I think you are right on target.
Even with all of the investigating of flight's core files I have done, it is not, I believe, to be capable of being a competitor to FSX. Even a 1,000 DLCs later.
My tweaked FSX Hawaii, totally freeware except the mesh, is as much fun to fly, low and slow, as Flight is.
Unless I'm really hugging the deck, or sitting still watching Flight's trees sway(neat feature!), there really isn't a lot of visible difference between the two.
For me it's more about the challenges of flying rather than sightseeing anyway.
MS pricing is way out of whack, considering that thier P-51, for example, is nowhere near 1/4 as capable as a $30 A2A Spitfire is even without the Accusim treatment.
The Hawaiian Adventure Pack at $25 is miniscule(with the Vans RV-6A, though) in comparison to the FTX Australia SP4 with an MSRP of $99.95.
I've been trying to devote at least an hour a day to "Free Flight"(pun intended), but, there just isn't enough "area" to keep my interest.
PNW, CRM, NRM, PF, NZSI all afford large areas of detailed terrain. Aerosoft's Antartica X is another fine example of excellent scenery that will provide great flying.
Those are just the tip of the iceberg when we talk scenery enhancements. I'm talking hundreds of thousands of square miles of detailed terrain with good autogen and shorelines, enhancing the thousands of airports to visit. All available now.
I fear that MS Flight developers won't be able to compete on such a grand scale, know it, and not even try.
Future DLC may address the lack of Nav/Comm Radios, ATC, and ILS capable aircraft for those IFR only conditions, but, I'm already getting impatient...Don