i have never bought a flight sim before. the new one from m$ looks cool. so i start looking at what you need controller wise, and sheese that is a deep rabbit hole..

stuff like this, priced around 1k



then you have stuff like this:



then there is stuff like this (hard to believe this guy this in his home)

so... where do you start with this stuff???

Saitek or logitec is where i am going. I think saitek is owned by logitec

https://www.mypilotstore.com/mypilotstore/brand/Saitek_by_Logitech?qryrmv=1&ppcs=google&ppcg=6-13&keyword=saitek&gclid=CjwKCAjw4rf6BRAvEiwAn2Q76kNO8y3uMYYU36cMSTcVH-3dFoQ6iVIkQl2tZe_ltljIqSlGmWs_yRoC9l4QAvD_BwE

Start with this



The Pre-order this:

https://www8.hp.com/us/en/vr/reverb-g2-vr-headset.html

Then start thinking about HOTAS.....

if you start looking into saitek its confusing. logitec bought them a while back. there are complaints about no support for saitek devices from logitech and availability seems spotty.

the question is where do you start with hardware. and yes i saw the HP VR headset thats coming out and that simply adds more questions. getting into this stuff is not cheap, unlike just about every other pc/xbox/playstation entertainment setup. and the amount you can spend (and folks actually spend) in the many tens of thousands of dollars.

Lots of options.

First decide whether you want a joystick or a yoke (or both, lol). If you plan to play combat sims you may want to go with a joystick setup.

I have the ThrustMaster T16000M Flight Pack (joystick, throttle, and rudder pedals) and have been pretty happy with it. The TM Warthog setup you have pictured in the OP is made by the same company and that setup is a level higher in quality, but price as well. TM also makes a Hotas One which is bottom tier pricing, but most reviews pointed to not having enough buttons and the quality felt much cheaper than the T16000M.

For yokes there are a ton of options. You have Logitech/Saitek, CH products, Honeycomb and others that get pricier. I've seen lots of great reviews for the Honeycomb Alpha Yoke and once their Bravo Throttle Quadrant comes out I might pick those up.

One you can find in stock. A few weeks ago they were pretty limited. May have changed now however.
I have a staitek controller with a split throttle system from back before they were bought by Logitech. Just as usb entered the deal. Still works fine. It is very old and windows 10 recognizes it right off. The newer ones no idea, I've heard complaints however.

Pretty much everything is clear out of stock and even old used hardware is marked up for 4x retail price on ebay due to MSFS popularity. The best hardware that you you (and everyone else on the planet) wants is this: https://flyhoneycomb.com/collections/honeycomb-flight-sim-hardware. Good luck trying to get one though, unless you are willing to wait several months or pay a quadruple markup on ebay to scalpers. If you don't want to shell out that much dough, the next best option would be the logitech G Pro flight yolk once they come back in stock: https://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Pro-Flight-Yoke-System/dp/B07QXMTNPB/. If you want a joystick instead, get the Thrustmaster T.16000 set, it's the best around and what I currently use.

What about the rudder pedals? Is there something on those yokes to facilitate rudder control?

LoL, my sim hardware is worth 3 times that. easy :P

You can do a search for PXN 2119II Flight Simulator Game Joystick if you want a more inexpensive "made in China" controller set , or the Logitech G X52 Flight Control System for a bit more.

You either turn on automatic rudder in the game or get a set of rudder pedals. I prefer having rudder pedals for better flying performance plus having toe brakes. Currently I'm using a Thrustmaster rudder setup:
https://www.thrustmaster.com/en_US/products/tflight-rudder-pedals

I'm using an Xbox One controller.

I’m not up to date on the latest models, but you should be able to get a decent HOTAS + pedals setup for not all that much money. That’s probably the best place to start until you decide to go full sim-rig.

I spent a lot of hours on IL2 back in the day.

ETA do people still use TrackIR? Seems pretty primitive compared to what VR can do these days but back then it was the be all-end all for serious simmers.

I have a set of CH Products controllers. Even had CH Products stick grips in my RV8.