VIPER 11 started as one F-16 takeoff, recreated from a cockpit video: the roll down the runway at Nellis, the rotation, the climb through the clouds to 16,000 feet. It grew into a whole game, but the F-16C Viper is still at its centre, and you can fly it free in your browser.
- 240model steps a second
- 9 gfull pull
- 152 ktrotation
- 80%MIL detent
The fly-by-wire
The F-16 was the first production fighter a pilot never flies directly. The side-stick sends a request to the flight control computer, which moves the surfaces to give you the rate and the g you asked for. VIPER 11 models those control laws on top of a six-degree-of-freedom flight model, simplified honestly and tuned to feel right. So the Viper is stable when you let go, it holds a bank angle without fuss, and a full pull asks for nine times your weight, with the tunnel vision to match.
The cockpit
The cockpit is a 3D model with the HUD, the displays and your hands on the stick and throttle. The view is a wide action-camera lens, the way most real F-16 cockpit footage is filmed, and the mouse turns your head. Air traffic control talks you from the parking spot to the runway and home again: Ground, Tower, Departure and Approach, in real phraseology.
Where to fly it
Nellis AFB, the F-16’s home in the Nevada desert, is the default, built from real elevation and aerial photographs. You can also fly from Hill AFB in Utah, where real F-16s and F-35s are based, from Key West, Fallon, Miramar, Edwards and Alaska. Every takeoff and landing is scored, and the daily challenge rotates the F-16 through its airfields.
Fighting in the F-16
The Viper carries the 20 mm gun, AIM-9X Sidewinders and flares. Fly it in the 12-mission campaign, against AI pilots in dogfights, or against other players in ranked 1v1 fights. The other two jets, the F-35C and the Super Hornet, are there when you want them.
Controls
Keyboard and mouse, a gamepad (with DualSense trigger resistance through MIL), touch on a phone, or a HOTAS. With a real throttle, MIL sits at a detent you can move to match the bump on your own hardware. Past it, the afterburner lights.