Also, has anyone used a Steam controller with these sims? Or even a console controller. This will not be used for hardcore flight sim purposes (they DO have joysticks on site at present, so they could always be used as well).
I hooked up an Xbox 360 controller for FSX one day for some kids and I discovered that for GA planes it's really awesome, and now for that kind of flying I use it almost exclusively. I never had to re-map a thing, and having your view control on the right thumbstick is nearly as good as a TrackIR - maybe even better in some ways.
It's not nearly so good for jets though, reason being throttle control. It's a button pushing affair. That works fine for GA planes where you can just listen to the sound, or you have a fuel flow or manifold pressure gauge (it's actually SUPERIOR to my
HOTAS in that you can do these super fast button taps and adjust your throttle with better granularity than the
HOTAS throttle!), but with jets I found myself having to look at the virtual cockpit throttle lever to "know where I'm at" for the larger adjustments, and when you're trying to finesse the throttle in a jet on final approach forget about it - you want a throttle lever.
But that's for "flying by the books" - with crash/stress realism settings lowered for kids (or the uninitiated) the 360 controller is definitely the easier way to just throw someone into a jet and let them have a go. Kids in particular - they just "get" the console controller way faster.
Oh and there is one other big plus to the "button push throttle control" - I've noticed over the years that people (and kids in particular) automatically manipulate the throttle WAY too much in a flightsim, even if you try to explain to them that you don't really do that with airplanes. Console controller gets rid of that.
