RE: WHY ARE FLIGHT SIMS SO EXPENSIVE?
There may be only a small market, but even within that small market, a lower price point will potentially increase that market. I don't know by how much, but it's been proven that lower price brings in more customers. That's the reason why so many RC people are looking for good deals at their price point. If not, then why would we be bargain hunting. There is a reason why so many sites, such as hobbycity.com, bphobbies.com, nitroplanes.com, and other sites that carry the lower end, but good enough products, attract so many customers. The Phoenix simulator has a price point of $160, which is closer to the price point where I would consider buying a simulator, but still not close enough. And I'm sure many RC enthusiasts would fork out the money as soon as these simulators are priced at the level where they think it's worth their money. At around $200, that market will stay put at the current 1/8 of all members. Maybe at $120, the market grows to 1/2? Who knows, but it won't grow if price doesn't change. And if price didn't matter, then customers wouldn't be flocking to sales everytime retailers posted them. That's just the bottom line.