Some of you remember the “Man’s Best Friend” avatar release a while back. Well, there is a new version of that Gotfriends Avitar series along with two new GotFriends Avitar collections. Avitar people will be all around us, breathing life into our simulator experience. There are two free collections and one payware one.
- Avitar: Man’s Best Friend – free
- Avitar: Streamer – free
- Avitar: Valor – $4.99
The Avitar: Man’s Best Friend is a great title and self-explanatory. You get a collection of high-resolution, animated dogs and cats to add to your airplane and keep you company. We have had this feature before from GotFriends. Now, there is an updated version with more pets to choose from and popular breeds along with that.
Avitar: Streamer is a new collection. This one is unique in that GotFriends took head photographs of 6 popular Twitch MSFS streamers. A photo each from the front and both sides. They digitized them into a 3D model of each streamer’s face, added clothes, glasses, and hair to match, and poof, you have a digital version of your favorite streamer. Now, put them into the pilot or co-pilot seat, just as you did with the dogs. They ride with you while you fly or put them in the pilot’s seat. They, too, are animated, and their heads turn as if to listen along in the conversation on the radio.
Avitar: Valor is a new payware collection from GotFriends. As the logo for this product suggests, it brings six World War II characters to the simulator for you to put in the pilot or copilot seat. You can put them anywhere that allows a person to sit in the various airplanes in Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020 or 2024). These rugged pilots of the WWII days are complete with bomber jackets, oxygen masks and leather helmets. The draw here is when you use them in your warbird flights, like the GotFriends Wildcat or the Corsair, the Spitfires or the BF-109s that you can fly in the simulator. We can add these fictional WWII pilots into the cockpits so our screenshots don’t have empty seats. Now, they look similar to real photos. The airplanes and scenery already look photo-ready, but those empty seats really told the story. Now, we have a more realistic experience.
Keep in mind that these Avitars fit into your favorite plane as long as the Asobo model will let them fit. There is a disclaimer on the GotFriends website that explains how this works. Any place in the plane that allows a person to sit should fit. But there may be times when their arm sits outside the wall of the airplane. These “attachment points” are not modified by these Avitar add-ons, and the aircraft manufacturers maintain the arm/leg animations. It all about testing and see if they fit. GotFriends suggests contacting the aircraft manufacturer (in the sim) and notifying them that their aircraft is not “Asobo Character Ready”.
To configure them, you can stay in your plane and just use the General, Misc menu to instantly choose a pilot and co-pilot. But if you want to fill the seats in the back, you need to be out to the main menu where you can configure the extra seats in the weight and balance screen before you hit the Fly button.
This is just the start for GotFriends and their plan for more Avitars. They have figured it out, especially with digitizing anyone’s face, then adding clothing and accessories to match. Famous people can be made in a collection, historical pilots over the history of aviation, and the list goes on. I can see them bringing out a whole bunch of collections that simmers will buy on release. You can purchase GotFriends: Avitar for $4.99 and the other two collections are free from the GotFriends website.
