Orbiter is THE space simulator. With emphasis on simulator. It's basically what Falcon is for jet fighters, as you'll end up doing maths to reach the moon. I certainly did...

Here's a link to the homepage.

Edit: Did I mention it's free?

In that I completely agree, the level of complexity of casual space sims is nowhere near X3. I needed to bang my head on the keyboard all the way through X1 and X2 in order to finally get the controls and be able to play X3.

Sorry for the misunderstanding, I initially thought you were saying the flight model is realistic. For that I'd recommend Orbiter, but that's 10x the complexity of X3.

Tie Fighter! Now if only I could find the floppies and get it to run...

More recently, I would recommend:
Independence War 2...space piracy rules!
Freespace 2...now free for download!
X3: Reunion...the "realistic" space sim
Darkstar One...the more casual sim

mrbojangles25

Ummmm... in what ways is X3 realistic?

[QUOTE="Ein-7919"][QUOTE="mimic-Denmark"]

I tried darkstar one a little, but was turned completely off from it because you could only view the game trough a first person view.

mimic-Denmark

That's the only way to play a true space-combat sim...

Nope.

Oh, COME ON!!! You only had to press a button. I played the entire game in 3rd person view.

Edit: Here, so you don't say I'm talking nonsense.

Yes, you'll find a great deal of games that are better for those 40 bucks you'd shell out on Infernal. I've played it through, when it came out in Europe, and the best part of the game are the graphics. The worst is the story, and the gameplay gets real boring real fast.

Nevertheless, taking into account that you'll probably finish it in at most 10 hours, you won't have to put up with the gameplay for that long, so you could get it off Steam when the price drops under 10 dollars or such. In the meantime, go get something else. 

Dreamfall: The Longest Journey

Aken Bosch