Soji Yamakawa, aka Captain YS, single-handedly created it as a university project in 1999. Who can really complain? This sim’s homespun history is its most incredible aspect. Yet it still offers a robust set of built-in features for just a few megabytes. The simulator’s basic design and less-than-impressive visuals cater to low-powered PCs. YSFlight sometimes feels like it hasn’t evolved much since its humble beginnings, but that’s not a bad thing. At most, the HD tileset matches the detail of the plane models. It’s still a browser-based game, so don’t expect excellent visuals. For 10 euro per year - roughly $12, depending on the conversion rate - you can subscribe to the HD tileset, which GeoFS pulls from Bing. A city below you looks much less like a collection of buildings and more like a wash of green and beige. Although the plane models are surprisingly detailed, the environments are ugly. Simply right-click on any plane and select a starting altitude, and you’ll instantly appear in the same location. Want to see where you’ll run into other players? GeoFS has a live map that tracks all pilots. That means the rain or sleet you experience mirrors what pilots currently endure in the real world.

The weather conditions also change based on real-time data from Open Weather Map. At any point, you can run into another player flying through the sky or a commercial airliner moving in real time. The free version supports massively multiplayer interaction. The simulator even includes a hot air balloon, a helicopter, and a paraglider - just don’t start in a paraglider from 30,000 feet in the air. If you aren’t successful in flying multi-engine planes, you can always switch to a more traditional propeller model. You can quickly customize the controls at any time, as well as pull up helpful instructions to aid your maiden voyage. Setting the throttle and taking off for the first time is remarkably simple. Like to game on the go? You can fly using your mobile device, too. You’ll likely never run out of places to see, as the sim includes more than 30,000 different runways. In this free PC game, you can take off and fly across the world in one of 20 aircraft using a joystick, mouse, or your best keyboard. If your internet service has a strict data cap or your PC simply doesn’t have enough space, GeoFS runs entirely in your browser.

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