Interesting discussion! Well, sims are not REPLACING the real stuff, they are EXPANDING the hobby and safe a lot of money. Hopefully there is no doubt that one single avoided serious crash is already paying for the sim. What worries me is the title of this discussion. It is not a question at all whether sims make sense - this is someting anybody has to decide according to his own likings when he is willing to ignore the pros - sims are just one small product group with a lot of interesting features that, at the end, improve your skills, train your reaction and let you exercise aerobatics which cost a fortune if you use your real stuff and FAIL.

It is not the question which sim to use. Whether you prefer the advanced G2, Reflex or the more game oriented products or even rather old products as mentioned in the thread - this is a question of personal preference, hardware equipment and free budget.

The point is, they all really help! They show your mistakes and your improvements and they avoid collecting garbage from the field.

And THAT helps me keeping my money together for the real stuff. That the true argument for a sim nobody can ignore. I do sim support for years now and I never had ANY customer saying: "well, it works but it doesn't help a lot". Besides, it gets pilots into our hobby who did not dare to start with the real thing because they were afraid loosing there model in the first flight.