If you fancy yourself as the next Michael Schumacher, want to learn to fly an aeroplane or helicopter or get in touch with your inner Olympic snowboarder, simulation software can be a great starting point. It can open up a whole world of possibilities for wannabe race drivers, aircraft pilots and skiers, and lets you test your mettle in a variety of situations.

But just how realistic is simulation software, and how would the skills you've honed on a virtual racetrack fare if you got behind the wheel at Silverstone? Could you really fly an aeroplane or glider after mastering the controls in a flight-simulation package?

We put simulation software to the test with assessment from a panel of real-life experts to see just how close to the real thing your virtual experience can be.

Take pole position
Motor racing games titles for the PC such as TOCA, Colin McRae, F1 and Indy Car are hugely popular. Gone are the days of jumpy screens and unrealistic vehicle handling, as the top titles let you speed around recreations of real-life racetracks.

Games such as TOCA Race Driver 2 provide a selection of cars, which have been developed to behave in the same manner as their real-life equivalents would on a racetrack. Meanwhile, rally-driving games such as Colin McRae and Rallisport enable you to learn how to gracefully slide around corners on a loose surface.

Although the realism of motor-racing games has undeniably improved, games can't simulate the feedback of real racing. However, most of us would need to sport a neck brace if we accelerated and cornered hard in a Formula One car, so perhaps it's just as well.

Take a corner successfully in a game, and there's no feeling of what the car is really doing. Some arcade games provide physical feedback through steering wheel-style joystick controls, but the actual G-force you'd feel if you took a corner at high speed, matched with the grip from the tyres and subsequent movement of the car, are some of the vital ingredients missing from a simulator.

What a game will allow you to do, however, is to get better acquainted with the layout of a race circuit, which can be handy if you want to attend a race or track day. And there's no denying the fact that most motor racing games give us a taste of a hobby that most of us cannot afford.

For those who want to improve their skills, there are real-life tracks to memorise and racing lines to practise. Father and son grass-track racing team Jon and Andrew North use Colin McRae II, World Rally Masters and Need for Speed Underground to keep them entertained when they're not racing.

"The loose-surface sections in games such as Colin McRae and World Rally Masters provide similar racing conditions to grass-tracking," explained Jon.

"Andrew is only 14 years old and he's been brought up on these games. He started grass-tracking last year and was at the front of the pack in most races, so the games seem to have helped."

Look to the skies
Flight simulators are equally as popular as motor-racing games. Titles such as X-Plane, Flight Simulator, FlightGear and ASA On-Top are just a handful of the simulators available for the PC.

Some provide realistic views of cockpit controls and airports, which can help pilots get to grips with the controls of a particular plane or learn about the landing strips and layout of an airport. Many games have further add-ons available for download to recreate a flight over a specific area, for example.

Commercial pilot and instructor Iain Dawson, who also writes for Computeractive, has used all the aforementioned PC-based simulators. He's also used professional simulators of aircraft ranging from the Boeing 737 and Saab 340B, to the Beech Baron and Cessna 172. He uses software such as Flight Simulator 2004 to plan navigation.

"Because Flight Simulator 2004 delivers solid representations of airfield layouts and the lighting and signs pilots expect to find, Microsoft's simulator is an excellent way to explore an unfamiliar field before having to navigate around it for real," he said.

"Flight Simulator 2004 is also now good enough to allow unfamiliar-instrument approach procedures to be flown in the virtual world as a way to prepare for the real experience.

"Flying an instrument approach into a strange airfield, particularly if you're operating as a lone pilot, is very demanding even for experienced pilots with thousands of hours in their flight logs."

Iain's favourite flight simulator comes from Microsoft. He likes the realistic modelling of airfield layouts and instruments.

"Some of the most authentic scenery available uses photographs taken from satellites, and the underlying relief models over which this scenery is electronically draped are modelled at resolutions as fine as 10m, although 75m and 36m are more commonly found," he explained.

Study time
So can a flight simulator teach you how to fly? "There's no doubt that spending time using a quality flight simulator can contribute to a student pilot's progress, particularly for instrument flight, provided there's guidance," said Iain.

"In the US, students enrolled in a formal instrument flight course are able to log time spent flying certain FAA approved PC-based simulators, provided the time is spent under the watchful gaze of an instructor."

However, as Iain warned: "Flying an aeroplane requires a broad set of skills which encompasses flight planning, using weather services, interpreting the weather, understanding aircraft systems, emergency procedures and regulations and communicating effectively with Air Traffic Control."

Glider pilot John Macknay uses Microsoft Flight Simulator with software glider controls. He also uses the Soaring Flight Simulator, which he feels is less visually realistic but very good for gliding as it includes thermals and cross country simulation.

So can such software teach you to fly a glider? "No, not entirely," said John. "That said, during the process of learning to fly a full-size glider, a good simulator can save you time and therefore money in terms of practising the basics of flight control and understanding the principles.

"Once qualified, a simulator offers the opportunity to go flying at anytime, when our British weather is bad for instance, and indeed practise general techniques including cross-country tasks."

Other forms of flight simulators allow you take the controls of a helicopter. Super Huey is one such piece of software although, with a range of missions and weapons at your disposal, this is more of a game than a simulator, but it does give you a taste of flying.

A true helicopter simulator would be frustrating for a beginner because trying to control a real helicopter is extremely difficult, so a PC-based simulator has to be very forgiving.

Back on solid ground, train simulators are a favourite with locomotive fans. The popular Microsoft Train Simulator provides a variety of locomotives, rolling stock and tracks in countries ranging from England to Japan and new carriages and engines can be downloaded from the internet. Its tutorials are excellent for learning to drive a train.

Before Microsoft produced its Train Simulator, a simulation of the Settle-to-Carlisle railway was popular and is still available today on eBay. This software includes video footage of the line from a steam engine, teaches you how to use the train's controls and was praised for its realism by one of the drivers on the line.

Get kitted out
Simulators are a useful aid in learning to use a machine such as a racing car, train or aeroplane. However, the simulation market also tries to cater for a variety of extreme sports such as snowboarding, skiing and jet skiing.

Software for the PC such as Soul Ride II aims to provide realistic snowboarding conditions with 3D graphics and a variety of challenging slopes. But the experience of snowboarding, including balancing, falling over and jumping, is missing from such a game as without this you can't really learn to snowboard.

Additional equipment such as a PC-linked snowboard (see Simulation hardware below) can help in some cases. Larger and more expensive snowboard simulators in amusement arcades also give a more realistic experience.

The Xscape centre in Castleford, West Yorkshire is home to the UK's longest indoor real-snow slope and also has a large snowboard simulator to help guide you through jumps and summersaults.

"The snowboard simulator at Xscape is primarily a learning aid for young or novice snowboarders who have yet to experience the sport for real," explained snowboarding instructor, Richard Peters.

"It is a good insight into how to control your balance on a snowboard whilst travelling in a 360-degree axis both vertically and horizontally. The simulator can also be used as a training aid for more experienced riders who are looking for their first taste of freestyle action."

Gerard Pouget, Red Bull's Monaco jet-ski athlete, has used Jetski Riders on the PlayStation for relaxation but believes that simulators can be useful for learning tactics and strategies. However, as he explains: "Learning to be in balance on a jet ski, the sensation of the elements, the sea, the speed, the roaring jet ski" are some of the important aspects that cannot be recreated in a simulator.

The arcade alternative
Arcade simulators in many cases are more realistic than their PC equivalents due to the complexity of the equipment available. As we've already mentioned, motor racing games can include physical feedback through the steering wheel and seat.

By tilting the seat forwards and backwards, for example, the feeling of braking and accelerating can be reproduced. Control of the steering wheel can help to demonstrate torque steer, where the delivery of power to the front wheels is so great. Loss of cornering control such as under-steer and over-steer can also be replicated.

Extreme sports such as jet and water skiing, snowboarding and skateboarding are all best replicated using arcade simulators. However, as BMX rider Alex Peacock commented: "The one thing these don't teach you is that when you fall off, it hurts."

In some sense, therefore, simulators can provide a false sense of security. While the element of reality is quickly realised when you try something for real, this is surely a concern for wannabe racing drivers who can achieve incredible lap times on a virtual track and think they are equally talented when it comes to driving a real car on the road.

It's fair to say that simulators in the form of arcade games and PC software are getting better and more realistic. Additional equipment such as a steering wheel and pedals can help to enhance the realism. Software developers are working hard to create real-life circuits, airfields and other environments, so the virtual world is certainly getting closer to reality.

Simulation hardware
Driving around Brands Hatch using the arrow keys on the keyboard requires a lot of imagination, but there is plenty of equipment available to help enhance the realism. Steering wheels, pedals and racing seats can all improve the feeling of racing. Manufacturers such as Logitech and Saitek produce steering wheels and pedals. Prices start from £20 from most suppliers.

A racing seat such as a high back bucket chair can be bought from most motor-sport suppliers such as Demon Tweeks. Expect to pay upwards of £75 for a high-back, figure hugging bucket seat, which can also be fitted to your car.

Snowboarding simulators can also be enhanced with a virtual snowboard. The Catapult costs $100 (about £56) from Slingshot and is connected to the computer so that left and right movements can be detected in a simulator such as Soul Ride II. A hand-held controller allows jumps and other tricks to be performed.

Online simulation
Playing games with other people over the internet has inevitably led to the development of multi-player simulators. Motor-racing games such as Rallisport Challenge and Colin McRae can be played over the internet with multiple players in a race. Most of these simulators claim to cope with a 56K modem but a faster broadband connection gives better results.

Microsoft Flight Simulator is popular online. Some fans have gone one step further and set up their own virtual airlines. Chris Chrzanowski has been running Delaware Virtual Airlines since 1997. He operates 765 daily flights on 92 aircraft to locations all over North and South America.

Virtual planes include the Cessna 414 and Boeing 767. Would-be pilots can fly Delaware aircraft and you can even buy virtual tickets to become a passenger. All you need is Microsoft Flight Simulator and an internet connection. Also try West Wind Virtual Airlines and Austrian Virtual Airlines.

Simulator development
So what goes into the development of a simulation program? We spoke to Codemasters, which produced the recently launched TOCA Race Driver 2. Some 40 people were involved in the development of the software over a period of 15 months.

Each racing car used in the simulator was researched with real-life tech specs, photos, concept designs and drawings directly from the manufacturers. Even paint samples were obtained to get the liveries and paint jobs exactly right.

"We also work with real-life German Touring Car Motorsport and F1 drivers who visit the studio during production of the game, play it, and offer feedback," said Matt White, chief games designer on TOCA Race Driver 2.

For the developers, it's not all hard work in front of a computer. In the interests of research, they've driven cars on circuits such as Catalunya, Donington Park and Rockingham. It's a hard life.