What is this flight simulator

Look no further than the title… Microsoft "Flight Simulator"
Am I missing something?

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Exactly. This post serves no purpose since there is no universally accepted clear definitions of a game vs a simulator. Just enjoy it people…if you dont…move on.

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It s a lot more about mindset and how much we follow the real world rules than the weather being “totally the same as right now” or “seeing wing flex” or “not stalling how I think it should” or “adverse yaw seems absent on particular aircraft” or whatever. Any person playing flight sim and not learning and using real world rules and procedures are gamers.

Conversely, anyone treating even the most ‘unrealistic’ aircraft in the game properly (speeds, procedures, rules, etc) even using clear weather with no wind is actually simming because they are actually doing things properly as they would in a real aircraft.

For VFR flyers like myself, MSFS is by far the most amazing simulator yet because I can make real flight plans using real flight software and fly almost anywhere in visual flight rules and navigate properly. If that isn’t a great simulation then I’d like to know what is.

I guess if someone is more interested in simulating physics than actual flying then it isn’t a simulator at all. But then that means there are no simulators on the planet. They are all approximations with different strengths and weaknesses and most sims, including MSFS, are extremely usable by real pilots to practice many though not all skills.

It’s a Bird… It’s a Plane… It’s Superman!

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For me sometimes a Sim and sometimes a game… Depends on my mood.

When I have a free Saturday Morning I start planning out my flight the night before. I like old school flying by the compass and visual cues with real world weather I also dont mind using VOR beacons along the way. Anything but GPS which makes navigation too easy. Anyway my point is I have time to start cold at the gate etc. I love simulating all the detail if I have the time.

When I only have an hour I like to jump in the plane on the runway and get up in the air as quick as possible to do some sight seeing. Thats fun too but not as interesting.

I think if i could only do the quick flights I would have got bored of MFSF by now. I actually spend just as much time watching pilot instruction videos on youtube than I do on MSFS

My wife says if i spent as much time working around the house as learning how to be a simulated pilot we would have a palace.

Shes probably right !

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Same said my wife heh hahaha

Pretty much. You can fly a route using real world paper maps without any instrument navigation, No GPS, No VOR, nothing but your map on the desk beside you.

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I agree with IdealTiger78527 and do the same sort of flying depending on the time I have available.

Depending on the type of flight you fly it can be a game or a sim. If I fly on VATSIM then to me it becomes a simulator and increases the immersion level.

I just hope that the MS/Asobo do not lose sight of the simulator side and turn it into a game.

Whatever your feelings just enjoy the experience, after all if we didn’t enjoy the flying/experience we wouldn’t bother flying/playing on the simulator/game.

They are all games. And that’s okay.

You’re not a real pilot.

People getting in a mad hissy fit because they’re a big boy grown up desk pilot and people are ruining things by making it fun. Always been there.

I’ve seen the same in the sim racing community too. Playing videogames, but acting like they’re a real racing driver.

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How about defining what is a game and what is “serious”? MSFS is used in a variety of ways which defines exactly what it is:

  1. Entertainment
  2. Educational
  3. Hobby
  4. Skill acquisition or improvement for job or career
  5. Professional (creating content for sale)

Trying to put MSFS into a box like “game” or “serious simulator” ignores its fullness, richness, and beauty, even with the problems, fixes, and updates.

MSFS is like a canvas for an artist. We are the artist and our joysticks and yokes are our brushes painting a new creation with each flight.

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Why is it a game? Only because it is sold on gamepass instead declared some “professional training software” and being sold for 500$ in super-serious pilot training centers?

Hmm a strange definition :wink:

Or is it a game because the PMDG and Fenix and others don´t cost 200$ per airplane and don´t look like Nintendo64 graphics like other simulators handle their (literally insane) price tags - is it a game because of these definitions?

MS Flight Sim 20 was the most important innovation flight simming ever had :slight_smile: otherwise all DLC-planes would cost 200$ per purchase forever and would come with PlayStation 2 graphics quality forever… even in the year 2030 or 2050.

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It was about time to ask this question again!!1

That was an easy one to fix. When mine said she was too busy at a friends son’s birthday party to pick me up from the hospital, i divorced her.

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You think perhaps that the GTA flight model would be an improvement?

Don’t take this as a simulator. It’s just a game.

Exactly this. I have also never really understood the need to make a distinction, when it very well can be and is both. Me personally use the sim almost exclusively to fly the hi-fi airliners, but occasionally it is fun to take a break and do some fun flying in the Darkstar or now in Pelican.

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Purists have ruined this genre of GAME… No more.

A gameulator? Seriously. Play, sim. Do what you want with it I genuinely couldn’t care less as long as everyone enjoys what THEY do with it! It’s not spoiling my fun is it? :wink:

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If people don’t like this topic or whatever…no point in complaining.
There are forum tools to block individual topics.
Simple as that!
Everyone is entitled to an opinion.

it’s a gateway to Kiribati

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