We’re all Living in a Simulation
While the civilian version of Flight Simulator focused on being able to go everywhere, and any time, and even use real-world weather from live weather stations, the combat versions focused on a specific time, and theater of operations. Specific battles were often recreated. Keeping the civilian and combat focused versions separate (and the combat from eras of air war decades in the past) was intentional, in part to keep the general aviation version away from guns and explosions.
In the 10+ years that I worked in the Aces Games Studio I spent most of my time focused on various versions of Flight Simulator, focused on recreating the entire globe, with over 24,000 airports, a 24-hour day/night cycle, and five different representations of the seasons (Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, and Snowy Winter). Our studio also produced other titles that I worked on, most notably Combat Flight Simulator and Train Simulator. While they shared similar branding, these titles were very different, especially in scope.
My first game shipped in the ACES studio was actually Combat Flight Simulator 1, where I ended up painting all of the terrain textures, which were very positively reviewed. That terrain system formed the basis for the next half dozen FS titles, and working with the engineering team to design that system over multiple versions was a terrific experience in balancing data and art to deliver something that not only looked good, but also was based in the real.
By the time the studio had taken the Train Simulator franchise internal (prior version was produced by a 3rd party studio) I was no longer directly involved in creating art, since by that time I was leading the creative team as the Studio Art Director. But the lessons learned over that decade, and the brand promise of excellence in the visuals can be seen in the artwork for Train Sim 2, which applied the same rigor of data driven art systems to create a gorgeous world to explore.