If DCS isn't actively trying to bankrupt me, they're making great headway towards that goal accidentally. How else to explain the development of a truly immersive feature that we will be seeing (well, hearing) in the eventually-to-be-released DCS F-14 Tomcat?
If you have seen the movie Top Gun, you surely remember the unforgettable Goose that rode in the back seat of Tom Cruise's F-14. Kinda chatty, no? Not always in a bad way, to be sure; he was pretty much the only partially sane person in the plane.
"Hey, Goose, let's do something supremely and monumentally stupid," says Cruise.
"Say, how about we don't?" replies Goose.
All in all, the backseater appears to be an essential part of the equipment in an F-14. Any simulation that doesn't account for the need for a backseater cannot truly be called a simulation, and DCS is known primarily for the incredible quality of their simulations.
Fortunately, the folks developing the F-14 agree. Take a look at the video and you will see the effort that's going into this both innovative and essential feature. If you're anything like me, you're already dragging empty cans and bottles up to Michigan to claim the 10¢ bounty to get started on saving up the $70-$80 this thing is going to cost.
No word on a release or early access date has been released, but from the video we can see that it's still pretty far off, given the rudimentary state of the exterior and interior of the airframe. That, and as the video states, they still have a lot of audio to capture.
I am 100% certain it will be worth the wait.
