When Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 launched last year, many core flight simulation fans welcomed the walkaround feature with a bit of trepidation, and to see why, we have to delve into a small history lesson.
The flight simulation industry is a bit of a special case in gaming. When Microsoft closed Aces Game Studio and temporarily shelved the Microsoft Flight Simulator franchise in 2009, it triggered a long period of stagnation.
While other developers released flight simulators, they did so with limited budgets and resources, content to cater to a small and gradually dwindling niche of core simmers who basically did nothing else than flying from A to B, drawing satisfaction from the precision of the simulation more than from innovative features that could break the routine.
It’s worth mentioning that DCS World is an exception, but since it’s limited to military and combat flight simulation, it tends to have its own separate trends and fanbase.
The civilian flight simulation side of things saw over a decade in which the developers of the flight simulators themselves delivered the narrowest possible products and then leaned on the ingenuity of third-party developers to expand them.
Most of the burden of innovation and the delivery of anything “extra” (including high-fidelity aircraft) was the realm of third-party developers.
This meant that the hobby could be sustained by first-party companies with limited resources who could focus on launching base sims that had a solid core of features, and that’s it. On the other hand, flight simulation became more and more inaccessible due to the requirement of many often blindingly expensive add-ons to reach the level of precision and realism required by its core users.
When Microsoft returned to flight simulation in August 2020, it broke that paradigm. Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 had plenty of extras, delivering a wide, fairly comprehensive package that could be enjoyed by quite advanced users with only a few add-ons.
This was amplified as the sim matured with the addition of a few rather high-fidelity aircraft within the default lineup.
Of course, third-party developers are still very much involved in improving and expanding the simulator, and the fact that their products aren’t as absolutely necessary as they used to be to have a usable sim (don’t get me wrong, they’re still very much good to have) is balanced out by the massive expansion of the userbase.
Then Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 came along, and setting aside the launch issues (although there’s plenty to say about these, but we’ve already consumed gallons of virtual ink on the topic), it doubled down on the approach started by MSFS 2020, bringing even more extras to the table.
One of these extras is the walkaround feature, which lets users perform an inspection of the aircraft before flying, while also enjoying a few interactive actions like removing protective gear and verifying possible wear and tear. Since you’re not really limited spatially, you can also leave the aircraft and simply explore on foot.
The issue is that many core simmers simply aren’t used to this. They have spent a decade flying from A to B, forced to consider pretty much everything else a waste of time and development resources. I’ve been there as well, and I’m not new to that train of thought.
Of course, the obvious objection is that the walkaround is very much part of a pilot’s duties, so there’s no reason to consider it as something alien to the core simulation, but old habits die hard.
Microsoft and Asobo didn’t exactly do themselves any favors by implementing the feature a bit haphazardly, mostly basing it on general aviation aircraft, with engine and probe covers requiring removal.
Unlike the walkaround inspection, removing covers and tags is definitely not something an airliner pilot has to do, and airliner enthusiasts are a big and powerful faction in flight simulation.
So, while many embraced the walkaround feature and enjoyed the freedom to explore the world outside of the cockpit and to see their aircraft from a different perspective, many saw it as superfluous and frivolous.
Enter Fenix Simulations and the “Big Fenix Update” to its Airbus A320 family, released a few weeks ago. Since history repeats itself, while Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 has plenty of innovation and “extra” features of its own, the ingenuity of a third-party developer still expanded on one of these features and showcased its true potential.
When you start up Fenix’s Airbus A320, A321, and A319 in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, you won’t have to remove any engine or pitot tube covers. You’ll find your airliner naked as it’s supposed to be, but with plenty of interactive features that airliner enthusiasts will actually enjoy
First of all, the good folks at Fenix managed to work around a limitation of the original feature that bothered many, yours truly included. By default, when you click on the entrance door of your airliner, you’ll be instantly teleported to the captain’s seat.
In Fenix’s implementation, you can walk up the stairs from the apron, open the doors (with the latches implemented realistically to reproduce the real function), and actually walk to the flight deck. If you so wish, you can turn right instead and explore the cabin.
The idea is so simple and almost obvious that you have to wonder why it wasn’t done by default to begin with, but apparently, the implementation isn’t obvious at all, since Fenix had to go through hoops to make it work. Some may consider it a small addition, but it’s awesome and very immersive.
Yet, that is not all. Down on the apron, there are plenty of interactive and functional elements that you can enjoy, starting with the GPU panel with its working features, lights, and buttons.
Moving up the side of the fuselage, you’ll find the cargo doors and the bulk cargo door with realistic latches and controls. Funnily, the awesomely detailed graphics of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 come in clutch here, because operating these doors isn’t entirely intuitive, and reading the instructions written on the aircraft itself certainly helps, like it does in the real world.
You’ll even find the manual opening controls of the landing gear doors, allowing you to expose the landing gear bay and inspect the beautifully detailed cables and pipes inside, although you will need to activate the hydraulic pump (as realism dictates) to close them again.
If you walk up to the engines, you can manually stop them from windmilling and spin the blades yourself in either direction, as one would do to inspect them for damage. Talk about going above and beyond to implement super-nerdy details.
Another rather amazing detail is the fully working fuel panel, which lets you refuel and even defuel the aircraft manually, exactly like the ground crew would do in a real airport.
Speaking of the ground crew, you’ll even find the functional switch for the maintenance bus on top of the forward galley’s ceiling, which allows the ground crew to activate those systems that are essential to operate all the goodies mentioned so far when the aircraft is cold and dark and connected to ground power.
Sure: I will admit that this isn’t part of the pilots’ direct duties, but most flight simmers who enjoy airliners are also airliner nerds, and this kind of feature absolutely pushes our nerd buttons in all the right ways.
Even more exciting is the fact that Fenix Simulations isn’t done, and they have mentioned that they will expand these features further.
Personally, I certainly hope that they will manage to let us stand up from the captain’s seat in flight and wander the cabin, since that’s limited to the ground for now. Even the most stoic pilot needs to go to the lavatory once in a while.
Unfortunately, I can intuitively guess the enormous complexity of such an implementation, but I have faith in Fenix. They have earned it over the past few years.
I also hope that other developers (including Microsoft and Asobo) will see the door wide open and will implement similar features on their own airliners, so that Fenix’s features could become closer to the norm than to the cutting edge.
Incidentally, Airport developers can also do their part. In the video attached to this article, you’ll see Adelaide by MK Studios. It’s one of the few that have fully walkable jetways reachable both from the apron and from the terminal, perfectly complementing Fenix’s implementation.
More of this, alongside consistency in including walkable stairs and floors that you won’t sink through, and accessible doors, would make the experience truly seamless and immersive.
Ultimately, Fenix Simulations and its Airbus A320 family have vindicated the walkaround feature in the eyes of many, including plenty of these core simmers who originally scoffed at it.
While the original implementation wasn’t perfect, the intuition behind it was and is indeed valid, and Fenix has proven its true potential beyond reasonable doubt.
This also shows what can be achieved when the burden of innovation and providing extra features is more evenly distributed between the first-party developers (in this case, Asobo and Microsoft) and third-party developers.
It’s delightful to finally live in an era in which the latter don’t have to do all the work anymore.
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is available for PC and Xbox Series X|S (although Fenix’s aircraft are available only on PC). If you’d like to learn more, you can check out our recent interview with Head of Microsoft Flight Simulator Jorg Neumann.
If you’d like to read more flight simulation news, you can find plenty in our latest roundup article from yesterday.
If you want to go further back, we have a handy overview video of the major flight simulation news in the past week. You can watch it below. As usual, leaving a like and a comment and subscribing to our growing YouTube channel is extremely helpful.
