Back in my days of youth, when sexist statements were normal banter, we had one about the physical appearance of a young woman with whom you might be considering spending the night. This was usually after consuming more than your normal limit of “adult beverages” and being shot down by your 1st, 2nd, and maybe 3rd bed candidate. So, you rolled in on the poor overweight and unattractive lass who was still available. It was about this time one of your buddies would say, “What will she look like in the morning?”


Well, it is the next morning for me with MSFS 2020. Its cuteness and sexual, to continue the metaphor, attractiveness has worn off. What is left (to my horror) in the morning is an underage child pretending to be a sim. To be fair to Microsoft and Asobo, they call MS2020 a game, not a simulator.


I find the aircraft handling and systems usage to be a joke. A $120 joke. I will admit what everyone knows, it is pretty game. The visuals are beautiful. However, if I want pretty scenery, I can use Google Earth or Bing to scope out parts of the world I haven’t visited. To be fair to Google Earth, its views are more accurate than MS2020’s.


I took a photo trip last month. Before doing any new trip, I fly the route with GE. This time I also did it with MS2020. A part of the route included driving Beartooth Highway in Montana and Wyoming. For those of you not familiar with Beartooth Highway, it is one of the most beautiful mountain drives in the US. Google was more accurate and useful for pre-planning photos than my flyby with MS2020.


So, while P3D doesn’t offer me the youthfulness and beauty of MS2020, she is faithful and knowledgeable to my ways. She has been good to me. I have gone back to her for real pretend flying.


She fits my needs. I am an inside the cockpit guy. Systems and handling are more important to me than looks and perfect terrain accuracy. I will keep an eye on the child-sim and check in on her for time to time to see the latest dress up scenery Asobo gives her. But for simulated flying that allows me to suspend my disbelief and pretend I am a young man again, P3D is and will remain my mistress.