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Here are the results of the latest usage data as of 05 October, 2017. If you’d like to compare, here is the last usage data result from February 2017.

It took me a bit longer than I would have liked to compile the graphs while working around the 11.10 beta, but we now have a handful of easy-to-digest charts, plus the raw data at the bottom of the post for those that are interested.

Items of note

All data in these charts are for users of the full version only—we’ve filtered out demo users.

If an aircraft’s name, studio, or number of engine fields in Plane Maker are changed at any point, the aircraft will show up in the data as two different entries.

Aircraft

Aircraft Categories as of Oct 2017

Popular aircraft in X-Plane 11 as of Oct 2017

Popular aircraft in X-Plane 10 as of Oct 2017

Hardware

Oct 2017 RAM data

Oct 2017 X-Plane 11 primary flight controls

Oct 2017 X-Plane 11 primary OS Oct 2017 Preferred GPU Manufacturer

Raw Data

There are four files here: hardware data and aircraft data, for X-Plane 10 & 11. Each contains all the information we have since September 2015, for paying customers only (no demo users).

About Jennifer Roberts

Jennifer came to X-Plane to update the manuals and stayed for the bug testing. You'll most likely see her answering bug reports or making video tutorials.

45 comments on “Usage Data Update for November 2017”

  2. curious that flight factor 757 v1.21 is listed as used in XP11. I could not get it to work at all – the panel instruments were blank. Thats why I paid for the v2 upgrade.

    2. That’s three of us, Claudio.

      We’re all pretty much on a first name basis at this point. 😀

    3. Hey, that’s four ! 😉 Which means there are at least 281 other (normal) X-Plane users out there.
      But don’t talk too loud, we are already accused of being a vocal minority. 😮

      Thank you Jennifer. Very interesting.
      Pascal

    4. I’m elderly / still working full-time (24/7/365 !! ) but much prefer to fire-up the linux machine for X-plane.
      Eagerly awaiting what Vulkan will be able to do for the graphics.

    5. I use the jrollon crj200 on Linux regularly. That 1% of 1%… I must be the only one… 🙂

    6. Hmmm… That would mean that there is almost 143 people flying the X-Plane… I don’t think that is alright 😉
      Anyway I’m glad that the Laminar guys decided to give Linux a shot and I sincerely hope that they will continue to support it in the future too…
      See you on the xorg Linux forums!
      Kind regards,
      Michal (uglyDwarf)

  4. Hi,
    Were do you get the “studio” tag from?
    This entry looks, well, weird…:

    Augusta Bell 412 x-Trident
    Class: Helicopter
    Studio: DreamFoil
    Engines: 2

    1. Info on name, class, studio, etc come from the fields in the Author window in Plane Maker.

      1. Ok, so I guess (some) users are playing with Plane Maker and putting random stuff in their copies because that tag is not in the original version of the acf

        1. I’ll back Alberto’s comment – the Bell 412 is definitely from the studio “X-Trident”

  5. Hi Jenifer, great info.
    FYI – The link to the CSV files for hardware data for V11 is a link to the V10 hardware data file.

  6. Couldn’t help noticing that there were so many multiple entries within that data. Perhaps it will be useful if developers where given an ‘Aircraft ID’ assigned to them in planemaker which can be used to reference when taking usage data?

  7. I find it interesting that v11 users have less RAM than v10 users. This indicates a *new* set of x-plane users with a demographic trend toward more casual flight-simmers (i.e. with less powerful systems).

    It would be nice to see regional graphs as well. Do you find that flight-simming interests also vary by region?

    1. Seeing the RAM graph, I had the exact same idea.

      But when you compare the used controller types, it gives a different picture:
      XP11 has a few % more yoke/joystick (+1.7% / +2.1%) and less mouse (-5.7%).
      Not very significant, but the more “normal/casual” users theory should at least cause a slight difference to the opposite, I’d say.

      But what would explain the -unexpected- RAM difference then? Maybe the LR market research team knows more about that… : )

  8. As a scenery developer, I load up the sim around 20 or more times each day, always with the default Cessna. So I’m not sure if you record actual flight (something which lasts more than 10 minutes), or just the amount of start-ups. In that case, the developers community can heavily influence the outcome regarding to a/c. 🙂

  10. Where would the Zibo modification to the default B738 for XP11 fall under? LR aircraft? Other?

    1. Of course it falls under LR aircraft since the mod is unofficial. Pity that nobody will ever formally acknowledge that a significant part of the success v11 is having is due to that incredible work. So be it.

      1. I feel like that’s the only reason why the default aircraft category is more popular in 11 than in 10.

        1. You guys just need to look at the attached CSVs and see that the Zibo mod is a mere 2.5% of flights versus 11.17% in the unmodified default 737 (or 19.83% in the default Skyhawk!).

          Not to disparage Zibo and his improvements, what he and the audiobird audio mod have done is fantastic, but this is only happening because of the incredibly good default aircraft we are enjoying nowadays.

          And as we’ve seen with the superb Baron FMOD implementation, LR haven’t stopped 🙂

  11. Hope these data are being equally useful for developers to the same extent like it interesting to users. Thanks, Jennifer.

    2. When I was away I tried X-Plane on my laptop with a mouse (even with a touchpad few times) It is actually not completely awful, I like the way mouse control is implemented, it is a lot easier to interact with virtual cockpit than in the other sim. Although I wish that you would remain in control after changing the view, ability to make the square thingy bigger would be nice too.

    3. Yeah Steve, even after buying a stick, I’ve flown the helicopter about with keyboard and mouse out of laziness.

      1. I would not be surprised if a number of the mouse flights were for testing purposes. Whenever I test something (like scenery), I don’t bother connecting my peripherals.

        Does the LR team itself report usage statistics? I would think so.

        1. Speaking only for myself of course, but I am opted out of sending usage data in an attempt to keep my usage out of the results.

  14. It also would be nice to have an airport chart, showing the numbers of departures and arrivals.

  16. Jennifer,

    Is everything alright with Ben? He has not blogged for a while and 2 betas have been issued without a word from him; I am a concerned.

    Maurice

    PS you can delete this if you think it is not an appropriate question, but then please reassure me by email

Comments are closed.