As someone who got a pilot's license because of flight simulator, I'm honestly shocked actually at how much the virtual experience can successfully scratch the

As someone who got a pilot's license because of flight simulator, I'm honestly shocked actually at how much the virtual experience can successfully scratch the itch of the real thing. Sure, there's a thrill that cannot be matched and despite a high-end VR set up at home, the graphics in real life are better, but there's a good amount of the joy I get from the real thing -- the technical challenge, the navigation, the brief escape of being immersed in this activity and not thinking about much else, etc. -- that nowadays you can very faithfully recreate in the sim. And, unlike real life, it is comparably 0 cost activity in terms of setup/price/time.