In terms of aircraft selection, the Google flight simulator leaves much to be desired, as it only allows you to choose between two planes: an F16 fighter jet and an SR22 propeller airplane. This selection definitely pales in comparison to the hundreds of aircraft options in commercial simulators such as the Pro Flight Simulator. Pro Flight even lets you fly several helicopter and glider models, in addition to over a hundred different types of plane.

In terms of selecting your starting position, the Google simulator gives you three options: First is to start in your current view of Google Earth, which means that you are automatically in the air. The second option is to choose from 27 available airports. Third, you can start from the point where you ended your previous session. In contrast, the Pro Flight simulator lets you choose from over 20,000 airports located in any country all over the world.

All in all, the Google flight simulator is a relatively simple tool as compared to its commercial counterparts. What makes it stand out is the experience you get of flying over real pictures of your chosen locations. While the pictures and graphics may be far from perfect, they are definitely as visually good as those of commercial simulators. In fact, the Google flight simulator even presents real objects better than most commercial flight simulation software in the market.