SETTING A NEW STANDARD
What does usually go through your mind when you think about VRChat? Is it those social clubs with way too many people to hold an active conversation? Or is it those experiences that feel like they don't belong in this predominately chill and social platform? For us, it is the latter, and we have a treat for you if you think like us. I'm no stranger to the aviation side of VRChat, a sub-culture that started thanks to Sacchan's SaccFlight prefab. With this system, a world opened up for creators that wanted to make aircraft and vehicles in the game, without having in-depth knowledge about the physics that govern flight. But that does not mean some creators didn't take this prefab and made it their own, customizing it to the point that it becomes unrecognizable. That would be the case of VTail, an experienced world creator and member of the VRC Black Aces, and their latest project: Tomcat F-14A "Naval Interceptor".
THE EXPERIENCE
When joining the world, you will be presented with something I wish more worlds had: a hub. This hub comes in the form of a highly detailed Ready Room, just like the ones you would find on real aircraft carriers! This was modeled by Sagi-chan for this world, and it is based on the ready room that was used by the VFA-41 "Black Aces" squadron!
You can use the menu that is over the whiteboard to customize your experience to your liking, that includes graphical and gameplay settings! After you are done with that, do step into your flight suit and get ready for some flying action. The deck of the carrier is populated with 8 F-14A Tomcats, all ready for you to use. Once you approach your aircraft, remember to choose your skin with the livery selection system; that way your Tomcat will always feel a bit more personalized! With all pre-flight checks now ready, let's step into your new office!
VTail's Tomcat is one that not only looks the part, but also feels great to fly. With its completely populated and highly detailed cockpit, one that has all instruments functioning and calibrated for accurate readings; this bird feels alive. Its flight model was carefully tuned to be a compromise between realism and accessibility, allowing even the rookies to get a grasp of just how fun flying it can be. The cockpit also has an accurate HUD and lighting system, which means that if you are familiar with this design from other games such as War Thunder or even DCS World, you will have no issues feeling right at home in the cockpit. Be it day or night, thanks to the day and night cycle that has been implemented in the world, you will always be able to get your bird up in the air and have fun.
ATTENTION TO DETAIL
If there is one thing that distinguishes VTail as a creator, it is his attention to detail over everything. This world wasn't in the works for 13 months for no reason, some of these systems had to be developed from scratch or highly customized to fit SaccFlight's needs.
This can be seen on both minor and big features, such as the auto-kneeling on catapult connect and the LSO station respectively! I personally love the ability of being able to sit down and help people land while looking at them through the LSO camera. This LSO station is also connected to the fully modeled OLS (Optical Landing System), with the ability to tell people to wave off if their approach is too steep or unsafe!
If you liked what you read here, then head out to VTail's Tomcat F-14A world today! It is free to access, all you need is to boot up VRChat to have some great fun with friends while flying the legendary F-14, of Top Gun fame.
This world will be updated with a lot more goodies as time passes, so check up on it from time to time. You never know what you might find!
About the writer:
Santiago "Cubeboy" Cuberos
Longtime aviation fanatic with particular preference towards military aviation and its history. Said interests date back to the early 2000s, leading into his livelong dive into civil and combat flight simulators. He has been involved in a few communities, but only started being active around the mid 2010s. Joined as a Spanish to English translator in 2017, he has been active as the co-founder and writer ever since. Twitter | Discord: Cubeboy
.png)
.png){kind=logo}
