Return of the king

Some 300 cities (such as New York and Las Vegas) also benefit from additional photogrammetry which uses low-level oblique aerial photos taken from various angles to construct a virtual 3D model of the city.

However, the biggest stumbling block to using high-resolution satellite images in flight sims until now has been disk space. The solution is to stream the data directly from cloud servers – allowing simmers to fly over any part of the world in incredible detail. On Microsoft’s cloud system, there are two petabytes of satellite data that cover the entire planet. (One petabyte is 1,000,000Gb). This obviously needs an always-on online connection for it to work properly but the sim can be run offline, in which case it reverts to FSX-style ‘autogen’ scenery.

However, this does not mean that the scenery is perfect and much amusement can be had by finding glitches in the terrain and rendering, including a giant tower in Melbourne, roads that go vertical and buildings that the AI renders as vegetation. In particular, the AI seems to have difficulty in recognising bridges, cranes, aerials and vertical objects – church steeples, for example, in the UK and northern Europe are missing.

These however are minor quibbles and make no mistake – MSFS is an absolutely jaw-droppingly beautiful piece of software, prompting a huge surge in PC hardware as people rush out to upgrade their computers and explore the world. One estimate that this could lead to $2.6bn in PC hardware and peripherals.

2. Weather is now scary

See the world with MS Flight simulator! From top: Flying over Dubai, Egypt’s Pyramids, New York city and Uluru in Australia.

If terrain looks amazing – the lighting and weather system is phenomenal – with atmospheric scattering and 3D volumetric clouds that make the landscape change with the weather. Breaking through thick overcast into bright sunlight and seeing towering canyons of cloud around you produces a ‘wow’ moment similar to the real experience. What’s more in that there are no sudden transitions from fog to clear skies – everything is natural. Hit the right conditions and rainbows will appear.

This means the weather now demands your utmost respect as a virtual pilot – especially in light aircraft. In MSFS even the hint of dark clouds on the horizon becomes a cause for concern – especially if you are flying in a small aeroplane with ‘live weather’ drawn from real-world weather stations. Can you fly through? Go round? Divert? Venture into storms and you can enter a world of hurt. The aircraft shakes, the airframe creaks and icing can obscure your vision and build up on your wings. MSFS becomes a valuable interactive lesson in the dangers of scud-running.

Even in clear conditions, fly too close to mountains and updrafts and downdrafts can catch you – and the developers have now modelled the air mass reacting with mountains, terrain and even buildings. There are also subtle visual cues on the strength of wind. Waves and whitecaps at sea give an indication on speed and direction. For hands-on, seat-of-the-pants flying in a small aircraft, windy and stormy conditions constitute a real challenge.

You can, of course, set whatever weather you like, and part of the fun of this for many is playing ‘weather God’ and creating the perfect conditions for screenshots.

One or two minor points remain. Ground fog or CAT III conditions seem difficult to achieve in the custom settings – a visibility slider to set the exact distance would be welcome, although low visibility seems to work fine when using live weather. Oddly, despite the amazing cloudscapes, high-level cirrus clouds also seem to be missing.

3. Improved FMs ​

Perhaps the weakest part of Microsoft’s previous FSX vs its X-Plane rival was in the flight modelling. Previous legacy editions of the sim featured look-up tables that meant that, as long as the virtual pilot kept within the centre of the flight envelope, a convincing recreation of published performance figures could be simulated. However, this started to break down where stalls, spins and unusual attitudes at the edge or even beyond the envelope occurred. It was left for third party developers to improve and produce more aerobatic aircraft and realistic flight modelling.

In MSFS, this has now been rectified and aircraft are now split up into 1,000 surfaces – each reacting with airflow, air pressure and temperature separately. This approach of ‘blade element theory’ allows wings to stall and rudders to be blanked from airflow. The result is that aircraft now demonstrate highly convincing dynamic and fluid manoeuvres in a much wider envelope. Stalls and spins are now possible and aerobatics a joy to fly and experience.

On larger aircraft, such as the business jets and airliners, however, this is more of a work in progress. Some seem overpowered and have a disinclination to lose speed, even with the throttle in idle. The glass cockpits, autopilot and FMS systems that are included in many of the aircraft are extremely useful but do not have the deep systems modelling of some payware add-ons – and some functions seem to be missing.

More cities are likely to get the photogrammetry treatment as Bing maps and data sources get updates. Top left: Portsmouth’s harbour, rendered using this method. Premiership champions, Liverpool FC’s Anfield Stadium and Cherynobl use AI and autogen but the effect is still convincing.

4. Regular updates to look forward to​

Another way in which this differs from previous versions is that it is a living, evolving product. Unlike previous boxed versions of the sim, the ‘always on’ broadband world we now live in means that MSFS can be constantly upgraded with regular updates, patches and improvements. In fact, it is designed this way. The navigation data from NavBlue for example, will be updated (in line with real-world flight data) every 28 days. The satellite and aerial photography via Bing maps will only get more accurate and higher resolution over time. The developers meanwhile, say that they plan to support MSFS and its massive and highly talented flightsim community too, is also expected to fill out missing landmarks, bridges, castles, extra aircraft etc. In short, we can look forward to years of support and this simulation getting even better.

Boeing 787 Dreamliner in the sim.

5. Integrated marketplace

For third-party developers too, MSFS represents the next level and a massive opportunity to put your airport, aircraft or utility in front of many more customers with an ‘in-game’ marketplace. Previously, the huge ecosystem of thousands of add-ons that MSFS required either the consumer to buy hard copies in the form of CDs or DVDs to install, or more recently digital downloads. However, installation could be tricky and keeping it up to date was often a chore. While more experienced users can still download and install from third parties, there is now an inbuilt marketplace that allows new simmers to quickly and easily browse and buy add-on content. Spotted your favourite airport or aircraft in the ingame shop? (Almost) one click and you can add it to your base game and never have to worry about extra add-on codes, passwords or keeping it up to date.

The in-game marketplace streamlines hunting for new add-ons and means keeping these up to date will be easy. Right: Animated airport ground vehicles and marshallers can be seen going about their business at airfields.

6. Living world, multiplayer

This edition of MSFS also fills out the simulation to create a living breathing world, with AI aircraft, cars, ships, airport ground vehicles and even herds or flocks of animals to share your flights and find. Again, this is nothing new and third party add-ons in previous versions could enhance your simming experience by adding real-world airliners and their schedules. However, with MSFS this has been taken to new heights by pulling live ADS-B data into the sim to generate AI traffic in the world.

There is also multiplayer – which has expanded massively in the past 16 years. People now want to game, share and stream with their friends. It is no surprise that multiplayer mode is included, allowing people to fly with their friends. Of course, you can turn it completely off to fly solo, or there is a third setting that locks any human players in the world to use the same real-world time and live weather settings.

However, while players can fly formation, perform landing challenges and have virtual fly-ins together, one aspect of FSX that is still missing shared cockpits – allowing players to share the same aircraft.

Left: Aerobatics over Paris – imagine this in virtual reality! Right: Flying over a volcano in Japan.

7. Professional applications​

Although Microsoft has sold the licence for professional commercial usage of its previous sim, FSX to Lockheed Martin to develop into P3D, time on MSFS hours does not count towards flight training hours. It is not hard to foresee that real-world aviators and the aerospace industry could take advantage of this sim. This could include using it to brush up knowledge of VFR landmarks at a local flying club, licensing the Azure Cloud AI for another simulator, or using the amazing graphics to market airline livery designs or new aircraft concepts or renders of airports. The possibilities could be endless.

8. Potential to inspire wider audiences

One of the most exciting aspects of this latest incarnation is that it is causing jaws to drop of gamers and consumers who would normally steer well clear of anything marked PC ‘flight simulation’ in online stores. Media coverage has hit the mainstream and the sim is also set to be released on Xbox – potentially opening up thousands, if not millions, of young eyes to the beauty and magic of flight. There is already anecdotal evidence that children are being captivated by a ‘video game where you can fly over your own home’.

For an industry that, pre-Covid-19, has been struggling with a pilot shortage, this is a welcome shot in the arm that makes the flight deck office look like an incredible place to work.

9. Virtual reality is coming

MSFS has also been released at a very exciting time in that it is set to take advantage of the second generation of Virtual Reality (VR) devices, such as the HP Reverb G2, that will be released this autumn. These feature a higher resolution than the original Oculus devices and thus are even more suited to flight simulation where complex displays and instruments are present. In particular, the clouds, terrain, airports and cockpits of MSFS in virtual reality will take this already stunning simulator to breathtaking levels. Flight simulation fans already have been eager adopters of VR for sims such as DCS World, IL-2 and X-Plane but, so far, VR has been missing a ‘killer app’ that rewards the cost and bulkiness of headsets. However, judging by the response to MSFS already, this well could be the software product that sends VR sales through the roof.

10. A taste of the freedom of flight

Finally, there is also the fact that MSFS comes at a time when much of the world is restricted from travel, especially internationally. Holidays have been on hold and people have been yearning for a taste of the freedom of flight that is now denied. Indeed, whether it is jumping in a Piper Cub to fly around a local area, or staring out of the window of an airliner on your way to your holidays, both experiences tap into the freedom to travel and escape that flight provides. MSFS then, does not replace actual travel but for millions of us it does remind us of what we are missing.

In summary then, MSFS (or FS2020) is a landmark for PC flight simulation and video games and something that is right at the start of a very exciting journey. In these dark times, it also has the ability to excite and create a wonder about flight that could well inspire a whole new generation into learning more about aerospace and aviation. The technology meanwhile, drawn from AI, satellite and aerial photos, also has other applications across aerospace and beyond.