SFS PC 3.0: The Soaring Simulator

The Good
The Soaring Flight Simulator 3, or SFS3 (named after its German title, Segelflug Simulator), gives you a chance to fly a number of gliders (also known as “sail-planes”). While a number of later games would also come to simulate the flight of gliders, in the late 90s SFS3 was the only such game around.

The flight model of SFS3 is fairly solid, giving the user a good feel of what it is like to sit in a glider. For the aspiring glider pilot, SFS3 could serve as a training aid. The flight model is very good, correctly simulating such things as adverse effect of yaw. The program offers a sophisticated modelling of weather, including wind and thermodynamic effects. Joystick and rudder pedal support is provided.

SFS3 is well supported by its developers, with a website that offers good background information, additional downloads (of gliders and landscapes) and links, as well as newer versions of the program.

The Bad
The graphics of SFS3 are passable but not as sophisticated as some of its contemporaries of the late 1990s, such as Microsoft’s Flight Simulator 95.

Multiplayer is not supported. Despite this, many players have competed against each other by posting statistics and records online.

The Bottom Line
The Soaring Simulator 3 dishes forth a good flight model of gliders. If you are a glider pilot, or an armchair simulation pilot with a hankering for something a little different, give SFS3 a try.