Why Does It?

Flight Simulation on a PC. It's come along light-years since the Microprose days. There you go, you now know my vintage. I'm a Microsoft Flight Simulator user, on the PC platform. There is NO OTHER WAY to enjoy this hobby. Xbox and PlayStation - that's for kids, real SIMpilots use a PC.

Why so? Because of the absolute plethora of scenery available to enhance the experience, because to a simpilot, that's what it is, an experience. If you're not simming for the immersion, the experience, the feeling of actually being in charge or an aircraft, following the procedures, then you're not simming you're playing a game.

The aircraft models are so sophisticated today you MUST follow procedures or you won't even get engine start, let alone be able to take off. There's also the community aspect of simming. Those of us who use the PC format - and to be fair I guess the gamers have their community - we fly online on group mode. I don't often fly solo, usually as part of a group and several times weekly. My community, Seagulls Incorporated , fly together for fun. We help each other learn and enjoy the camaraderie. I don't know about the gamers but for us, that's the way to go about flight simming.

Now, there are two Microsoft Flight Simulators, the now very mature and fully functional MSFS or Flight Simulator 2020 to use just two of the names. Then there's the abortive attempt by Microsoft/Asobo to capitalise on the gamer market with MSFS 2024. It's a dog, unstable, incapable of displaying scenery properly and heavy on memory.

For me and my group, it's 2020 all the way simply because it is stable, predictable, good at scenery display and model capacity. Memory is no longer an issue and despite the Microsoft/Asobo inability or unwillingness to address issues like the ATC AI still delivers an experience superior to the so-called newer version, MSFS2024 which has been released now for 12 months and still can't cut any mustard. If you really want to experience flight simming and learn about aviation, then I recommend you give our group a look-see.