This game was my life for so long. It's actually what got me so in love with the Tomcat to start with (from about 1991), then came the buying books etc. I actually watched Top Gun because I loved the Tomcat, not vice versa - and not until 1992 (I was 11, and was not previously allowed to watch 'propaganda' movies - mum's rule).
The highlight of all this was going on board the USS Ranger in January 1993, in my home town of Fremantle, Western Australia. It was soon after the Gulf War (and the Ranger's deployment there), and as a PR thing there was a VF-1 Tomcat completely out in the open, and you could touch it. I was caressing it for AGES while my dad talked to the driver who was there to speak to the public. My late father even lifted me up so I could put my arm down the Vulcan's hole.
It's true that tactile contact makes you MUCH closer to an already revered symbol/object.
It was a very special time, and at this time there was an Afterburner2, same as pictured above, in the town arcade. This is why DCS F-14 is such a momentous event for me.
Tell me you're not going to try and play DCS F-14 with this track playing:
:D