these apps are simply amazing.