[Unit520]

Slightly off-topic, but still anecdotal how far CGI has come, I recently showed my dad who hasn't played any video games for at least 20 years this [0] video of the current MS Flight Simulator. It is produced in a documentary style, so there are no real cues to it being a game. After watching it together, my dad said: "Yeah that's a nice documentary about this difficult airport, but I thought you wanted to show me that new game?". You can imagine his face when I told him that we've in fact watched just that.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtAF1I_H01w

[geoduck14]

With respect to your dad, how did he explain the shots outside of the airplane? Did he interpret that as a helicopter flying around the airplanes with a video camera?

Also, I'd like to point out that Microsoft has skillfully choosen scenes that are "easy" to create: airplanes with smooth shapes, buildings from long distances and low detail, landscapes that don't include movement (no grass moving in the wind or waves lapping on the shore). MS set them selves up for success here.

[Unit520]

He most likely just didn't pay enough close attention or thought about it I guess.

And I agree that MS set themselves up for success with this type of scenery, it is fascinating how well the end result looks overall.