With more than 23,000 flight simulation enthusiasts from all over the world participating, this year’s Navigraph FlightSim Community Survey has finally concluded, and the results are in. 2024 was a great year for flight simulation, and statistics speak for themselves, so we are going to go over the most relevant data that the survey has showcased.
More & Longer Flights
To start off, an upward trend in engagement can be seen on the Session/Hours Heatmap of the survey. The data reveals that, compared to last year, users who reported flying more than 10 sessions per week increased from 11.6% to 13%.
Individual sessions of 10 or more hours also increased from 3.3% to 5%, indicating a greater number of long haul flights. In general, most users lie in the range of 2 to 5 sessions per week, each lasting between 2 and 4 hours.
Microsoft Flight Simulator Remains the Favourite
Contrary to what some people might have expected, the release of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 has not immediately absorbed all the flight simmers who used Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020. Although there is a decrease in MSFS 2020 users compared to last year’s survey, there is an increase in the newest simulator, MSFS 2024, which shows the slow transition that is taking place from MSFS 2020 to MSFS 2024.
The portion of users who use a simulator that is not MSFS is small, but still present, especially in X-Plane 11 and 12. Contrary to the slow transition between MSFS 2020 and 2024, Laminar Research’s X-Plane 12 has been widely preferred by its users more than the previous release, X-Plane 11. Other options are still being chosen, such as GeoFS and Lockheed Martin Prepar3D, finalizing the list.
Airliners Continue to Lead the List
The survey concludes a considerable preference for narrow-body airliners, showing an increase from 72.5% to 75.7%. Although wide-bodies are not the public’s favourite, they made the most significant increase in preference, from 60% to 67.2%. On the other side, general aviation aircraft saw a slight drop, while interest in vintage and future-era aircraft slowly continues to rise.
In Microsoft Flight Simulator, the Fenix A320 family is by far the favourite, leading the list with an impressive 55.7%, followed by the PMDG 737 series, with a 46.6%, and the 777 series, showing a preference of 34.3%. The iniBuilds A350 is also widely chosen, considering the time it has been in the market, with a remarkable 26.1% adoption. In X-Plane, the free-to-fly Zibo Mod 737-800X continues its lead with a 42.6% adoption.
Real World AI Traffic Statistics
The implementation of real-world AI traffic continues to be a highly valued feature among the participants, given that 56.6% of users cited it as essential for immersion and 44.1% for enhanced ATC simulation. FSLTL emerged as the most used AI traffic tool with a 44.4%. On the other hand, users who are not interested in real-world traffic remain low.
Air Traffic Control & AI
In terms of air traffic control, VATSIM is still the leader of the pack, with 42.4% of users having used it during the past year. However, AI alternatives are gaining popularity, as BeyondATC captured 24.9% of users in its first year, highlighting the growing interest in accessible, on-demand ATC experiences without the need for live controllers like VATSIM, IVAO, or PilotEdge offer.
Best Flight Simulation Product Releases
The Fenix rendition of the workhorse A319/A320/A321-family of aircraft has been voted as the best in the past 12 months, with about 18% of respondents choosing it. Not too far behind Fenix, the PMDG 777-300ER/F possesses 15% of the votes. Finally, the iniBuilds A350 was the favorite pick of 13% of all the participants.
In terms of future releases, respondents picked the Bluebird Simulations 757/767 and the PMDG 747 as their favourites, with 24% and 20% of the votes, respectively. Surprisingly, the third spot is not being occupied by an aircraft, as 14% of all respondents are looking forward to MSFS 2024 stability improvements.
Closing Notes & Conclusions
Before finalizing, we would like to take a moment to thank you, because we, FSNews, have been ranked as the 3rd most-visited news outlet in the flight simulation community. Although we are 5th in the full list, when filtering for sites that focus strictly on news, we are number 3. This is a huge achievement for us, and we would like to thank you for choosing us as your trusted source of flight simulation news.
Navigraph thanks everyone who participated in the Navigraph FlightSim Community Survey 2024, as this data is highly valued to help guide developers, content creators, and platforms in building the future of flight simulation. The original post containing the survey can be found here. If you are interested in reading past surveys, you can do it here. If you would like to read more flight simulation news, do not hesitate to check out our main page.
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