Whenever I am playing/talking about Simulators I forever get the question, Why are you playing a simulator? People tend to just think 'Why don't you just do the real thing?', so here are some reasons why I play simulators, some of you may relate to these.
1 - Cannot do it in real life
I play Euro Truck Simulator & American Truck Simulator on my steering wheel at home but I could not do this in real life for two big reasons I do not have a license & I do not have enough money for a license and even if I did I wouldn't really want to and then I'd have to get a job in trucking. Having a Logitech G27 while playing the game gives realism to it anyway and you can also play the game online with the Multiplayer mod, so being able to play it with friends is a massive bonus.
In the Steam sale, I decided to purchase Flight Simulator X Steam Edition with a friend, it has by the looks of it an active multiplayer and a nice set of aeroplanes, I have flown a plane in real life once, but it is expensive and you cannot have the fun you can on a simulator.
2 - Being able to do whatever you want
Can you imagine in real life just getting in a truck and going 100MPH without a trailer on? Well you can on Euro Truck, it allows you to have more fun and test out the physics, on something like Flight Simulator X you can also have fun in planes such as Fighter Jets and go do things such as Loops, for a start you wouldn't even be allowed to fly a fighter jet in real life lets alone do a loop in one!
Some simulators are not so much one game but many, Table Top Simulator is some official games with loads of add-ons by the community, this means you've basically got unlimited games. The reason I really like the game is the fact if you cannot get together as a group for any reason, could be busy but have time for a game or two or could live miles away from each other you can always jump on this game and play a couple of games of Uno, Monopoly, etc. You can also make it a tad more realistic if you use Virtual Reality, then you would really feel like you were with your mates playing these games.
3 - They're normally cheap
Simulators appear to be normally quite cheap, for the number of hours you can play them they're well worth the money. In the sale Euro Truck Simulator 2 is under £5 and Flight Simulator X is under £10, I've played Euro Truck for well over 300 hours, I also purchased it a while back for around £6 and I have purchased most of the DLC which shows how worth the money it was, other games like Grand Theft Auto you're looking well above £30-£40 for a game I would play the same amount!
4 - Realism
The point of Simulators are that they're close to the real life equivalent, even though some games differ from this (to allow you to have more of a laugh) such as Surgeon Simulator but it still has a resemblance to a Simulator. But if you go for a game such as Train Simulator/Flight Simulator you normally get a high level of realism, within the train ones you have to click all the right buttons at the right time and collect the people from the right stations, this is the same as a bus simulator called OMSI which you can customise almost every Bus and Bus Route.
Conclusion
Although Simulators may not be for everyone, I enjoy them. They allow you to do things you wouldn't be able to do in real life. They also allow you to try things that you shouldn't do in real life and allow you to play with friends as a handful of them are multiplayer, I enjoy them even if others don't and for the money I find some of them worth it. I'm not a Train Simulator kind of person but I could sink hours into something like Euro Truck Simulator.
What's your thoughts on Simulators?
Thanks for reading, remember to Resteem!
Image 1 (Euro Truck Simulator 2) - https://eurotrucksimulator2.com/images/fb_image
Image 2 (Logitech G27) - http://www.openwheeler.co.uk/images/logitech-g27-racing-wheel-review
Image 3 (Flight Simulator X) - https://www.surclaro.com/modules/Media_Gallery/gallery/Screenshots/FSX/fsx_2010-02-15_18-47-14-78
Image 4 (Table Top Simulator) - http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/286160/header?t=1498241277
Image 5 (Steam Sale) - https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--v1U_xbph--/c_scale,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800/1292679969757989035
Image 6 (Train Simulator) - https://i.ytimg.com/vi/2oDfb9trCN0/maxresdefault