Is this opinion on personal computer flight simulators too strict or is it actually true?

manpreet Best Answer 3 years ago

A couple of days ago I had a discussion with a commercial pilot and his opinion on personal computer flight simulators were a bit surprising to me.

He said that flight simulators, even with expensive payware aircraft are about as close to the real plane as Call of Duty to real warfare.

He said that most of the time the systems and the switches appear to look similar but key factors when operating those systems are missing, mainly because the manufacturer keeps those details more or less undisclosed. The developers don't even know what to simulate and it makes every single flight simulator just a simple game that bares a slight resemblance to reality but that's about it.

This surprised me to say the least, because I thought the well known, premium payware planes simulate the instruments and the systems very well and all the details regarding those systems are available in manuals that we can easily find online.

But I didn't really know that pilot well so I just accepted his answer, I didn't want to seem rude and try to debate him, but I'm very curious if he told the truth or he just tried to exaggerate. I'm especially skeptic about his comment on the undisclosed nature of flight systems.