Post by Vormir on Jul 7, 2015 16:08:46 GMT -5
Much better than the in-game flight school, at least in my humble opinion, anyway.
Helicopters:
Be GENTLE. In more realistic, simulation helicopter flying games, you have to be extrordinarily gentle with the controls or you will very rapidly lose control and crash. GTA:V makes flying helicopters a lot easier by restricting you heavily, but it's still always way safer (and faster) to be as gentle with the controls as you can at high speeds.
Remember that helicopters have a lot of momentum, and have to overcome this momentum to change any direction. The key to flying a helicopter is to get a "feel" for this momentum and to plan ahead with it in mind.
Use your right analog stick a lot to constantly look ahead of where you are travelling when at high speeds, or to keep an eye on your surroundings at low speeds.
Remember that you can still travel forward on your momentum while flying level, useful for when flying under bridges or into combat (see below).
To gain some speed, you can hold the left trigger to lose a lot of altitude which will also tip the helicopter further forward, giving you some speed in exchange for altitude.
Try not to use the yaw controls too much (right and left bumper). In a simulation flight sim using them too much will actually screw you up and is generally discouraged. In GTA:V they are actually really useful, but not using them can give you a better feel for how the helicopter controls and banks around corners.
Holding both sticks/shoulders/triggers is a myth, and does absolutely nothing.
Landing:
First, level off and come to a complete stop above your landing zone, then make minor adjustments until you are right above the spot you want to land in, and most importantly kill all of your horizontal momentum. In other words, come to a complete stop. You can start lowering your altitude as you approach as well as lining your self up with yaw controls, but be sure to stay a good distance from the ground until you have come to a stop.
Once you have come to a complete stop, land SLOWLY; hold left trigger SLIGHTLY, or hold it all the way down until about 10 feet above the ground, hold right trigger breifly to slow down your descent, then hold it slightly the rest of the way. Be especially careful of sideways momentum, as you can tip the helicopter over while landing (especially the savage). If you hear glass breaking when landing, you have done it wrong.
A trick with wheeled helicopters (the savage and swift): you can come in straight forward, fly low, slow, and level, and land the helicopter like an airplane.
Combat:
When moving in to attack, slow way down a good distance away, then fly slow and level until you are within lock on distance, then come to a complete stop. If you come in too fast you will either fly over your target, making you unable to lock on and very vulnerable, or you will have pull back hard, which will screw up your aiming and take longer.
Always try to engage enemies from as far away as possible. I see too many helicopter pilots come in way too close to engage the enemy. Enemies that get underneath the helicopter can shoot at it from a blind spot.
In PVP against stationary targets, hit and run. Move in, fire some homing rockets or spray with your machine gun, then whether you hit or miss fly away before they can get a lock on you with a homing launcher. (In a savage, its nearly impossible to avoid a rocket once they have a lock on you). Make sure you get out of their sight, wait for them to turn their attention to something else, then move in again from another direction.
When in a Buzzard or Lazer, fire two rockets, then switch to the machine guns while they reload.
Airplanes:
To dodge rockets, pull down on the left analog stick and bank *hard* either in a roll or a tight bank.
If you hold the left trigger down all the way for some stupid reason your engine will cut out after a few seconds (which makes absolutely no sense and frankly ticks me off). What you want to do instead is hold the "brakes" down briefly, then hold the trigger down about halfway to go as slow as possible.
You can also bank in a tighter circle by holding the "brakes" down halfway, but this isn't recommended when dodging a rocket.
Always raise your landing gear (click the left thumbstick) as soon as possible when taking off, and lower them at the very last moment when landing, because it looks way cooler that way.
Lowering your landing gear can also reduce your cruising speed by a bit, while also making it harder to turn, which can be useful in the Top Fun missions or while stalking prey from above.
To do a *proper* barrel roll, which is actually an inline roll, hold one of the yaw controls (the bumpers) while rolling. Which bumper you use will change how the roll goes. To do an actual *barrel* roll, do the same as above but hold down ever so slightly on the left analog stick. try to keep the roll as smooth as possible.
Using a barrel roll to your advantage:
Pulling *up* is more effective than pulling *down*. This is more pronounced in more realistic games, but still applies a bit to GTA:V. Sometimes you find yourself banked away from the direction you need to go (usually to hit a checkpoint in a race) and pulling *down* to get there, or banking back the opposite way to turn, might not turn you in time to hit that checkpoint. So what do you do? A barrel roll! This can save your bacon in hitting a checkpoint, but of course doing this low to the ground and/or near obstacles can take every ounce of reflexes you have. Try doing it in the middle of a race through the wind farm for extra insanity.
When flying a hydra:
There is a weird glitch where if you hold the "brakes" and cut your engine, then switch to hover mode, your hover jets won't engage unless you switch back to flight mode, hopefully before hitting the ground.
Hover mode is actually not very useful at all, and in combat it will just get you killed. It's best used for doing tricks or when messing around.
Fly fast, switch to hover mode, then hold a bumper down to "slide" sideways in an airplane and impress all the ladies.
When switching to hover mode while moving quickly it can take a *long* time to slow down, so go as slow as possible (see above) and lean back a bunch right before switching to hover mode.
The best way to take off is either to take off in flight mode like an airplane if there is room, or if there is not gain some altitude and pitch forward to gain some speed before switching to flight mode.
When in a jet dogfight with another player, don't try to get close to them, otherwise noone will ever be able to hit anyone. Fly some distance away, then turn around quickly and shoot them as you pass by. Also consider using the machine guns instead of rockets, as rockets in this situation usually miss. If you have enough confidence in your flying ability, fly around the skyscrapers in the city and hope you are a better pilot than your adversary. When doing so, be sure to use the right analog stick to keep your camera facing in front of you so you can see the buildings coming.
In any aircraft OR helicopter, always keep an eye out on the radar near other helicopters/airplanes. if you avoid going near them on the radar at all then you can avoid collisions.
Helicopters:
Be GENTLE. In more realistic, simulation helicopter flying games, you have to be extrordinarily gentle with the controls or you will very rapidly lose control and crash. GTA:V makes flying helicopters a lot easier by restricting you heavily, but it's still always way safer (and faster) to be as gentle with the controls as you can at high speeds.
Remember that helicopters have a lot of momentum, and have to overcome this momentum to change any direction. The key to flying a helicopter is to get a "feel" for this momentum and to plan ahead with it in mind.
Use your right analog stick a lot to constantly look ahead of where you are travelling when at high speeds, or to keep an eye on your surroundings at low speeds.
Remember that you can still travel forward on your momentum while flying level, useful for when flying under bridges or into combat (see below).
To gain some speed, you can hold the left trigger to lose a lot of altitude which will also tip the helicopter further forward, giving you some speed in exchange for altitude.
Try not to use the yaw controls too much (right and left bumper). In a simulation flight sim using them too much will actually screw you up and is generally discouraged. In GTA:V they are actually really useful, but not using them can give you a better feel for how the helicopter controls and banks around corners.
Holding both sticks/shoulders/triggers is a myth, and does absolutely nothing.
Landing:
First, level off and come to a complete stop above your landing zone, then make minor adjustments until you are right above the spot you want to land in, and most importantly kill all of your horizontal momentum. In other words, come to a complete stop. You can start lowering your altitude as you approach as well as lining your self up with yaw controls, but be sure to stay a good distance from the ground until you have come to a stop.
Once you have come to a complete stop, land SLOWLY; hold left trigger SLIGHTLY, or hold it all the way down until about 10 feet above the ground, hold right trigger breifly to slow down your descent, then hold it slightly the rest of the way. Be especially careful of sideways momentum, as you can tip the helicopter over while landing (especially the savage). If you hear glass breaking when landing, you have done it wrong.
A trick with wheeled helicopters (the savage and swift): you can come in straight forward, fly low, slow, and level, and land the helicopter like an airplane.
Combat:
When moving in to attack, slow way down a good distance away, then fly slow and level until you are within lock on distance, then come to a complete stop. If you come in too fast you will either fly over your target, making you unable to lock on and very vulnerable, or you will have pull back hard, which will screw up your aiming and take longer.
Always try to engage enemies from as far away as possible. I see too many helicopter pilots come in way too close to engage the enemy. Enemies that get underneath the helicopter can shoot at it from a blind spot.
In PVP against stationary targets, hit and run. Move in, fire some homing rockets or spray with your machine gun, then whether you hit or miss fly away before they can get a lock on you with a homing launcher. (In a savage, its nearly impossible to avoid a rocket once they have a lock on you). Make sure you get out of their sight, wait for them to turn their attention to something else, then move in again from another direction.
When in a Buzzard or Lazer, fire two rockets, then switch to the machine guns while they reload.
Airplanes:
To dodge rockets, pull down on the left analog stick and bank *hard* either in a roll or a tight bank.
If you hold the left trigger down all the way for some stupid reason your engine will cut out after a few seconds (which makes absolutely no sense and frankly ticks me off). What you want to do instead is hold the "brakes" down briefly, then hold the trigger down about halfway to go as slow as possible.
You can also bank in a tighter circle by holding the "brakes" down halfway, but this isn't recommended when dodging a rocket.
Always raise your landing gear (click the left thumbstick) as soon as possible when taking off, and lower them at the very last moment when landing, because it looks way cooler that way.
Lowering your landing gear can also reduce your cruising speed by a bit, while also making it harder to turn, which can be useful in the Top Fun missions or while stalking prey from above.
To do a *proper* barrel roll, which is actually an inline roll, hold one of the yaw controls (the bumpers) while rolling. Which bumper you use will change how the roll goes. To do an actual *barrel* roll, do the same as above but hold down ever so slightly on the left analog stick. try to keep the roll as smooth as possible.
Using a barrel roll to your advantage:
Pulling *up* is more effective than pulling *down*. This is more pronounced in more realistic games, but still applies a bit to GTA:V. Sometimes you find yourself banked away from the direction you need to go (usually to hit a checkpoint in a race) and pulling *down* to get there, or banking back the opposite way to turn, might not turn you in time to hit that checkpoint. So what do you do? A barrel roll! This can save your bacon in hitting a checkpoint, but of course doing this low to the ground and/or near obstacles can take every ounce of reflexes you have. Try doing it in the middle of a race through the wind farm for extra insanity.
When flying a hydra:
There is a weird glitch where if you hold the "brakes" and cut your engine, then switch to hover mode, your hover jets won't engage unless you switch back to flight mode, hopefully before hitting the ground.
Hover mode is actually not very useful at all, and in combat it will just get you killed. It's best used for doing tricks or when messing around.
Fly fast, switch to hover mode, then hold a bumper down to "slide" sideways in an airplane and impress all the ladies.
When switching to hover mode while moving quickly it can take a *long* time to slow down, so go as slow as possible (see above) and lean back a bunch right before switching to hover mode.
The best way to take off is either to take off in flight mode like an airplane if there is room, or if there is not gain some altitude and pitch forward to gain some speed before switching to flight mode.
When in a jet dogfight with another player, don't try to get close to them, otherwise noone will ever be able to hit anyone. Fly some distance away, then turn around quickly and shoot them as you pass by. Also consider using the machine guns instead of rockets, as rockets in this situation usually miss. If you have enough confidence in your flying ability, fly around the skyscrapers in the city and hope you are a better pilot than your adversary. When doing so, be sure to use the right analog stick to keep your camera facing in front of you so you can see the buildings coming.
In any aircraft OR helicopter, always keep an eye out on the radar near other helicopters/airplanes. if you avoid going near them on the radar at all then you can avoid collisions.