I'm fairly new to online flying and I'm enjoying what has been exclusively VATSIM so far.  I'm really impressed by the professionalism shown by the controllers and most pilots.

Does anyone use IVAO and if so what are your thoughts compared with VATSIM?  It looks like it's more widely in use in Southern Europe, but not as many users overall from what I can see.

Hi,

Did a bit of flying on IVAO and controlling,but,and this is my opinion,Vatsim appears to have better software,especially for controlling ATC.Must admit that IVAO's AI traffic "MTL" was excellent.

It all as come a long way from when i started in 2006,as is Flight Simulators in general. We had several different options for connecting to Vatsim and various ATC programs, but alas i believe there is only the one now which is very good anyways.

Not been on IVAO for ages,but i think you get better ATC on Vatsim,especially UK and Germany.

Andy

That pretty much reflects the general view I think Andy.  I've loaded IVAO to try out when flying Spain/Italy but I'll definitely be staying on VATSIM whenever I can.

Shame they don't have a better system for promulgating opening/closing times on each position though.  I flew one trip the other evening and literally every station closed within 5 minutes of checking in with them.