25 years I gave up my airline ambitions due to bad eyesight after obtaining both american an european CPLs and flight instructor certificates. During the lockdown I decided to give XPlane a try and now I'm hooked. I'm regulary shooting IFR approaches down to minimums in dense fog at night in mountainous terrains in modern jets. Add VATSIM or Pilot's Edge and the thing is as real as it gets. I'm now a more proficient pilot than I've ever been in real life. If I was based in the US, I'd try to make a business out of teaching people learn to fly on XPlane. It's crazy if you think about it. I believe you can train pilots up to airline standards using equipment costing no more than 5000 Dollars.