The Microsoft Flight Simulator Team has finally done it, a release date and release details for their long awaited new flight simulator has been announced. From the start, the entire flightsim community has been looking forward to its aircraft, its airports and pretty much everything else.
Release details
MSFS2020 will release on August 18th. Pre-orders for Windows 10 and XBox Game Pass holders is already available
The brand new simulator will release as three versions, each being more expensive than the previous, but also having more content. More expensive versions have more aircraft and hand-made airports. A full list of what version includes what aircraft and airports can be found just below the version list.
Standard Version: This is the most basic version of the game. It will retail at $59.99 and include 20 different airplanes and 30 airports.
Deluxe Edition: This version of the game will retail for $89.99 and includes 5 more aircraft and 5 more international airports. Amsterdam, Cairo, Capetown, Chicago O’hare and Madrid Barajas are handcrafted to extensive detail in this version. You will also get some very iconic GA aircraft, like the Diamond DA40 and Cessnas 152 and 172 Skyhawk.
Premium Deluxe Edition: If you really want to go all-in, this version is for you. Retailing at $119.99, it includes 5 more major international airports and 5 aircraft. Denver, Dubai, Frankfurt, Heathrow and San Fransisco are among the world’s biggest airports. With the Premium Deluxe Edition, all of these are modelled in great detail. The Boeing 787-10 is also included in this version, among other aircraft.
You will still be able to fly to all the same airports in the Standard version of the game as in the Premium Deluxe one, but just at less detail as was explained in the development videos.
You can pre-order the simulator here.
Features
Many features have been talked about in the development updates, but a concise list has been released as well in the blog post.
- Vivid and Detailed Landscapesย โ Immerse yourself in the vast and beautiful world that is our planet withย more thanย 1.5 billion buildings, 2 trillion trees, mountains, roads, rivers and more.ย
- Aย Living World โย Earth is vibrant and ever-changing and so is the world ofย Microsoft Flight Simulatorย which includes liveย traffic, real-timeย weatherย and animals.ย ย ย
- Highly Detailedย Aircraftย โ Hone your pilot skills in a variety of aircraft from light planes to commercial jets with comprehensive flight models.ย Every aircraft includes highly detailed and accurate cockpits with realistic instrumentation.ย ย A list of all the aircraft included with the different game versions can be found below.
- New Checklist System โย From pro to beginner, scale your level from full manual to full assist with interactive and highlighted instrument guidance and checklist.ย
- Dynamicย Weatherย โ 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.ย
- New Day & Night Engineโย Experience flight at any time of day or year allowing for night VFR, visual flight rules, navigation.ย
- Aerodynamic Modeling-ย Aย state-of-the-art physics engine with over 1,000 control surfaces per plane allows for a truly realistic experience.ย
Trailer
A pre-order launch trailer was also released on the XBox YouTube channel:
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