Holy smokes! What a great post, and a question to which I’ve somehow never really put much thought. 
I spent countless hours flying my first sim–Chuck Yeager’s Advanced Flight Trainer–and still have fond memories of learning basic maneuvers in the Cherokee, struggling to get the X-3 to fly even remotely in the direction I wanted, and wrangling an XPG-12 back and forth through the slalom course. But what I enjoyed most was exploring that sim’s simple “world” of “pyramid” mountains, “bread loaf” hills, and “farm field” squares. Centered within each of those fields was a single building, and I spent hours mapping their locations, giving them names, and creating background stories that brought the sim’s bitmapped world to life. Oh, what fun it was!
To this day, that’s what I love most about flight simulation: exploring the world from above. MSFS allows me to explore the real world, to learn about real places and the real people who live there, and to discover where history happened. There’s nothing more exciting than loading up my Tiger Moth, pointing the nose somewhere new, and asking, “what’s over there?”
The Hubby and I enjoy writing about our explorations, too. If you have a few hours to spare, grab a beverage and jump over to our Pee-Wee and Nag’s Skytours (and Other Thoughts) thread.
(Oh, and I still like strapping on a Phantom or T-Bird for some fast, nap-of-the-earth flying, too. Thank you, Mr. Lerner, wherever you are! 
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