Now technology is also taking off outside Paris this week as the French simulation show gets under way,
but it's not all fun and games for those getting behind the controls, as Jim Bittermann found out.
So, there they were, hundreds of perfectly serious adults getting their kicks out of
what at first blush might look like nothing more than sophisticated computer games, but at this show gaming gets real.
It's the fifth annual simulator exhibition at the Air and Space Museum outside Paris.
And while on one level these are games, on another, in order to be here, they have to have a purpose;
virtual reality with real application.
Alain Renier, for instance, was demonstrating a stripped-down version of a ship's bridge
used to teach future ship captains how to run everything from a supertanker to a tugboat.
Who knows how many petroleum barges could be saved from destruction by keeping unskilled hands off the tiller until they've had a little practice on a simulator?
Of course, the most familiar simulators are those used to train pilots.
And while virtual flying is a lot cheaper than real flying,
a former Air France captain says the real value is in safely learning to confront dangerous conditions.
It's extremely important because you can have a situation which is near the crash.
So, it gives the chance to sort of push the limits of the airplane?
Yeah.
But these days, simulators are not limited to just aviation.
Increasingly, they are being developed for training use just about everywhere.
French police say motorcycle drivers with simulator training have far fewer accidents and are,
in general, safer drivers than those who don't have it.
And diving instructors say it's much easier to reduce fear about descending into the depths
by first taking students into a swimming pool with a scuba diving simulator designed to recreate the sights and sounds of the open ocean.
But the more complex simulators aren't cheap.
Machines that come the closest to imitating flying, for example, can cost as much as a quarter of what operating a real aircraft might cost.
That's why there was much attention paid at this year's gathering to the less expensive but still very real simulators which have dual use.
At least part of this exposition is a conference called Serious Gaming,
intended to draw a distinction between things that might be used just for fun and simulators that could be used professionally.
And this chair represents a crossover, a kind of thing that's happening more and more --
a device that could be used for entertainment in the living room, but could also be used professionally to train pilots.
On the other hand, priced at around 8,000 each, it might take a special buyer who'd want one for home use,
but prices are coming down.
Our target price point within a year or two is about half of that,
at which point we're arriving at the price point that people will pay for a flat-screen TV or for a high-powered PC for their gaming.
Gaming that's becoming more and more serious as simulation gets closer to reality.