Can anyone please help me understand the focus of the community?

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Apologies in advance, there may be something I’m not understanding here, this forum style format isn’t something I’m used to- particularly on iPad. So maybe I’m just in the wrong section?

Here’s the root of my question- I’ve had IF since 2013. Ive been an aviation geek since childhood, I volunteer at the Seattle flight museum, and I’m a pilot… I’ve played every mobile based FS, IF strikes me as the most “general aviation” geared game out there. Like- broad range of models. Good balance between quality and model diversity…

So I joined the community recently to ask questions about a couple of planes, but I just assumed I’d run into the same kind of “aviation geeks” that I’m used to encountering in life- with a broad and diverse range of interests(there’s lots to aviation)

But I get here, and the majority of the community seems to be completely niched into modern commercial aviation. Passenger planes specifically. There seems to be very little about even historical passenger planes, (Lockheed Constellation, DC-3, DH Comet, Boeing 707, etc…), much less other categories of aircraft, like private aircraft, LSAs, experimentals, golden age of aviation, the bombers, mail carriers, agricultural aircraft, high altitude aircraft (like the U2, or SR-71) or specialized ones, like the P-3 Orion, E-2 Hawkeye, Anything made by Ilyushin, or Tupolev, or any of the “pre last gunfighter” era military aircraft, like the DH Vampire, F-8, MiG 15, F-86…

Sorry to ramble, I’m just trying to illustrate my point here- there’s just so much more to aviation. I’ve always sort of assumed this was just a developer driven path, but joining here, and seeing it’s actually community driven, and seeing the 757-1000 absolutely blow planes like the DC-3 and Il-62 out of the water on votes- when there’s already a 757-900… I never would have expected that. It’s like- If it was a car game, and people could add any car out there, and everyone chose the Toyota Corolla by a landslide. That’s sorta what this feels like. I don’t understand. What am I missing here? (Don’t get me wrong. 757-1000 is great. It just seems so… similar? to what’s already available?)

And to be clear, everyone here seems really nice. I’m not criticizing. Idk if Im explaining this well. I’m just genuinely trying to understand. How did an entire aviation community end up niched into such a small, and specific subset of aviation?

I feel like maybe there’s something I’m missing, and when I know that thing, I’ll maybe get it, and I’ll be drawn in too. But until that happens, I’ll just go on feeling like I’m hanging out in the Canadian twilight zone…(again, everyone has been really polite and good natured)

Sorry for the lengthy question. I’ve held off asking this, because I didn’t want to come across as rude, or offend anyone. I hope I didn’t. But any insight would be most welcome. Thanks in advance.

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Hey!

If you also look at what people fly in Infinite Flight, a similar pattern emerges. Most users fly the modern commercial jets - granted a lot of the older jets in the game have outdated models - but also they just don’t really have many realistic real-world routes left. The modern commercial jets are the ones with lots of real-world routes, and everything else basically gets left behind.

This is a big shame tbh, I’m one of those users who would love to see other aircraft types come to the game, but the reality is its unlikely given how long it takes to make these aircraft.

You referenced the A350-1000 feature request, which has got a lots of votes in a relatively short timeframe. This isn’t entirely surprising given in real-life it’s probably the most modern, sophisticated and technologically advanced commercial airliner in service, with by far the longest range of any major variant (excluding the -900ULR).

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I totally get what you’re saying, and I agree, to an extent. I believe the sim is targeting those who are looking for a current and modern flying experience. Imagine if you never got to drive anywhere, but suddenly a sim came along, and you could recreate those routes you’d been on once or twice, or the ones from your favorite taxi service. You’d want to add in all of the boring but new cars in order to make it realistic. Now this is just an illustration, and I do agree with your point: as someone who is incredibly military aviation focused and would kill to see Boeing bomber variants or Cold War troop transport aircraft in IF. But I also understand why the younger community that you find active here just wants the newest and latest models. It’s the rather harsh reality of the mindsets of the newest generation that new is good and old is bad, and though we may not agree with that, at the moment I’m not sure what can be done to change that :man_shrugging:

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Yeah it was sad seeing the 767 which is in horrible, disgusting form right now lose out to the decent and flyable 787 all due to modernity and other poor reasoning like the 787 has more current operators when the 767 has more historical ones. I hate that part of the community and I don’t understand why the RFS community likes and wants retro while IF’s does not. The 787 in game isn’t even that bad it is flyable and gets new liveries every update including 25.1 with Hawaiian

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