It's worth noting that if you can pony up the asking price, Hori's Ace Combat flight stick (packaged with the game in a $130 limited edition) does offer a marked improvement in performance. The Dual Shock offers good enough rudder control with the shoulder buttons, but there's only so much precision the analog stick can offer as far as simulating the control yoke, and you have to hold down the L1 and R1 buttons carefully to maintain a particular throttle setting. The flight stick, on the other hand, provides very fine control over both the yoke and the throttle, aside from simply looking cool.