Yup. See my previous post with link to the YouTube video of MSTS2 - based on the same core technologies of ESP / FS11. The MSTS2 team showcased other videos at the time (they may still be available on-line, I have not checked). A huge number of custom buildings along the routes were created. I do remember one comment by an indignant viewer that the rail-ties between the tracks of the German route were “wrong”, to which the lead PM at the time promptly uploaded a pic of the actual ties that showed that, in fact, they were modelled correctly. The team was very focused on creating accurate, detailed routes.
The detail shown in the video is now based on data that is 14 years old. Today’s imaging data is far more detailed, and the photogrammetry data ten years hence will, IMO, be even more accurate. For example: coastal communities planning for flooding due to global warming need high-resolution photographic & elevation data at the level of a meter or less. Mapping companies will create this data because of this global demand - at will happily license it to MS too (at a price, of course).
FS2020 users are just one type of consumer of the data Microsoft has (& licenses) in the cloud. Just as FS2020 users have custom data specific to a flightsim, so trainsim users would have custom data specific to a trainsim, rallysim data specific to a rallysim, etc. etc. These other consumers might use little - or no - flightsim-specific data in their games / apps.
FS2020 is just a game sitting on a globally distributed information platform hosted in the “cloud”. We are experiencing lots of bugs & glitches that need to be solved, but I see nothing stopping MS expanding the uses of this platform, providing that a compelling case can be made for return-on-investment.
Don’t think of this future as FS2020 plus trainsim or rallysim or some-other-thing, but Platform+FS2020, Platform+Trainsim, Platorm+Rallysim, Platform+some-other-thing. The platform is the heart here. FS2020 is just one of many potential revenue streams of the platform.
It’s not going to happen in the next month, or year. But five years? Seven? A definite possibility, IMO.
Jon
Edit: Also see this YouTube video if you are interested in the history of MSTS2.