Oscar wrote:

To re-phrase: are FS2004, SFSPC, etc just games to be enjoyed or are they
valid teaching tools? Is there any place for simulators in the learning
process? Does anybody here use sims regularly (say over the winter
month) as
a substitute for real gliding?

One more pictu
http://bauerj.fw.hu/SOTS/eddigiek_12_01.jpg
It was done from all igc files what we did in sots. We know Minden
quite well from sots. It was funny to see the face of a pilot flown
there, when after a fairly long discussion about the Minden mountains,
it turned out that I wasn't there at all.
Nowadays we fly on Sion scenery. That is also seems to be realistic.

/Jancsika