I have X-Plane 8 (updated to 8.60, but without global scenery), and I tell you it's really worth the money! Flying model is really good, and, unlike Flight Simulator, the flying model is NOT specified in a separate file, but it's based on the shape of the plane. There are a lot of nice situations (carrier take-off and landing, in-flight refueling, take-off towed by another plane or carried under its wing, firefighting missions, and flying ON MARS!!! (tough only on a small area
, no full Mars scenery available)). And if you want to mod, you don't have to download anything: X-Plane comes with a built-in aircraft, scenery and airfoil editor! (Though for making detailed planes and scenery objects many people use 3D modeling programs) The online community is huge, and the main website is
http://x-plane.org/, with a lot of add-ons.
I hope this info is useful for you
