In the real world, let’s say I’m south of the airport heading north and ATC instructs me to enter left downwind for runway 9. That means I should continue heading north, fly over the middle of the airport between 500 ft to 1000 ft above traffic pattern altitude, fly 2 miles past the airport (still heading north), then do either a teardrop entry or L entry to the left downwind leg (descend to traffic pattern altitude before entering the left downwind leg). But in the simulator, approaching the airport from the south, sometimes ATC will say “enter left base for runway 9.” I’m pretty sure the simulator really wants me to enter right base instead. Why, because the only way to enter left base is to first do what I described above and enter left downwind in order to get to left base. Plus, before I even get real close to the airport, the simulator will say “cleared to land runway 9” way before I have a chance to fly over the airport, which tells me the simulator really meant to say “enter right base.” It is annoying because I don’t know for sure what the simulator intended.
One of the problems with ATC in the sim, is its basically using one set of rules, where in the real world, each nation uses its own set of rules and phraseology, while most are based on ICAO standards, there are some variations within each countries airspace.
An example is between US and Canadian airspace, while the standard pattern is left (sometimes right), in the US (FAA) pattern (circuit) entry is usually a 45 degree entry into the downwind, where as in Canada ATC can clear you to enter at any point in the circuit (while uncontrolled you have to enter over the field at a 90, directly on the downwind.
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