writes:

No, it is not.

Things like pushing a button can be learned in seconds and don't significantly
impact a simulation. Perhaps if these requirements existed in great profusion,
they would make a difference, but not when their number is limited.

The posters point was a simulator could be deemed realistic if a real
pilot could sit down and "fly" it.

Real pilots in real airplanes often look out the side windows and they
don't have to push any buttons to be able to do it.

You can set MSFS up that way, too, with things like TrackIR. You turn your
head, the image moves. Or you can do it the way I do it, with the twist axis
on the joy stick set to turn the view.

I will admit that flying patterns can be frustrating in MSFS because of the
limited view, but you can find workarounds. Sometimes I'll "turn my head"
(twist the joystick) to see where the runway is, then note some landmark on
the extended centerline, and when I reach that, I turn to final. That would
not be necessary in real life, but it's a very minor difference, something
that I'd instinctively discard if I had a full view out the windows.

The alternative is TrackIR, as I've said, but I haven't decided to spring for
that, yet, as the current set-up works well enough for VFR with the few
differences I've mentioned.

One thing that surprised me, when I actually first tried to navigate by
pilotage alone, is that it actually works in the sim. The terrain often
doesn't have much detail, but the developers (some of whom were pilots) put in
many of the details you see marked on sectionals. The roads don't religiously
follow their paths on the charts but they follow them closely enough to permit
navigation with them. It works well enough to be enjoyable.