Flight Simulator ( Microsoft )

By PETER ELEY

Most of us are unlikely to win a Formula One race, score the winning goal at a World Cup or travel to distant galaxies but video games open up a virtual world of experiences.

Microsoft Flight Simulator, blurs the line between game and training simulator to the extent that it is used to train people who really want to fly.

If you can master this game you feel a sense of achievement, and the experience of (almost) real flying is quite exhilarating.

Flight Simulator 2002 takes a giant step forward. It is much better looking, highly detailed with realistic representations of places as diverse as London and Lake Tahoe.

The ground has been mapped from satellite images. Landmarks such as Buckingham Palace, the White House, and even the Sky Tower, are recreated faithfully, while gaps are filled in with autogenerated scenery.

Most of the world's airports are there, including Auckland, and as you approach you need to follow air traffic control's instructions carefully.

This feature is excellent and adds enormously to the game's realism, despite the exclusively American voices.
There are new aircraft, too, notably the Boeing 747-400 jumbo jet, which drives like a bus once airborne but is perhaps the hardest to land safely.

Another newcomer is the Cessna Caravan Amphibian, which lands on water. It's a different technique to touching down on tarmac, so there's a detailed manual on floatplanes to help you.

The set of manuals is impressive, but note that they come in Acrobat pdf format and need to be printed out. There must be close on 1000 pages all up.

Flight Simulator 2002 comes in Standard and Professional versions, at $99 and $119.

* peter_eley@nzherald.co.nz