Good Start – Simionic Simulator for Garmin G1000 (MFD) Review

This application is almost perfect. It's very useful for learning to use the G1000, and it connects to x-plane as well; however when connected to x-plane, the navigational position is not correct. Consequently, if you track a VOR or GPS airway, localizer, or glideslope CDI; the airplane will not be centered on the course being tracked because he G1000 course guidance (the needles in the PFD) do not agree with the needles in the x-plane navigational equipment. The airplane location will actually be off course; so you may not see the airport upon arrival at the DH/DA or MDA. The navigational error can be a serious problem while connected to an online ATC service, such as: Pilotedge or VatSim. The controller will often recommend a course correction while tracking on an airway; the only solution is to use the native virtual instruments presented in the flight simulator to navigate; hence negating the purpose of the G1000 application. The autopilot is severely underdamped when connected to x-plane; so it's best to use the x-plane native autopilot. The transponder IDENT does not send the IDENT message to x-plane; so again you must use the native transponder in x-plane to ident. And, the turn-rate indicator is wrong; it too does not agree with the x-plane native turn coordinator--it indicates a full standard rate turn when in fact the plane is performing a half-standard rate turn. All these errors are observed when hand flying the airplane because the G1000 autopilot is unusable while connected to x-plane because it does not implement a properly compensated control loop. In summary; the G1000 app is good for learning in standalone mode, but it performs poorly when connected to x-plane due to the navigational position errors and other errors noted above. The x-plane support needs quite a bit of work. Once the developer fixes these issues, it will be a near perfect app; and warrant investigating the purchase of the hardware bezel.
Review by PilotVince on Simionic Simulator for Garmin G1000 (MFD).