Kr7 :
>heh, I actually don't even LIKE flight sims... lol. I'm doing it solely for learning purpose. If I wasn't trying to get a PPL I probably would never touch MSFS...
Hmm. Have you taken an intro flight yet?
What is your motivation for getting a ppl? Is it primarily to enjoy flying, or do you plan to just use it for transportation?
The reason that I ask, is that I enjoy flight sims for many of the same reasons that I enjoy real flying.
#1 - flying is primarily a great mental exercise, requiring thinking skills that sometimes little margin for errors It's great practice to fly a x-ctry and exercise your navigation skills.
#2 - the view ! Being up in the air and moving is quite unnatural and is always a thrill for me. A sim is not the same thing of course, but the MSFS
scenery engine is so good that a few hours of "flying", through the rockies, or over the eiffel tower, or the Toronto skyline is great fun.
#3 - the flying - aside from an erobatic plane, I find that landing a real plane, controlling your flight path, airspeed, rate of descent, and flying to a rwy, flaring and touching down to be great fun. Part of the the thrill is controlling the machine, but the primary enjoyment comes from the control of *flight* itself. The sim is nowhere near as thrilling as the real thing, but I still find it great fun to do touch and go's with it.
Re: coments about trimming / not being able to experience trim :
My joystick has a spring that returns it to center. While not quite the same thing as the real control forces you experience in trimming, I find that the spring, in combination with observing the reaction of the aircraft/horizon to be a similar experience.
Kr, if you don't have a joystick or yoke then you will be missing a big part of the trimming experience for sure.
Mike