[user_501238901]

Half the point is the delay of gratification. If you want to see the different islands of Hawaii, there will be some downtime while you're cruising. The tension starts building once you get closer and closer, until you finally get to see the absolutely epic view.

Comparing Google Earth vs Flight Sim is the same as watching 3D images of hiking trail end points vs actually walking through the trail.

[skybrian]

I guess, but in practice, wouldn't you speed up the simulation for the boring parts? Can't you put the plane wherever you want and start flying?