Why do you play Microsoft Flight Simulator ?

[in2tech 588]

When I was flying Radio Controlled aircraft, I had gone in a hobby shop and they had a simulator program to help you fly with the RC box. Went home and thought I searched for it but it brought up a link to the demo of FSX, and I flew it for awhile. So it was a mistake, a few hours later I was at Best Buy buying boxed version of FSX, the basic one, next day found out there was a Gold Edition, went and bought it too. What really got me going was virtual airlines. Been in flight simulation ever since. Only reason I would like for them to have a demo, but pretty sure they won't these days. If on Steam ever, you can buy it and see if your system can handle it as long as it's within 2 hours I think! Or as people have said they could do an Xbox Game Pass for 1 month to see, which is better!

Got into flight simulation by mistake 🙂

[Superdelphinus 718]

Two main reasons I think:

- deep human sense of exploration (I think this is why I am most interested in the new sim, because the graphical fidelity means that it will actually feel like exploring and travelling to real places)

- an interest/ love of structure and systems and working through patterns logically to achieve a result. I am often most interested in the take off and landing bits of flying, and less on the rest of it - I find cruising incredibly boring and pointless in a game.

i have lapsed over the last few years because I have a young child and my job has become much more demanding, which in conjunction means that I find it more difficult to spend a lot of free time on something so objectively pointless and solitary.

 

[SierraHotel 982]

Reality Is For People Who Can't Handle Simulation!

[Jude Bradley 659]

Having a medical condition that would not allow me to get a licence, altough I have had a gliding lesson and a 30 minute flight in a 172. Always had toy aeroplanes as a kid and model Airfix kits even now.

[vesalius 153]

Because I have no social life...

Oh and because I will never forget the first time I saw a Sabena B747 on final approach to runway 25R at the Zaventem Brussel Nationaal luchthaven early eighties...

;)

[BerndB 349]

I think i´am one of these people who are fascinated by the re(al)plication of real things. It started when i was a child with plastic models because i loved those realistic painted pictures of the boxes which carried my mind into fantasy being a fighter pilot running with my build model of an F14 or F18 across my room for dogfights. I can still remember, in the mid eighties when we got our first ever personell computers in the office, there was one of the first MSFS installed as a part of Windows 2.0. Some years later around 1992 we had in our office an Pentium 90 PC with an 20" Monitor😲 as CAD Machine and in the evening i´ve played WingCommander and Doom on this powermachine. Some gave me a copy on 3.5" disk of the FS 5.0 but i didn´t know where to find sense in it unless i got a book about the SIM where everything was explained from scratch like Aerodynamics, weather, navigation, VOR, ADF and all this stuff. And that was the trigger when it caught my mind.

From there on i got every update until FS2004 and always found immersion in front of my PC. The fascination of commercial aircraft got me more and more and because of my job i´ve had 3 to 4 flights with Lufthansa a week thru Europe for many years. My interest for everything related to commercial aviation grew more and more. One highlight for me was, when my Company builded the new A380 production site in Hamburg for Airbus and i went in and out at these "halls of fame". At that point i decided that i need an A320 homecockpit and started to build my first one. (Sadly Airbus Hamburg had none spare one to offer😪)

When people ask why i do not spent my money on a PPL license instead of so much for my simulation, the answer is, well, because "flying" ist only 30 % of the interest. But the whole system of the modern airliner, with those many coloured screens, lighted buttons, the complex procedures and safety rules, navigation, programming,  ATC, etc. etc. and the supporting surroundings at the airport and all that stuff is what makes it so interesting an complex. And with a PPL Licence i even can´t afford my own A320.😥    (Maybe some day)😄

Edited November 28, 2019 by BerndB

[BerndB 349]

And another question comes to my mind......where are the girls??? 🤔

Why it is again most a men´s domain, like model build, toy-railway, rc-flying etc.  

[mwilk 1,106]

[aleex 551]

I’ve been playing flight sim games since 8 years old or so. And I’ve been enjoying every new gen of sims since then. It’s some kind of relaxing for me. 

But lately, as gaming evolves, I notice the lack of detail on default scenery too much. 

Hopefully this new one will let me enjoy sim again.  

[G-RFRY 1,712]

At the moment it`s play flight simulator or call of duty.  

[carbonbasedlifeform 179]

To explore the world at low altitudes. (You tend to need OrbX for this in FSX so FS2020 will be great). Trying to get through the Rocky Mountains shows you its scale.

[Christopher Low 5,353]

2 hours ago, aleex said:

I’ve been playing flight sim games since 8 years old or so. And I’ve been enjoying every new gen of sims since then. It’s some kind of relaxing for me. 

But lately, as gaming evolves, I notice the lack of detail on default scenery too much. 

Hopefully this new one will let me enjoy sim again.  

Default terrain scenery in Microsoft Flight Simulator and P3D has disappointed me since the release of FS5 in 1993. It's why I concentrated almost exclusively on Flight Unlimited 2 and 3 between 1997 and 2008.

[Baptista 49]

Encouraged by a sponsor, amateur and also pilot. Amateur radio I was able to follow, but flying due to low financial resources, I chose to buy a British Sinclair ZX81.
At this time was the first version subLOGIC released a version for the TRS-80. Living and working on a farm, this was one of the great wishes cultivated and admired to the present day. Fortunately, my wife, my children and grandson understand share this with me.

[NAVPI 34]

9 hours ago, Baptista said:

I chose to buy a British Sinclair ZX81.

Thanks for the sweet nostalgia. You reminded me of my first flight sim on a Sinclair ZX Spectrum: PSION Flight Simulation.

To this day, flying for my fifth airline, I wonder why I keep enjoying PC flight simulation. I suspect it is a mix of relaxation, escapism, sand box environment, nostalgia, AND the community of aviation fanatics involved in all aspects of flight sims.

I started to sim long before my airline career began, and I suspect I will be simming long after it ends.

One thing is certain, I cannot remember ever being so enthusiastic about the release of a new flight simulation platform as I am for MSFS. The foundations that Asobo and Microsoft are laying herald the dawn of a new era for this noble hobby, nothing less.

[David Vega 348]

For that moment when I'm on an real-life airliner as a passenger and a flight attendant comes around asking if anyone knows how to fly this plane.  😉

Started using it back in 1983 to learn the instrument for my flight training.  Unfortunately I got addicted and still simulate flights with it often.