It's the Pirates!/Wind Waker/Sea of Thieves system

Silly,... it's like asking if this game has real fly fishing (chortle) ....

Its wonderful to sail the long ship if the wind is against you just use 1 W and that implements the oars. The Karve is also good.

The longship handles very much like a canoe with one person in it paddling/steering from the back. The sailing is okay and better than most games, but not what I would call realistic.

It's about as realistic as i think we're gonna get in a game to be honest.
The standard wind stuff is in it and as another commenter pointed out it can take some getting used to, but if you know basic sailing you can easily overcome it.

A lot of people seem to forget things like tides, rips and currents when asking these questions and i've never seen that in any game unfortunately. That's the kinda stuff i'd personally like to see, on top of the standard of wind that is. A whole lot more to sailing than just the wind.

Originally posted by Cian:

The sailing is so-so. You go faster with wind behind you, have to paddle with sails down to go forward if you need to go against the wind (although there aren't any actual paddles, you just magically paddle the boat while sitting at the rudder). You can tack back and forth, but paddling speed straight against the wind seems to go faster. There's a boss power that makes the wind always behind you. There doesn't actually seem to be wind speed, just direction.

Wind speed does change. You can also control it with dev commands. It has a rating from 0 to 1. With 1 being full force wind. It is super fun to sail when the wind is howling.

the wind and weather are nuts at times, but the mechanics are pretty darn good.

Yes. and it takes a little getting used to. Not to mention when the sea gets rough it really bounces you around. My wife will get a little sea sick if she is playing then

In principle yes, you have to tac to sail into the wind, winds change and you sail at different speeds according to angles to the wind direction and wind speeds but dont get your hopes up thinking this is a hardcore sailing sim. The basics are there but its not realism. Sailing through lightning storms at night, cresting 40 ft waves is fun.

Originally posted by MYRIAD CARDS:

Like with point of sail (cant sail directly into the wind, different angles are different speeds, etc), dynamic wind (shifts in direction/speed as well as localized gusts and lulls)?

Yes to all the above except localized gusts.

Originally posted by Crasharr:

In principle yes, you have to tac to sail into the wind, winds change and you sail at different speeds according to angles to the wind direction and wind speeds but dont get your hopes up thinking this is a hardcore sailing sim. The basics are there but its not realism. Sailing through lightning storms at night, cresting 40 ft waves is fun.

Less of a chance to style on people with my skills is a shame, but at least its better than those islandhopping games where all you have are ""sail""boats.

Ill probably get this then.

The sailing is so-so. You go faster with wind behind you, have to paddle with sails down to go forward if you need to go against the wind (although there aren't any actual paddles, you just magically paddle the boat while sitting at the rudder). You can tack back and forth, but paddling speed straight against the wind seems to go faster. There's a boss power that makes the wind always behind you. There doesn't actually seem to be wind speed, just direction.