Interesting side effect: It’s been really difficult to find a decent joystick since just before the game was released. Now it looks like they are returning to shelves but still in short supply. Not sure if it’s a coincidence but it meant I haven’t had a chance to try it yet.
There was a run on HOTAS controllers when Star Wars: Squadrons was due for release. Star Wars "space" combat is basically WW2 style dogfighting, so it's not far removed from flight simulator territory.
It's so weird to me that people run out and buy $200 HOTAS controllers for a fun "toy" game like Squadrons or elite dangerous, when something like an Xbox controller is what they're designed for.
The same thing happened early in lockdown with steering wheels when iRacing got very popular due to some real races turning into virtual races on television. I think they upped their subscribers by 5x or something crazy like that.
Microsoft made the force feedback joysticks for a bit; but no one does anymore (not at consumer prices, certainly). MS Combat Flight Sim 2, and Jane's WW2 fighters; could both give you a feel of the wind and had enough terrain to do ridge gliding... that was immense fun.
