I started simming with FS98. At that time I really just flew the Lear Jet and flew IFR for navigation. Help me out, correct me where Im wrong. When FS2000 came out and we got our first GPS I believe. At that point I know we had POI not sure about roads and rivers. So as best I can remember VFR was still not easy to do until FS2002. I know we had a better ground reference then. City areas could be seen, roads, rivers etc were there but shorelines and Lakes were still not accurately defined in great detail.  Dont think FSX was much of an improvement in the shorelines and lakes area.

As best I can remember Misty Fjord, Tongass and Glacier were some of the addons that started to provide better detail for better VFR flying. Didnt fly Xplane at the time so not sure about them. So really even with the release of FSX, VFR was still in need of a lot of help but VFR using the ground was doable. Orbx entered the field with a nice start at bringing detail into the mix with their regions but still it was only for a very few spots for many years. However, while flying in those areas one could finally use charts and really feel like they were seeing what they should be seeing when comparing for ground reference.

Guessing the real break through was when Orbx release Vector. Prior to that there was this addon CD Mesh for parts of the earth but still cant remember if they where just better mesh or also provided higher detail of shorelines, rivers, streams, lakes etc. However with Vector and Global Base, to me, this was when VFR was at a level of detail to where one could start to fly complete VFR using only a sectional or charts and no Navaids or GPS. Kinda wild to think the most basic form of navigation took so long to get into the sim and even then it was just at a basic starting point. With roads going over city landclasses that didnt look anything like real life. Xplane took a different approach and made the best effort to clean that up and it was a tie at that time as to what was most reflective of real world as they both had their strengths and weaknesses. 

The next big jump for me was AeroFlyFS2 give a real look at the earth but once again lacking a lot of other stuff and only covering 1 season and a very small part of the world. I know XPlane users were starting to install Ortho, I didnt but know it was and is a step up. Orbx has started release their True Earth series and finally we are getting POI, real world ground textures, proper AutoGen to a fair degree and it is possibly the best we currently have for VFR flying when it comes to visual navigation. My point is with MSFS we might finally reach a global beginning starting point of true VFR ground references for navigation and even that could be without seasons. Its crazy to think how much fantasy we simmers have used to overcome the shortcomings of VFR navigation but how once we get the next step up and look back its hard to think how easy it was to accept it. I'm really looking forward to finally being able to go anywhere in the world, look out the windscreen and see the world below in a way that best reflects what I would see in real life. Might even do way more flying just using only charts just for the fun of it.

No idea why this was moved from the Hangar Chat to the VR forum as it has absolutely nothing to do with VR.

5 hours ago, Ident said:

No idea why this was moved from the Hangar Chat to the VR forum as it has absolutely nothing to do with VR.

Some mod skimming the thread probably mistook VFR for VR.............

Before MSFS 2020 next year, I would just enjoy P3D and X-plane with Orbx for VFR purposes, works just fine.