Microsoft flight Sim: low cost, high value: Flight Sim has graduated from gamer status to serious IFR trainer. It's a bargain at $29.99 but requires a high-end machine to run well.(Microsoft Flight Simulator )(Product/service evaluation)

Anyone with a computer has encountered the popular Microsoft Flight Simulator series--now up to the 2004 iteration--but few pilots have taken it seriously as an instrument trainer, including us. But that's a mistake, because MS Flight Sim has evolved to be more than a game and with the recent addition of instrument failures, it's a contender as a currency trainer. At $29.99 discounted, buyer's remorse is hardly a worry if you don't like it.

One caveat, however: When we tried to boot up Flight Simulator for the first time, video card warnings prompted us to spend some time…