Vertigo

Vertigo is a flight simulator that is focussed on highly realistic simulation of piloting an airplane, with almost no emphasis on combat, although it is present in a very limited form. The game offers a selection of various propeller, jet and rocket engine aircraft:

• Grumman F-14A Tomcat
• British Aerospace Sea Harrier
• Lockheed F-104 Starfighter
• Lockheed U-2
• Vought F4U-1 Corsair
• Saab MFI-17 Supporter
• North American X-15A-2
• Grumman Lunar Module 5

The game simulates realistic flying conditions and aircraft behaviour. Some factors like wind or realistic propeller/jet engine simulation may be turned off in the game menu, so as to simplify controls for less experienced users. There are no missions or scenarios, but the player can select various starting conditions, including whether the aircraft is on the runway, on an aircraft carrier, approaching landing, about to land or in flight at high altitude. Time of day may be also specified. From here, various manoeuvres can be tried out, from a simple test flight to the highly complex carrier landing. If the Lunar Module is selected, the objective is to land it on the surface of the moon.

The use of weapons is limited to target practice using the cannons, available if the real-life counterpart of the selected aircraft has those. Cannon fire is also simulated with a high degree of realism, and accuracy will depend on various factors like aircraft velocity and position relative to the ground.

Vertigo was developed as a free, open source programme, with the code released under the GNU General Public License. It was originally inspired by another public domain flight simulator, Fly8.