Yeah, it would be easier, cheaper (to build and run), more interactive, more scalable, etc. as a video game. There’s a wonderful perversity about it - they’ve taken old, pre-digital simulation technology and used the latest digital technology to make it playable in new ways. But it’s been totally superseded by all the other digital technology that’s developed in the mean time as well (and which actually predates the networking tech that makes this possible). It’s like creating a robotic horse to ride around on city streets instead of a car…
Mostly I’ve read about them in books, but I have really vague memories of seeing something as a kid. I have some memory of a sub game that relied on mirrors rather than cameras. The cameras were definitely used for the old flight simulators, though:
