DCS P-51D Mustang review

The North American P-51 Mustang was one of the greatest fighters of World War Two. This is the new add on pack for the DCS World simulator that recreates this classic fighter in the high level of detail we have come to expect from this series.

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You can download DCS World here at no cost. It comes with the Russian Su-25T attack jet.

DCS: P-51D Mustang gives the option of running through a detailed startup sequence, though luckily this warbird is much simpler than the modern day A-10C and Ka-50.

There are some tutorials included. They follow on the style of the A-10C tutorials and are very well done. The instructions will either wait for the actions to be completed or ask you to press the Space bar to continue. This avoids the panic of not being able to find a control and trying to catch up. The controls are also highlighted when they are required with directional arrows if they are off screen. 

Active Pause is also included. Though a little odd the first time you encounter it, this lets you adjust controls in the aircraft without time passing on the outside world. It's a pole opposite from the realistic timings in IL2 Cliffs of Dover that prevent many different settings being adjusted once and purist will want to avoid it, but it's a great tool when you're learning.

It is also worth noting that while your plane hangs motionless in the air while active pause is on, other aircraft continue moving so it won't necessarily help you out in the middle of combat.

The other useful tool for beginners is a basic flight manual that can be accessed while the game is running. It's very helpful for quickly finding key commands and double-checking speeds. 

The visuals are beautiful with plenty of detail in and outside the aircraft, even including flashes from the exhaust stacks.

There is full support for six degrees of movement in the cockpit. In addition to looking around with the mouse, and zooming, it is possible to move the viewpoint up and down and side to side.

Not only is this pretty impressive, it becomes nigh on essential when getting the best view through the gun sight or seeing over the nose for landing.

The Mustang was capable of attacking targets both in the air and on the ground. All the standard weapons are simulated in this addon. The guns can be used to attack both kinds of targets and the gyroscopic gunsight is realistically simulated. the range to target and target size are both set using the targeting keys common to other DCS simulations, which is very helpful.

Ground targets can be attacked with the guns as well as rockets and bombs. A lot of practice is required here as there are no targeting aids,

As much as we like the Mustang add on for DCS World, it does feel a little out of place to work through the startup procedure of a 1940's American propeller fighter, while a 1980's Russian jet starts further down the airport. We hear that more aircraft of a similar vintage are on the way but if you're looking for a good World War Two simulator, something from the IL2 stable will probably give a more rounded experience, even though the release with the Mustang is now rather old.

But if you already have DCS World and want to try a different kind of aircraft, this is an excellent add on and competitively priced at US$40 or £25 at time of writing.