I think it was important that they went back and updated the Gazelle. By proving they can fix the Gazelle and make it enjoyable it will make it much easier to market the Kiowa in the future as there will not be a cloud over Polychop's head. I look forward to checking it out. Cheers!
They said that they would and now they are and have and thats great if you ask me, The legacy version was a bit basic and dodgey but my god it did some stupid awesome stuff like a rolling backflip over a bridge that I managed once and the occasional humiliating Mistral to the Fighter pilots face, happy its updating now though, shine some new light of this little beast.
Honestly when I trialled the Gazelle a while back, I didnt hate it, but it was enough for me to be dissapointed to hear that it was polychop developing the Kiowa. Seeing how they havent just abandoned the Gazelle has really given me a lot of respect for them.
I also love the fact that the engine sound is really really sticking to reality, maybe a little improvement would make it perfect but it's not that far from exact feeling of what it sounds
Same, I'm one of the dummies that had a ton of fun with the Gazelle - I had no idea I was supposed to have spent that time on the forums trashing it instead!
I binge-watched the Blue Thunder movie way too many times when I was growing up - the engine sounds in the module are my siren song! Now that it's been updated and has received the Casmo seal of approval, the module is on my short list :)
I was resigned for Gazelle to be that one "functioning, but weightless" helicopter of DCS that eventually gets overshadowed by everything else, so hearing that Polychop has not forsaken it is amazing news. Definitely flying more Gazelle in the future.
I love the Gazelle because it fills a really important niche in the Enigma server. It will never be as deadly and as useful as the Hind, but at least you can carry recon troops and take out those HVTs to make it easier on the ground pounders.
Gazelle has always been my go-to. I knew the FM was borked before, but the mission was so much fun. Now that the FM is fixed, it's going to be firmly at No.1 in my hangar, even through I love to fly the Mi-8 and 24 around. Until the Apache's FM is fixed and stops being so goddammed twitchy... looking forward to the OH-58D too. A great time to be in DCS, even with the other issues with AI and what not... Thank you, Casmo, for highlighting these up coming changes to the community.
Note: You can download mods that add English labels/reskins to cockpit instruments. It doesn't give one the exact layout of an English version (especially for aircraft that never had one) - but it might give you what you are looking for. Most modules even have an option in the menu which allows you to select a different cockpit skin (once it is installed).
I liked the Gazelle as a "fun" aircraft to fly in DCS (like the Christen Eagle) but I didn't spend any serious time with it. With this update, hopefully I will. Thanks for your feedback!
Having worked on the Gazelle, this was my first purchased model in DCS and still enjoyed the simplicity of it despite the hate it received. While I recently grew very interested in the Kiowa, I noticed the improvements to the Gazelle and eager to try the module again. Thumbs up to Polychop and looking forward to fly the Kiowa!
This sounds very promising, I've never really done much with the Gazelle as I'm more of a fixed wing over a whirly deviant but I might try this out. I've always had a soft spot for small, big window helis like the little bird and this is the closest we have in DCS.
Yea, I believe that the Kiowa project has given them some insights based on the old Gaz critical reviews. I'm thinking they are possibly able to port a lot of their Kiowa work into the Gaz. I would need to look at some numbers to see how close the two are in weight and performance. Good job PolyChop! Thanks CasmoTV for the review.
It shows that there is some real love for the Gazelle with the devs. I got this alongside the UH-1 because it was the closest to the Little Bird in DCS at the time (still).
And apparently the multi-crew has been fixed too, which is really awesome as it was really difficult to use it with all the multicrew issues (sync issues on controls were really bad). We do intend to play it together again as I quite like sometimes just being the gunner/spotter in this. Very much thankful they have gone back and sorted it as I can't wait until the Kiowa comes out.
Casmo - FYI there are English cockpit versions of many of the 'Foreign' aircraft in the downloads files on ED, including the Gazelle. Loving the channel.
I like flying it. When you set the curves and saturation to what real Gazelle pilots set, it actually flew really good. The biggest thing was the desync when flying with others.
Thanks Casmo for giving the gazelle some love i have learnt to fly this module knowing i will never have the money to learn to fly one in real life but the fun factor is wow, Now with this update you have descibed in your upload as an older gentleman i can settle back sippling a nice glass of wine and giggle to myself when i make a mistake thank for your vids:)...
Other than the flight model the targeting system really got me with the old flight model. It would jump around in flight where you couldn't use it on the move. Getting within 4km from dcs ai and being stationary is suicidal. Not being able stay on the move and getting one tapped by MBTs with godlike vision made the gazelle really limited in what you could expect to do with it. I'm definitely looking forward to the update the old one had a lot of rough edges
I loved flying the SA342 when I could figure out how to use it like a scalpel in some missions. The A10 spoiled me with the Airforce of 1 mentality. the Gazelle put me in the mindset of target discrimination and careful planning to eliminate the most important target while flying NOE and avoiding all other conflict. It's a great helicopter. The cyclic felt like an on/off switch, and there were a lot of limits that I avoided to keep the immersion. I'm glad to see it getting some love.
Thanks for covering this Casmo. Gazelle was one I was thinking about getting when it came out, but some of the FM debate made me pause. I checked it out for a bit on trial and it just felt wrong. I'm not a real helo pilot, but have flow a decent number of Sim helos. Even choppers from ArmA 2 felt like they had more weight to them. Now that they're working hard on the FM, I might just have to giver her another try after the update drops. She may just end up in my helo fleet after all.
The only way i could really describe the way the gazelle felt was like an arma 3 helicopter with the default flight models. Which was fine for me, i suck at DCS but its cool to see that polychop actually went back and tried to do right by their customers.
I really like small helicopters, I played the H 125 in X Plane A LOT. For a long time I wished that the Gazelle handled similar to the H 125, what I imagine a small helo handles in real life.
A actually really like the Gazelle and have since i bought it. Its quirky and tries to kill you a lot, but the fact that you can fly it from the gunner position and actually controll both the missiles and the heli at once is fun as hell.
Looking forward to this update. I was always trying to perform the no engine autorotation with Gazelle in DCS:W and it was like with no other helicopter. Very challenging. BTW I was practicing autorotation with other helis in DCS:W quite a lot and I have quite mastered them. But Gazelle was very special one.
I would have thought the Gazelle would be more up your alley, being a small, light helicopter with a big camera on the roof, and a bit of weaponry included. I mean it's not the Kiowa, but still. =) Great to hear you're finding the updates worthy!
Good vid, totally agree with everything you said! Particularly the ‘to the day I die’ and the ‘blah blah blah!’ 😂 I enjoy the Gazelle, relatively simple, good vis, and now much improved 👍🏻
Awesome! I respect Polychop for the attention they're giving to this older module. I know that, to some extend, they HAD to do this in order to improve their reputation for the upcoming Kiowa but I nevertheless genuinely apreciate it. Looking forward to what they'll bring us in the future!
This is amazing news, I have several modules, but the Gazelle is Just só straight foward that i love It. So good to know polychop finaly gave It the final polish It deserved. Thx a Lot for the Review, Just made my day a Lot better.
I'm really looking forwards to try the new Gazelle out. It was my favourite helicopter if only for the amazing visability out of the cockpit. Having a stripped back one with even less stuff obscuring the view out will be really great for sightseeing/rescue stuff. Only issue I have with the Gazelle in DCS really is the godlike situational awareness and aim of AI ground units, which makes flying the Gazelle in recon very dangerous and attacking pretty much anyhting that's armed is practically suicidal, especially because there's no difference if you pop up and nail a rocket within a couple metres of someone with a pintle; they'll nail your forehead from half a mile away through the explosion anyway.
To tame the old flight model, I had to add some wild curves to the stick, rudder, and collective. With this new model, I flattened out the control curves to Zero, and it flies really well. It wants to tip over in a slow lift off. I will have to learn to manage that. All-in-all, I like the new flight model, a lot.
As someone with a Sidewinder FFB2 stick, I always had issues with it. They basically have - somehow - a hard coded deadzone in the cyclic that you can only switch off by disabling FFB system wide for DCS. With the extreme sensitivity and a hard coded deadzone in effect, you're literally WASDing the thing, which - to be blatantly honest - just sucks and has nothing even remotely in common with the term "simulation" these days. And since Polychop stated they'd be working on a new overhauled FM, so they' wouldn't waste time and fix it in the old, I've been eagerly awaiting this addition ever since and now really glad it apparently comes before they' drop the 58D. They always said the Gazelle FM rework would come after that... :)
Hopefully they're addressing the damage model while they're at it - I've lost count of how many times I've seen it fly along just fine with the whole tail blown completely off the aircraft.
Casmo, thanks for looking at this and giving your feedback. I may consider picking it up once it has been updated. It's the only helo not in my stable. I'm not a real copter pilot, though I have spent plenty time in them, so I'm no expert. However, I agree with the point that it has to feel convincing to the sim pilot, not like a X-Wing fighter.
Hey Casmo, thanks for sharing. I did fly the Gazelle when it was the only real attack helicopter and as you said, I adopted how to fly it. As I'm only an armchair simpilot I surely have no reference how it feels to fly the real thing, however the Huey felt so much more realistic. I'm really looking forward to the new flightmodel and as it was said before by others, I think that the improvement will sell the Kiowa and that is a good thing. 👍🏻 I want the OH 58 in my hangar as well 😊
"The Gazelle just wasn't something that appealed to me" - A real life Apache pilot. Who would have thought. ;) *chuckles* Liked the vid, alwas liked the Gazelle's design anyway since I was a kid, so that was really interesting for me. Thanks!
I tried the new model of the Gazelle with the Sinai release update, it's so much fun once you get the hang of it and it's a great trainer for every other helichopper. There's an English cockpit mod on DCS user files as well.
I’ve always liked the Gazelle, despite it feeling like a UFO that has no idea of what ground effect is. I like it because it’s kinda like a Huey on steroids, faster, carries TOWs and looks just as good in a French way. But now? I’m in heaven. My takeoffs are sketchy as hell, but I’ve only done three. I’ll get better. And now it feels like I imagine a real aircraft would. I’ve never flown a real aircraft but 50 years of real world physics is burned into my brain so my brain is pretty good at recognising something that feels real, even if it can’t tell if it’s totally correct. I’ll leave it to the SMEs like Casmo here to tell me if it’s accurate but my layman’s instincts tell me the Gazelle is much closer to a real world object now. It just acts in a way that feels like it’s a metal box with a spinny thing flying through the air.
Really glad to see they came back to make this product better; I was exceptionally disappointed just how game-y it felt like before. Put in an English cockpit like the ka-50!
I didn't have a problem with the old model if you messed with the curves in the controls alot, you could get it to fly pretty realistically. I'm glad it has gotten a refresh, and look forward to learning all of the new stuff. Thanks, Casmo!
@@mandellorian790 I don't know. The curves and other messing I did with the controls made it pretty hefty. It definitely made it a lot closer closer to the model we have now.
Well, good to hear. I do not own the Gazelle. Tried to love it as much as I love the rest of DCS helos, but i could not do it (i trialed it, but it just felt off). Seems that now it will end up in my helo collection finally. Thanks Casmo for the update.
Was able to catch the tail end of your stream of this yesterday. It definitely looks like it has improved significantly. The feel of the helicopter really threw me off when I trialed it maybe 2 years ago (granted, all I had known at that point was the Huey module). Definitely willing to give this another go as I really do like the aesthetics and capabilities of the helicopter.
I think the module that got the most hate was probably the Hawk. Followed next by the Gazelle. I have to agree with one of the other audio comments in the video. The 342 had ZERO momentum. You could stop on a dime. VRS was nearly impossible.
This sounds a great move from a developer who have morals above money. Happy to see the huge advances of the aircraft. Seeing the extra bits added previously, this update is looking promising. I know no update on multiplayer side of it, let’s hope that is a go on fixing this small but pleasant aircraft.
I love the Gazelle cause i love the tiny scout and strike Helicopters. Hopfully the Bo105, the Kiowa and the MH-9 arrive soon. I like to be the JATAC for CAS.
It is now a lot better and more intuitive to fly now. A huge improvement over how it was before the update. I wonder if Polychop will take it further to a multi crew “instructor / Student” feature where control may be handed back and forth as in the T45, as this the Gazelle now has great potential as a training helicopter…?
Thanks for doing this one mate. Having flown the Squirrel irl, which has a similar rotor system, I never had much problem with the Gazelle in normal use. But it's great as you say that PC revisited it and I think they have probably rescued some day 1 KW sales as a result. Golf claps all round.
I had written the Kiowa off since the Gazelle was so bad but now after seeing what they've done with the Gazelle i will definitely buy the Kiowa. Smart business move
You are the only reason I am still flying helos in DCS. You helped me get to the point in the Apache that I feel confident enough to now fly on MP servers. My focus is now on the Gazelle and learning the helo front and back. Is it natural to use full right pedal when lifting off? Also the tilt to the right is so bad on take off that I found that I have to add 33% left cyclic trim before even thinkin about going airborne. Thank you and keep the excellent videos coming!
I actually own the Gazelle module but HATED the flight model so much that I never touched it again after trying it out a few times. I will definitely try it again once the new flight model is out :) Thank you for testing it out for us!
I really hope it's still as nimble as before though. I had a BLAST with the night missions in the campaign, hunting AAA and hiding behind treelines and buildings; which I'm hoping to revisit soon but if it handles anything like the apache I'm not sure those missions are remotely doable.
Nice review, been flying her on and off since it was released and while it’s never my fav module, I do enjoy it. Once I’ve made the changes you suggested to the curves that is. Looking forward to the new flight model, huge thanks for the review, certainly if it’s managed to get you to consider flying it more, it’s gonna be worth a good look at. I just wished we have a uk variant. But can’t have everything
Thanks for the review. I heard the update was coming and have spent the last couple weeks relearning to fly the gazelle. I'm excited to experience what you have described in the updated module. On a side note...I still think the update to the Apache is nice. I'm actually able to fly it now enough to make my own cheesey videos. Lol.
I respect that they haven't tried to get more money out of the community to rectify this module. Great work Polychop and thanks for sharing your thoughts on it Casmo.
There was a rumor that they wouldn't update the gazelle until after the Kiowa came out I'm glad they either changed that plan or was never true. I personally would never have bought the Kiowa otherwise
I didn’t play it enough in the old model to be able to make any comparisons. Maybe I’ll dig into the gaz in the future but frankly I’m kinda burnt out on helicopters.
we're definitely gonna need a new outro edit when they add the final machine gun sounds. I heard the outro music going and knew we were going to get those placeholder cannon shots on the bass drop and cringed haha.
@@CasmoTV agreed, and before people start complaining about them, those are PLACEHOLDERS, I think they're actually the 7.62 infantry rifle sounds (default dcs machine gun).
