Flight simulator x simulator
Speaking of those flight models, Microsoft tweaked some of them a bit since the beta and, while I’ve never been in the cockpit of a 787, the single-engine Cessnas that I’ve flown still behave like I would expect them to in the sim (though I find the rudder is still pretty twitchy and needs some tweaking). Again, that’s something we’ll probably see more of in future updates. Microsoft has partnered with FlightAware to show real-life flights in the game, which depart and land on time, but somehow there are no liveries for them (except for the occasional stray United plane, which hints that we’ll see more of these over time) and only a limited set of models. I also just wish that the controllers would call airlines by their real names.
#Flight simulator x simulator update#
That feels like something that could be easily improved in the next update because, maybe even more so than the occasional graphics hiccup, it breaks the immersion for those looking for a simulator experience. I’m pretty sure I’ve done more go-arounds in three days with the final version of Flight Simulator than during the entire training for my pilot’s license. This was a problem during the alpha and beta, and it still is, which is really a shame, but what we have now just doesn’t feel very realistic.Īir traffic controllers don’t use standard phraseology (no real-life controller will ever tell you that he will contact you next when you leave his airspace, for example), don’t hand you off from tower to departure and constantly tell everybody to go around. This was always an area where Microsoft (and to be fair, all of its competitors) struggled. One area where I really hoped Microsoft would have improved the game, though, is air traffic control. Early on, I got hung up on this, but after a while, I realized that it doesn’t take away from enjoying the game - but it’s something to be aware of. Because a lot of this data is streamed from the Azure cloud and the team will continue to tweak its algorithms, I also expect that we’ll see fewer and fewer of these issues over time. I’m okay with that because even when there are mistakes, the cities and towns still usually look better than in any paid add-on for other flight simulators. The way I look at this is that Flight Simulator is still a work in progress, and that hasn’t changed in the final release. That means you’ll find bridges that look more like dams, roads that go under water and a few misplaced buildings and trees - there are so many trees where they don’t belong. I had hoped that the team would fix more of these between the beta and final release, but I haven’t seen a lot of changes here. Rest assured, though, especially if this is your first outing in Flight Simulator, with the base version you can still land at the same 36,000 airports as the others, and there are more than enough planes to keep you occupied - you’ll just miss out on a few extras (and if you really want to, you can buy upgrades to the more premium versions later).īut since Microsoft and Asobo Studios decided to almost build a digital twin of our planet in Flight Simulator - and because the only way to do that is to use machine learning instead of placing every object by hand - you’ll still find plenty of oddness in the world, too. You can find the details of which airports and planes are included in each version here. If you want access to more planes and hand-crafted airports, you will need to buy either the $89.99 deluxe version or, for even more of those, the $119.99 premium version. Pricing starts at $59.99 for the standard version of Flight Simulator on both the Microsoft Store and Steam. The good news is, the new Microsoft Flight Simulator was worth the wait and, starting August 18, you’ll be able to see for yourself. When the company announced it would re-launch the franchise just over a year ago, using a new graphics engine and satellite data from Bing Maps, it sure created a lot of hype among both old fans and those who had never played the older version but were drawn to the next-gen graphics the company showed off in its trailer. It’s been 14 years since the launch of Flight Simulator X, which long seemed like it would be the final release in the long-running series.