Opinons/Experiences sought...Flight Sim programs

[AAnnillo]

Over the weekend, I purchased a new computer and monitor to be used as testing for my flight sim interfacing.
This combination is the largest and most powerful computer I've ever owned.  I call it my "big honkin' machine."  Its operating on Windows 10, 64-bit, with a great 27" monitor.

I have downloaded, installed and am toying with Microsoft's Flight Simulator 2020 (incredible graphics) and am going through the usual learning curves expected with any type of new program.    My last flight sim was Microsoft's Flight Sim 98 (FS9) via Windows XP...way back when.   This will give you an indication of how long I've been away from flight simming.

Eventually, I will be building my 727-200 flight deck and as of right now, there are no 3rd party software programs available (yet?) for MSFS 2020.

I've been doing research, here-and-there, on X-Plane and FlyJSim's B727 and it looks very impressive.
Yet, I've read that X-Plane doesn't have the best scenery and that  Prepar3d has great scenery.  Problem is:  The only B727 available (to my knowledge thus far) is Captain Sim for Prepar3d and is only operable with FSX.

Rather than continuing to beat my head against walls, I thought I'd reach out here, to the REAL experts, for honest opinions and experiences with the three major flight simulators available for civil airliners.

For me, right now, I'm very impressed with the graphics on MSFS 2020 but find the menus difficult to navigate.  Granted, its only been a day or so since I've gotten it and I'm sure a lot of tweaking on my part will be forthcoming. 
I made the erroneous assumption that because its Microsoft, it would be the same or very similar to FS9.   Sooooooo not the case.

I welcome your thoughts and appreciate your time.

Thank you!

Anthony

[Trevor Hale]

I Anthony,

Please note that MSFS is at this point an "XBOX GAME" It does have potential, but until they fix many things on it and more development is created around it, it will just be a game.

The suggestion I have for you is install Prepar3d and work with that for now, as 99% of what you do in prepar3d will be able to port over to MSFS when it is ready.

Trev

[AAnnillo]

Ya know, I've seen FSX and Prepar3d together on several websites and always wondered what the deal was.   Tow different companies but with the same compatibility.  I thought it very strange.

Previously, I had seen the X-Box affiliation with MSFS 2020 and was more than a little concerned when I purchased it online yesterday...I thought I might have clicked on the wrong link to download.
Then, after the installation (about an hour later), upon launching, the big X-BOX log came up and I panicked for a moment.

I'm going to be looking into Prepar3d a little more and appreciate your insights, Trev.   Thank you very much.

Anthony

[KyleH]

P3D is FSX.
Microsoft sold the FSX development rights to Lockheed Martin for commercial purposes, and so P3D is the updated development of FSX. This means that there is a lot of cross compatibility between products, especially up to version 3 of P3D.
Version 4  is where 64bit compatibility came in so that's where the cross platform compatibility start to break down unless the addon developer made sure it would work with FSX and newer versions of P3D.

[AAnnillo]

Ah so.....so THAT is why I often see FSX/P3D in the same sentence.

Still working my way through MSFS 2020...love the scenery but steep learning curve.

For the moment, I'm going to transport myself backwards in time...I purchased a 'new' FSX (unboxed) and will be receiving it this week.
It'll be a challenge to install it with Windows 10 on this incredible PC I've got.  I've seen FSX in action 'tho never owned it.  Prior, I used FS9 and the incredible Dreamfleet 727.  I liked FS9 alot and found it very easy to navigate.   Considering I'm not a computer guru/tech guy in the least, I did manage to write several retro (late 80s) flight plans and had a boatload of retro airlines/aircraft along with well-tweaked AFCAD files.
Captain Sim has the 727 for FSX and am hopeful I'll be able to get all installed, tweaked and flyable.

We'll see.

Thank you for all the replies.

Anthony