I used MSFS a lot for practising VFR navigation / dead reckoning skills, very helpful for that with how good the scenery is. Not sure I could achieve the same in XPlane
It's only photorealistic if you use 10-20m DEM, otherwise any mountainous area just feels completely off and unrecognizable (try to fly over Alps with the default DEM, I couldn't recognize anything around Oberstdorf etc.)
