New Day & Night Engine – Experience flight at any time of day or year allowing for night VFR, visual flight rules, navigation.Aerodynamic Modeling – A state-of-the-art physics engine with over 1,000 control surfaces per plane allows for a truly realistic experience.Īerodynamic Modeling – A state-of-the-art physics engine with over 1,000 control surfaces per plane allows for a truly realistic experience.
New Checklist System – From pro to beginner, scale your level from full manual to full assist with interactive and highlighted instrument guidance and checklist.ĭynamic Weather – The new weather engine enables users to switch on the live weather mode to experience real-time weather including accurate wind speed and direction, temperature, humidity, rain and more. Every aircraft includes highly detailed and accurate cockpits with realistic instrumentation. Highly Detailed Aircraft – Hone your pilot skills in a variety of aircraft from light planes to commercial jets with comprehensive flight models.
Vivid and Detailed Landscapes – Immerse yourself in the vast and beautiful world that is our planet with more than 37 thousand airports, 1.5 billion buildings, 2 trillion trees, mountains, roads, rivers and more.Ī Living World – Earth is vibrant and ever-changing and so is the world of Microsoft Flight Simulator which includes live traffic, real-time weather and animals. 'And people talked about it in the hallways, but it was always, 'What are we going to add? What do we have to say? You know, can we actually make a meaningful step forward?'' 'Why did we take so long to come back? Honestly, I've been at Microsoft for a good long time, and the desire to make another flight sim was truly always there. 'After Flight Simulator X, frankly, I think we just got more and more focused on Xbox and essentially just divested the team at the time,' Microsoft's head of Flight Simulator, Jorg Neumann, told The Verge.
In addition to Asobo, Microsoft has also employed the help from third-party companies such as airports and weather data providers in order to have live information available to users. In Flight Simulator, Asobo's technology is digitising 196.9 million square miles of land, man-made landmarks and open sea area. Microsoft has also teamed up with Asobo Studio, which is the firm behind Fuel – the 2009 open-world racing game that awarded a Guinness Book world record for having the 'largest playable area in a console game.' The system has harnessed the power of machine learning, pulled satellite data from Bing Maps and uses Azure cloud system to make sure every landmark is exact, every skyscraper in its exact place and everything is displayed into frame in 4K.
'Your fleet of planes and detailed airports from whatever edition you choose are all available on launch day as well as access to the ongoing content updates that will continually evolve and expand the flight simulation platform,' Microsoft wrote in a blog post. The last version of the simulation was launched in 2014 – but now Microsoft has redesigned the game with the latest technology. 'Enjoy flying day or night and face realistic, challenging weather conditions.įirst released in 1982, the game has provided wannabe pilots with a realistic training system that lets them explore the world without having to leave their couch. Create your flight plan and fly anywhere on the planet.' 'From light planes to wide-body jets, fly highly detailed and stunning aircraft in an incredibly realistic world. 'Microsoft Flight Simulator is the next generation of one of the most beloved simulation franchises,' Xbox shared on its website.
It's not just the world that will be detailed, according to the firm the aircraft - from light planes to commercial jets - will be highly detailed with accurate cockpits and realistic instrumentation.
The latest version of the 38 year old software includes 37 thousand airports, 1.5 billion buildings and two trillion trees, mountains, roads and rivers.Īccording to Microsoft it will include live traffic, real time weather and moving animals to reflect the fact Earth is a 'living world'. In addition to Asobo, Microsoft has also employed the help from third-party companies such as airports and weather data providers in order to have live information available to users - allowing them to know when the sky is clear so they can get a good look at the pyramids