Abandonware vehicle simulation games

Vehicle simulation games put the player right in the pilot’s seat, for an immersive and realistic game experience. Vehicles can be cars, airplanes, spaceships, or tanks. Simulation is often based on details in order to augment realism, like full-features dashboards, controls, gauges, and indicators.

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Babylon 5: I've Found Her

Windows XP/98/952003freeware space simulation, space combat

Released in 2003 for Windows XP, Babylon 5: I've Found Her is the kind of fan-made game that makes you question whether it’s actually fan-made or secretly a pilot for a new sci-fi show. You pilot sleek Starfuries in this spa...

Battlecruiser 3000AD

DOSWindows XP/98/951996 space exploration, space simulation, space combat

Battlecruiser 3000AD (1996) is less a game and more a test of faith. Ambitious beyond reason, it promised total control of a massive starship—crew management, planetary landings, space combat, trading, exploration… ba...

Battlehawks 1942

DOS1988 flight simulation

Welcome to the skies of World War II, where dogfights are fast, fuel is low, and you probably forgot to raise your landing gear. Battlehawks 1942 (1988) is a flight sim with just enough realism to make you sweat and just enough ar...

Blue Angels: Formation Flight Simulation

DOS1989 flight simulation

Ever wondered what it’s like to fly inches from another jet’s tail while defying both gravity and common sense? Blue Angels: Formation Flight Simulation (1989, DOS) tries to capture the precision of elite aerobatics wi...

Blue Max: Aces of the Great War

DOS1990protected flight simulation

Forget missiles—Blue Max: Aces of the Great War takes you back to when air combat meant leather helmets, canvas wings, and a healthy fear of gravity. Released in 1990 for DOS, it’s a flight sim that drops you into WWI&...

Buzz Aldrin's Race into Space

DOS1993 board game, realistic space simulation, space simulation

Finally, a game where you don’t blast aliens—you launch real people into space, with all the white-knuckled tension of 1960s NASA. Buzz Aldrin’s Race into Space is a strategy sim with rocket science and Cold War ...

Carrier command

DOS1989 naval simulation

Part RTS, part simulation, Carrier Command was ahead of its time in the same way that an aircraft carrier is ahead of a canoe. You control a futuristic warship, launch aircraft and amphibious units, and fight over tiny islands tha...

Chuck Yeager's Air Combat

DOS1991 flight simulation

Chuck Yeager's Air Combat is a combat flight simulation video game released in 1991 by Electronic Arts. The game is named after and endorsed by the real-life aviation legend, Chuck Yeager, who was the first pilot to break the soun...

Comanche: Maximum overkill

DOS1992 helicopter simulation, flight simulation

If you ever wanted to fly a helicopter that looks like it belongs in a Michael Bay fever dream, Comanche: Maximum Overkill (1992, DOS) is for you. This voxel-powered beast puts you in the cockpit of the RAH-66 Comanche, blasting e...

Conqueror

DOS1990 tank simulation

Conqueror is what happens when a tank simulator and an arcade game go on a date and forget their purpose. You drive a tank in a pseudo-3D landscape, blow up stuff, and command squads like a battlefield conductor with no baton. It&...

Cybercon III

DOS1992 first-person action-adventure

Cybercon III drops you into a cyberpunk nightmare of claustrophobic corridors, hostile robots, and oppressive AI control. You’ll navigate a massive 3D complex, solving puzzles and blasting enemies as you work to dismantle th...

Dark Horizons Lore: Invasion

Windows XP/98/95DOSLinux2004freeware first-person shooter, mech simulation

Jumping forward to 2004, Dark Horizons Lore: Invasion ditches swords and sorcery for giant mechs stomping across futuristic battlefields. It’s a squad-based online multiplayer experience, heavily inspired by the MechWarrior ...

Das Boot: German U-Boat Simulation

DOS1990protected submarine simulation

If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to sit in a metal tube underwater while depth charges rain from above, Das Boot: German U-Boat Simulation has you covered. Released in 1990, it’s slow, methodical, and deepl...

Dawn Patrol

DOS1994 flight simulation

Take to the skies in Dawn Patrol (1994), a flight sim that remembers when aerial combat meant fabric wings and machine guns bolted onto wooden planes. Set in World War I, it’s less about speed and more about finesse—do...

Deep space: Operation Copernicus

DOS1986 space combat, space simulation

In this 1986 DOS game, you're piloting a spacecraft in the year 2123, defending the United Planets from the Andromedan Hegemony. It's like being the captain of a starship, but with fewer crew members and more pixelated enemies. En...

Descent: FreeSpace - The Great War

Windows XP/98/951998protected space simulation, space combat

In 1998, Descent: FreeSpace – The Great War decided the world needed fewer corridors and more cosmic dogfights. Instead of bumping into walls like a drunken astronaut, you’re now a fighter pilot in a galaxy-wide war ag...

Destroyer

DOS1986 naval simulation

Dive Bomber

DOS1989 flight simulation

Dive Bomber (1989) is a game that delivers exactly what it promises: you dive, you bomb, and you try not to crash into the ground in the process. The graphics are about as simple as you’d expect from the era, but they get th...

Dogfight: 80 Years of Aerial Warfare

DOS1993 flight simulation

With a title like Dogfight: 80 Years of Aerial Warfare, you know you’re in for a serious history lesson disguised as a game. Released in 1993, this DOS flight sim spans decades of airborne combat, letting you pilot everythin...

Dragon Strike

DOS1990protected board game

Released in 1990, Dragon Strike dared to combine the wonder of Dungeons & Dragons with the thrill of first-person flight simulation. Yes, instead of piloting jets, you piloted dragons—fire-breathing, wing-flapping, fanta...

EF 2000

DOS1995 flight simulation

Elite

DOS1987freeware space exploration, space combat, space simulation

Elite Plus

DOS1991 space exploration, space combat, space simulation

Elite Plus is an enhanced version of the classic space trading and combat simulator Elite, released by MicroPlay in 1991 for MS-DOS. It was designed as an update to the original 1984 game, improving graphics, performance, and over...