As they say: better late than never! That is certainly the case with the FSElite Community Choice Awards and the results.
Back in January, we asked you, the community, to vote on a series of different categories to determine the best of the best. It’s my pleasure to finally present the results from that extensive poll.
Over 2,000 votes were cast throughout a range of categories including Best Aircraft, Best Scenery Developer and Most Looked Forward to in 2019. The results are finally in and they paint a picture of the choice the community made when casting their votes. Without any further delay, here are the winners and runner-ups of the FSElite Community Choice Awards 2018.
Best Large Aircraft | ||
| SELECTION | Total Votes | Percentage |
| WINNER: PMDG 747-8 | 792 | 35% |
| Runner Up: Runner Up: FlightSimLabs A319-X | 501 | 22% |
| Leonardo Fly the Maddog MD82/88 | 308 | 14% |
| FlightFactor A320 | 253 | 11% |
| FlyJSim 727 Series Professional V3 | 167 | 7% |
| Aerosoft A320 Professional | 119 | 5% |
| CaptainSim 757 Captain III | 55 | 2% |
| QualityWings Simulation BAe146 for P3Dv4 | 37 | 2% |
Best Small Aircraft | ||
| SELECTION | Total Votes | Percentage |
| WINNER: Hot Start TBM 900 | 564 | 33% |
| Runner Up: A2A Bonanza V-Tail | 455 | 27% |
| Vertex Flight Simulation Diamond DA62 | 233 | 14% |
| Carenado C208B Grand Caravan | 205 | 12% |
| Just Flight Piper Arrow | 127 | 8% |
| Flysimware Falcon 50 | 106 | 6% |
Best Aircraft Developer | ||
| SELECTION | Total Votes | Percentage |
| WINNER: PMDG | 905 | 41% |
| Runner Up: FlightSimLabs | 408 | 18% |
| Leonardo Softhouse | 285 | 13% |
| Hot Start | 214 | 10% |
| FlightFactor | 178 | 8% |
| QualityWings Simulations | 163 | 7% |
| Just Flight | 44 | 2% |
| Vertex Simulation | 36 | 2% |
| Milviz | 29 | 1% |
Best Large Airport | ||
| SELECTION | Total Votes | Percentage |
| WINNER: FlyTampa Boston | 642 | 32% |
| Runner Up: Imaginesim Singapore WSSS | 278 | 14% |
| Aerosoft Köln | 269 | 13% |
| ShortfinalDesign – KLAX – Los Angeles International HD | 236 | 12% |
| MK-Studios Lisbon | 200 | 10% |
| Aerosoft Madrid professional | 166 | 8% |
| UK2000 Scenery Gatwick (X-Plane 11) | 158 | 8% |
| FSDG Cape Town (FACT) | 48 | 2% |
Best Small Airport | ||
| SELECTION | Total Votes | Percentage |
| WINNER: 29Palms & Captain7 Nuremberg (EDDN) | 561 | 32% |
| Runner Up: PILOT’S Alicante | 366 | 21% |
| Orbx Southampton Airport (X-Plane 11) | 334 | 19% |
| Orbx Santa Barbara (KSBA) | 290 | 16% |
| MK Studios Vagar | 149 | 8% |
| Tailstrike Designs Bergamo | 79 | 4% |
Best Region | ||
| SELECTION | Total Votes | Percentage |
| WINNER: Orbx True Earth GB South | 630 | 34% |
| Runner Up: Orbx TrueEarth Netherlands | 467 | 25% |
| Drzewiecki Design Seattle City X | 413 | 22% |
| MisterX Japan Pro | 196 | 11% |
| Orbx City Scene Gold Coast | 138 | 7% |
Best Scenery / Region Developer | ||
| SELECTION | Total Votes | Percentage |
| WINNER: Orbx | 893 | 41% |
| Runner Up: FlyTampa | 431 | 20% |
| FlightBeam | 387 | 18% |
| Short Final Design (MisterX6) | 200 | 9% |
| Aerosoft / Jo Erlend Sund | 121 | 6% |
| MK-Studios | 105 | 5% |
| UK2000 Scenery | 63 | 3% |
| Imaginesim | 32 | 1% |
| Latinvfr | 26 | 1% |
Best Utility | ||
| SELECTION | Total Votes | Percentage |
| WINNER: projectFLY | 835 | 39% |
| Runner Up: GSX v2 | 359 | 17% |
| Active Sky for X-Plane | 237 | 11% |
| PFPX 2.0 | 196 | 9% |
| Tomatoshade | 191 | 9% |
| REX Sky Force 3D | 171 | 8% |
| Aivlasoft Electronic Flight Bag v2 | 126 | 6% |
| xEnviro 1.09 | 45 | 2% |
Best Utility Developer | ||
| SELECTION | Total Votes | Percentage |
| WINNER: HiFi Sim Tech | 576 | 26% |
| Runner Up: Mettar simulations | 572 | 25% |
| Navigraph | 423 | 19% |
| OldProp | 249 | 11% |
| FSDreamTeam | 231 | 10% |
| REX Simulations | 121 | 5% |
| Xenviro | 43 | 2% |
| Xvision | 33 | 1% |
Best Publisher | ||
| SELECTION | Total Votes | Percentage |
| WINNER: simMarket | 791 | 35% |
| Runner Up: Orbx | 496 | 22% |
| X-Plane.org | 329 | 15% |
| Aerosoft | 281 | 12% |
| Flightbeam | 199 | 9% |
| Just Flight | 100 | 4% |
| Flight1 | 54 | 2% |
Best User Support | ||
| SELECTION | Total Votes | Percentage |
| WINNER: PMDG | 540 | 30% |
| Runner Up: Leonardo Softhouse | 299 | 16% |
| FSLabs | 278 | 15% |
| Aerosoft | 258 | 14% |
| Hot Start | 256 | 14% |
| QualityWings Simulations | 156 | 9% |
| ImagineSim | 31 | 2% |
Best Use of New Tech | ||
| SELECTION | Total Votes | Percentage |
| WINNER: TFDi Design TrueGlass in Any Aircraft | 518 | 26% |
| Runner Up: Tomatoshade on any aircraft | 437 | 22% |
| PMDG Rainmaker | 346 | 17% |
| PBR in FlythemaddogX | 325 | 16% |
| AviTab in VR | 180 | 9% |
| A2A Rain Effects | 178 | 9% |
Best Freeware | ||
| SELECTION | Total Votes | Percentage |
| WINNER: projectFLY | 663 | 30% |
| Runner Up: Simbrief | 658 | 30% |
| Zibo Mod 737 | 565 | 26% |
| Tomatoshade | 233 | 11% |
| Mister X Japan Pro | 65 | 3% |
Most Excited for in 2019 | ||
| SELECTION | Total Votes | Percentage |
| WINNER: FlightSimLabs A321 | 544 | 24% |
| Runner Up: Aerosoft A330 | 505 | 23% |
| PMDG Global Flight Ops | 319 | 14% |
| FlyJSim Q4XP | 301 | 14% |
| FlyTampa Las Vegas | 212 | 10% |
| Orbx HD Buildings | 192 | 9% |
| Honeycomb Yoke and Throttle | 154 | 7% |
How Did the Winners Get Picked?
The whole point of the Community Choice Awards is to let the community decide. Myself, the team or anyone involved with FSElite have zero input into the data. Every single result, choice and award was decided by the community. Whether that was in Phase 1 which was a free text vote, or via Phase 2 which relied on people picking from the final selection.
We appreciate that not everyone’s favourite developer, product or freeware was picked and the big names took home a lot of awards. That shouldn’t take away from anyone’s contributions because everyone who provides a good service for the community should be celebrated.
You can view the ENTIRE list of votes on our Google Sheet – which includes a further breakdown of percentages and exact number of votes cast per category.
Have we learned anything this year?
Yes – as always. Each year we do this, each year we learn something new. As usual, we have taken into account a range of feedback from developers, publishers and of course community members. Next time, we’ll consider some of the following different ways to make it as robust of a process as possible.
- Start the awards earlier (December-ish)
- During phase 1, have a list available to users of all products
- Give developers more lead time on the event happening
Regardless of the learnings, we’re pleased to have seen so many people get involved.
We want to make sure that the Community Choice Awards have a positive impact on the community, help developers understand the standard that the community seeks and also rewards developers for their hard work.
Until the next one!