It’s in absolutely no doubt that the long anticipated A330-300 rework from Infinite Flight is a complete success! The aircraft, is sleek, detailed and is an all round enjoyable product for the user.
Let’s start off with the Virtual Cockpit. My first impressions of the VC are very positive! It’s clean, detailed and very immersive. The developers have done an amazing job modelling and texturing the cockpit. As an A330 lover who has visited the real A330 cockpit myself, I can state that it’s almost identical! I do enjoy the little things for example, the flight deck door animation, windows and the table! It makes you feel more immersed in the simulation. However I believe that IF can develop this further by adding the windshield wipers. VC rating is a solid 9/10
Now let’s move on to the exterior model. First impressions of this are also extremely good and well presented. You can clearly see that the developers have spend a lot of time and put in a lot of effort to make this model as accurate as it can be. Let’s talk wings, the texturing and detail on the wings has completely amazed me! The textures are looking sharp and clean. However I believe they could have added the aileron droop to make it more realistic. I would rate this an 9/10 also.
Now this is a big one… sounds. As you should all know by now, the sounds are from the 777 family. Personally sounds mean a lot to me as I’m a realism freak. However the sounds still sound accurate for the A330, However I do wish they added the classic A330 howl! I also believe that the 777 sounds should be added on to the A350-900 aircraft. In my opinion I believe the sounds are lot down due to the generic flap sound! I rate sounds a 8/10
Flight model/handling. Having done a few circuits in the A330, I believe it handles not too badly. However I’ve noticed that it’s very sluggish to rotate even when the aircraft is light. It does seem to also want to float on landing too. Overall it is a very smooth and enjoyable aircraft to fly! I rate this a
7/10
There is no doubt that the A330 is a great product. My review is my opinion so people may have different view on this. However there is room for improvement for example, Aileron Droop, sounds and wipers. Overall I give this product a solid 8/10!
Great review @LordZakCreaser and thanks for not being those people who get so irritated due to the engine sound. Its nice to see your opinion on the aircraft and your criticisms for the staff.
Thank you. The developers have put a lot of time and effort into making this product a success. It’s a shame to see people complaining about the sounds on IFC. The devs deserve all the praise!
Sounds are what I was a bit bugged with. Don’t get me wrong, I love the 777 sounds, and honestly wouldn’t have noticed anything different other than the beautiful whale sound being included. Other than that, the planes beautiful!
Oh yeah, and the Hawaiian Airlines livery? Where’d that go?!
I agree with most of what you said. I’d give sounds a 5 or 6/10 instead, and I want to add the point of the landing gear. For that I give a 7/10. Why? Well, the tilt itself, the devs nailed it, however it’s completely missing the “hang”, which is perhaps THE reason why the A330 is called a butter machine but no one gives attention to the A340 that has literally the same gear lol. Trust me, if the irl A330 didn’t have that “hang”, the 747 would be a much better candidate to being called a butter machine, given it has even more tilt (but no hang).
I love it too! As @parson just mentioned it’s nice to have some fair criticism. All the aircraft are usually well presented and it’s nice to be able to experience the feeling of flying.
The plane, for some reason, feels a little underpowered even when not too heavy. I don’t think that’s absolutely accurate because, after a lot of calculations, the A333 has a slightly higher thrust to weight ratio than the 787-9, but somehow, the 787-9 feels way more powerful. (Note that both were tested at similar weights.)
Oh, and also, the main gear suspension (or ‘hang’ which @AvioesEJogos likes to call it) which makes the A330 famous for its landings doesn’t exist in IF. That’s quite a shame, if you ask me, since I couldn’t do those legendary A330 landings even if the touchdown itself was smooth…
But all in all, it’s a nice rework. Cockpit details were paid attention to, which I appreciate. However there were three letdowns, the sound and the two I mentioned above. The rest is quite good.
Verdict:
I’d give this rework a 7/10. Overall it’s a solid update, but it would be even better if the above features were improved/added.
This is what caught my eye and i think yes, if time permits, i would highly request Developers to add those sounds to A350 same way they did it to A330!
I get what you mean by the “hang”. If you could film a side by side video comparison of a landing in the IF A330 vs irl, and send it to one of the devs, they will be able to see what you mean, and perhaps work on the issue. I’vebeen meaning to do it, but I don’t have a sub. It’d not be easy to get down though, as IF currently doesn’t have that shock absorber that applies opposing torques on the landing gear bogies. But still worth looking into.
Additionally, is it just me, or do the flaps look quite different from the ones IRL? Comparing wing views doesn’t give me that A330 feel that I am used to.
Personally I think its nice that the reworked A330 is sluggish to rotate even when light. No expert on it but it isn’t a rocket rotate aircraft like the 757 and feel the sluggish rotation is trying to reflect the realism of a long-haul Airbus? Probably wrong but that’s just my idea. The -300 variant is quite long so I suppose its like the A321 - have to be careful not to tail strike so rotate lighter?
I agree on the flaps - at config full they don’t look quite right. Especially with the gap between the top of the flaps and the spoilers that is effectively see through.
Oh that gap actually does exist irl. It’s just that to my eyes the flaps look too inward and slightly too small (they don’t extend out as much, but do rather downwards). I could be wrong though, as I don’t have the reworked copy to compare.