Why Flight Sim?

Everyone has their own reason for choosing a particular type of game. Be it Rpg, Action, platform or simulation games. Simulation games are very popular because they usually offer a different dimension to fantassy and are quite often a lot closer to the real thing than other types of games. That is to say, when you turn the aircraft, it responds in a realistic way, proportional to the movement of the real thing. Not so for first person shooter games for instance. They tend to be rather more artificial particularly when walking or turning.
The thrill of driving a car through streets that are geographically correct to the place they are portraying has a particular fascination for many. The same with flight simulators. Most up to date flight sims offer real time weather, accurate airports, vectors, headings ect as if you were really about to leave your airport and fly to real location. Complete tasks, navigate from one end of the country to the other or just simply free fly to your hearts content.
My personal favorite has to be Microsoft Flight Simulator X Its a great all round flight sim. The graphics are really quite impressive, once you have upped the settings. I particularly like the water effects on the ocean when they are cranked up to maximum.
You get a good range of aircraft as standard but if you add one of the expansion packs, the sky is the limit... so to speak. Online game play via Gamespy in my experience can be a little hit and miss at times, finding your connection dropping out from time to time
Anyone who has not tried a good simulation game should at least give it a try, they become very adictive, very quickly. I would like to hear from other simulation fans to find out their views.
Paul Dix