Hello!
First of all, leeoc welcom to the forum, and have fun!!
Maybe you get that from "The Sims" games, who need all versions to play the latest.
But in "Ship Simulator" that's not needed! You can buy the "Ship Simulator Extremes" and play it, you don't need the previous versions to play!
You can play with the joystick, also there is a console on the www.shipsim.com wich you can buy and sail with it as a great captain. You can find all info at the shipsim.
It's very intersting to play on that.
About Windows 7, the game should DEFINITLY WORK! This sistem is created for all of the new games, it has the best engine, also it's optimized for the games. All the new games should works perfectly on the Windows 7!
I'm playing it on the Windows 7, the ShipSim 2006 and the ShipSim2008, and it works perfectly.
I didn't have ANY, BUT ANY problem. It works just great, so you don't should be vorey about that question.
Kind regards.
Capt. Mitch