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Very tempted by Ace Combat 7 as have missed the thrill of dogfighting for too many years.
However I dont have any sort of expansive control setup - xbox 360 pad being about the best (on PC).

Anyone played it and care to comment?

Yes! Its a good and fun game in a solid series of games. Granted the whole alternative world is a bit silly at times but any such games tends to fall into that realm. The flying is good fun and the action very fast paced, the AI can be brutal once to crank the difficulty to max but its still good times with blowing up bad guys. Preferably while blaring the Top Gun soundtrack in the background.

Ace Combat 7 is a terrible port. It's not worth buying or supporting.

I love the Ace Combat series, although I have not played it in many years due to my status as a wealthy PC nobleman. The last I played it was Shattered Skies on the PS2 about 20 years ago. I also do own Assault Horizon on PC, but that was terrible and I don't want to talk about that.

When RDR2 came out, I finally broke down and bought a Xbox One X so I can see how the console peasants live. I wound up not really getting into RDR2 - I played it for about 10 hours, which means I spent roughly $60 an hour to play a game I didn't get into. Another wise investment.

Anyway, when AC7 finally dropped and the reviews were good, I had a quandary. I had only really played Ace Combat on consoles, albeit 20 years ago, but it's essentially a console game. It came out like 3 weeks earlier or whatever on Xbox, and there were a bunch of days off where I wanted to play it right now so I could avoid painting my giant pile of minis.

On the other hand, I knew if I got it on PC, I would have better options. The graphics obviously would be better, as befits PC royalty. I also expected I would be able to use my ancient flight stick and get some cool immersion, and at some point, I would be able to play it on the Rift or Vive (I own both so my bases are covered).

So i waited rather impatiently. It finally dropped. I played it a bit. Here is where it stands now:

1.) There is no flight stick support on the PC - full stop. There is a $200 branded stick for consoles, and that appears like it SHOULD work on PC (it's USB and works on the xbox), but it does not. There are various workarounds available but that's kludgey so lets not get into that. There is a profile in the game for said branded flight stick, which does not appear to work on PC. That seems like a bug, but rumors on the internets is that is the only stick that will ever work on the PC due to a possible Thrustmaster exclusive. I've never heard of an exclusive hardware deal before and that's pretty terrible if true but it's also just a rumor and who knows. Blamco has not really said definitively what the deal is. Some claim it's just a bug no flight sticks work. We'll see.

2.) It apparently sometimes won't play in 4K right off the bat because of a minor confirmed bug. If you switch the resolution in-game and then again to 4k it works permanently. You can also edit the ini file to fix it (it's on the Unreal engine), either or. It worked OK for me right away though. I imagine will be fixed in the first patch.

3.) VR definitely is an confirmed exclusive to Playstation for a year. Lame. However seems gauche to get mad they didn't deliver something they never promised.

4.) Actual gameplay: My dude, the game is fun. I have no regrets about actually buying the game. Fast paced, hard but not too-hard, awesome cut scenes, the usual weird Ace Combat drama and story. I have been absolutely loving the gameplay. I am using a Xbox controller to play, which depresses me because the whole time I am thinking this is how the poors live all the time, If you can put your distaste aside, though, it's a perfect marriage. The game doesn't really have that many controls - throttle, brake, missile, gun, switch targets, switch weapons, press in both sticks to drop flares/chaff. If you switch to the "advanced controls" which you should right off the bat, the shoulder buttons work the rudder, which is handy to have. The visuals are beautiful - turning and burning inside of a box canyon, just missing cliffs, condensation on the window from clouds, icing if you stay in the clouds too long... it looks and feels fantastic. When your plane gets hit by lightning and you lose your hud and most likely your orientation, it looks amazing and is terrifying.

There is some progression in the game in terms of unlocking planes, and gear for your planes too. It's almost rpgesque.

So ultimately, I love the gameplay, it's super fun, and as it stands right now, there is little reason to buy it on the PC vs just buying it on the console. However, I would definitely buy it, period. Whichever platform you get the Xbox controller is going to work really well.