Adjust joystick settings is "cheating" once you use it to counter some bad behaviour of your aircraft in a unrealistic way. I use 100% joystick settings in all inputs, this is nice and the better way to fly in the SIM.You must deal with your aircraft advantages and disadvantages. :o:-P:grin::cool:

I use default joystick settings and have since day one almost 10 years ago.

Use whatever works for you, but like the same way you can't "buy" a good golf game through new clubs or "buy" good shooting ability through a new or expensively tweaked gun, my recommendation is to spend more time in the cockpit.

There's no shortcut or substitute for practice.

Thats apples to oranges, nothing new is being purchased, its more akin to changing your swing in golf. All makes of stick have different throws and different dead zones/ sensitivities etc. Real aircraft have significant resistance on the stick (non-FBW) when control surfaces are loaded under g, since most computer joysticks have little pulling resistance, and coupled with the default settings there are few indications to show how close you are to a stall/spin. In a real aircraft for ex. a spitfire, you may have to pull close to 60lbs under g to get a stall and snap roll, however in Il2 (w. default settings) you can just pull back a little bit and without warning there is a stall spin.
Changing the stick settings is not cheating, its placed in the sim precisely because there are so many different types of sticks and 1c cannot make a setting that works for all of them. It doesn't change the performance of the aircraft at all, it only changes how you feel the control inputs.

a good excuse to buy the logitech.

Not only that.. stick/control surface movements are all adjustable (mechanical or electrical)on real aircraft. Not cheating but just making use of what is available.
;)

A non FF joystick requires the same low level of effort to operate the control surfaces irrespective of the intensity of the maneouvre with no force feedback from the control surfaces as there would be in real flight. . To say that reducing the sensitivity is cheating is an opinion but, lets face it, unless you are flying in full realism you are taking advantage of the software and anyone who uses external views, padlocks, no cockpit view, and all the other features is, by that definition, also cheating - which of course they are not! Enjoy the game and use whatever settings you are happy with..........there are flyers on line who you could drop from 20000ft in a rowing boat and they would still rack up a bagful of kills....:grin:

Given we are lacking quite a bit of REAL feed back that a real airplane provides in real life... The notion that people who change their joystick settings is a cheat is completely absurd. Everyone else has the same option so its a level playing field.

Ok. It is avaible and you can use joystick adjusting settings. This way i ll agree it is not a cheating at all but in my opinion is unrealistic cause you could prevent or reduce aircraft unpleasant characteristics by adjusting joystick settings. You are adjusting aircraft behaviour to your own way of flight and how hard you use the stick.

In reality the pilot must adapt to the aircraft, not the aircraft (controls) do the pilot. Ok. Its a game.

There is no setting that works for all joysticks, thats why the adjustments are in the sim in the first place. Adjusting my joystick settings is not going to let me shoot down 109K's in my i-16, aircraft performance is unaffected. I'm not sure how to emphasize this more, your Plane A will still snap roll at the same AoA, same speed and same conditions as always. You will just be 2 inches through your joystick throw instead of 1 inch when you reach stall. I'm perfectly aware that a pilot must adapt to his aircraft, however in real aircraft the control stick is attached to the aircraft your using! If adjusting your joystick settings is cheating then why do you not use the default settings instead of 100%?

Having flown real airplanes I can assure you we are missing all kinds of clues as to the status of flight and when a plane might depart as you approach the edge of the envelope. Sure some planes depart quite rapidly however, you should know it’s coming. You’re most likely being ham fisted and uncoordinated with the plane. This plays into your training as a pilot.

More importantly even though you can soften some of these tendencies via your joystick setup it doesn’t mean it’s a cheat. You would adjust to the situation as a pilot anyways. Also there isn’t any modeling of a person’s strength and their feel which is all part of controlling the plane towards its limits. We can’t model that with a game nor would I want it modeled. I bet if you actually performed some of the things we do in game you might have to change your underwear. How many times have you misjudged something and had a Midair or ran into the ground? We are doing things in the game that NORMAL people wouldn’t unless pressed in a life or death situation.

This purist idea of getting the game to be more like reality is a myth and not the design of a GAME. I can totally understand wanting realism but at some point this is nothing more than a game and ENTERTAINMENT software.