Welcome to part 2 of my now 2part series on whether or not consumer flight sims can make for good training aids in realworld flight training. In my first video on the subject, I had had a total of 1 hour in realworld flight, and I used FSX as my primary point of comparison. At this point, I am an instrumentrated private pilot. (I made this video while I was waiting for my PPL checkride.) I've also primarily switched to XPlane with Ortho4XP, and have an upgraded PC setup with dedicated controls and even VR to give sims the best chance at helping me with my training. In what ways are sims a good training aid, and in what ways are they just video games?

Apologies for the soft focus on me that starts about halfway through the video I only noticed that after editing and exporting, and I've got to move on to other things at this point, so no time to reshoot it. Luckily you don't have to look at my mug all that often after that point in the video :)

One thing I didn't mention that I wish I had was force feedback. Back in the day, I had a Logitech Wingman Force 3D joystick, and it went a long way in simulating those physical forces that you just don't get in a sim. (My stick broke, or I'd still use it.) Yes, you can feel the air pushing back on your control inputs in a small plane. No, you can't in an A320, but nobody's learning to fly in an A320. Small planes generally have their flight controls connected directly to the flight control surfaces through pushrods or cables, so you do feel a lot through the hands in a light aircraft.