The Microsoft Flight Simulator team has released the National Championship Air Races as a free expansion for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024. It arrives with Sim Update 7 and adds both the Reno and Roswell venues, four pylon racing categories and a STOL drag event. A separate paid aircraft pack, Racer Pack 1, adds 40 racing aircraft. Both were announced on the official Flight Simulator website.
The expansion lets pilots fly alone in Time Trials mode, organise their own multiplayer races or join established ones. According to the team, the racetracks were built from thousands of reference photos and measurements, and the cockpits and other elements of each racer were 3D scanned to match the real aircraft as closely as possible. Realism levels include simulated wear and tear, where engines degrade depending on pilot input. Pilots cannot run flat out for the whole race and must manage the throttle to keep speed up without damaging the engine.
The National Championship Air Races is a closed-course pylon racing event. It is long associated with Reno, Nevada, and the expansion also includes a venue at Roswell, New Mexico. According to Microsoft, racers fly between about 50 and 250 feet above the ground at speeds often above 500 miles per hour, with results measured to the thousandth of a second.
The Unlimited class allows any piston-engined, propeller-driven aircraft, and is dominated by heavily modified P-51 Mustangs. The Jet class is for non-afterburning, straight-wing jets, typically military trainers such as the Aero L-39 Albatros. The T-6 class is limited to the North American T-6 Texan and its direct variants, and the Biplane class features small types such as the Pitts Special. The STOL drag event is run on a 2,000-foot course. Two pilots go head to head, taking off, landing, turning around and doing it all again within strict time and location limits.
Racer Pack 1 contains 10 named aircraft in each of the four pylon classes. Examples include the Mustangs “Strega” and “Voodoo” in Unlimited and the L-39C “American Spirit” in the Jet class. The T-6 class includes the SNJ-4 “Big Red”, and the Pitts S-1S “Miss Diane” is among the biplanes. The aircraft can also be bought individually or as class packs of 10.
The expansion is free with Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024. Racer Pack 1 costs $39.99 USD, or around €35, and is available through the in-sim Marketplace. Microsoft says members of the development team will attend the 2027 Air Races. More details are on the official Microsoft Flight Simulator page.
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