During a panel at FlightSimExpo, Microsoft and Asobo provided new information about the future of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, while we also got a couple of releases.
We learn that in May, the simulator had the second-highest monthly active users since 2020, and Sim Update 5.1, which is currently in beta, is the most stable since the launch of MSFS 2020.
As usual, the news was presented by Head of Microsoft Flight Simulator Jorg Neumann, Asobo CEO Sebastian Wloch, and Executive Producer Martial Bossard.
We get to take a look at the upcoming World Update 22: US National Parks and National Monuments, which is releasing at no additional cost for everyone who owns the simulator on July 4.
It’ll include 31 national parks and monuments with countryside TIN (Triangulated Irregular Network) resolution between 15 and 30 cm. It’s similar to what we already have in the Grand Canyon.
The surface covered is 413,000 square kilometers, which is comparable to the size of Sweden. It’s also the first that will integrate water masks from Bing, guaranteeing pixel-perfect water edges. This is also a big deal for the simulator as a whole going forward.
The update will also include 46 bespoke points of interest. These will also come with a new technology that lets developers blend ground materials and objects.
Only one airport (as it’s the only one inside a national park) will be part of the update, Jackson Hole Airport (KJAC), but we’ll also get 3 guided tours and 8 discovery flights.
The Guided Tours are a new feature, and they’re basically commented flights with voice-overs. As an additional bonus, we also get to see the Goodyear Blimp, which will be added as a default aircraft at no additional cost.
Another interesting reveal was an overview of the National Championship Air Races expansion, which will bring back content from the 2021 Reno Air Races expansion at no additional cost, plus new content, which will be paid. You can find a list below.
It’ll release in the fall.
We also get the reveal of City Update 15, which has been made available today at no additional cost for all users. It includes several cities in Illinois, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.
These include Chicago, Elgin, Cicero, and Arlington Heights in Illinois, Minneapolis, St. Paul, Bloomington, Duluth, Brooklyn Park, Woodbury, Lakeville, Plymouth, and Blaine in Minnesota, and Milwaukee, Madison, and Racine in Wisconsin.
Another immediate release was the Expert Series 2 aircraft, the Piper M600, developed by FSReborn. It’s available now on the official marketplace for $24.99.
You can see it in action below, alongside an overview of the features, including the autoland system.
The developers then talked about Sim Update 6, starting with the downdraft visualization.
Helicopters are also getting new debug assistance options, although these are more dedicated to developers.
Another interesting feature is the addition of turbulence warnings and displays.
Changes will come to night lighting at airports, alongside night missions in career mode.
Speaking of the career mode, there will be improved mission filtering, letting you find missions for your aircraft more easily.
We’ll also see the return of bush trips. All 59 of the bush trips released for MSFS 2020 are being ported to MSFS 2024 and will be included in Sim Update 6.
Neumann then revealed upcoming improvements to the marketplace and the processes behind it, to provide better discoverability and ease of navigation, but also to reduce the impact of spam products.
In the future we can expect more curation, especially in the hero, recommended, and exclusive rows. Neumann mentioned he has some ideas about how to improve this, but details will likely come at a later date. Incidentally, maliciously inflated scores have been identified and purged.
In particular, the second slide below shows upcoming changes, including more content for PS5, which represents a “huge audience,” so it’ll be well worth it for creators.
Speaking of PS5, some debug tools are going to be released for developers of airports soon, in order to help them make sure that their products work on the console, as it has already been done for aircraft. Reading between the lines, this likely means that third-party airports will soon appear on the PS5 marketplace.
Another great addition is the ability to gift add-ons to a friend, with the conditions highlighted in the third slide. This will come with Sim Update 5.1.
We also hear about Aircraft and Avionics Update 5, which is targeting between July and August 2026.
It’ll include five payware aircraft: the Bell 47J Ranger, the Boeing 307 Stratoliner, the Boeing 707-320C, the Curtis C-48 Commando, and the Ford 4AT Trimotor, all rebuilt to MSFS 2024’s standards.
We get a deep dive into the fully rebuilt Boeing 707-320C, and you can check out its extensive features below.
Interestingly, the CIV-A INS, the UNS-1, and the RDR-1 Weather Radar avionics will be available as SimObjects to be used by other developers, while the 707 will come with a companion app on the tablet with all the calculations and settings, on top of a virtual crew. This will include a virtual flight engineer who will optionally perform the task a real flight engineer performs in the real world, letting you focus on piloting.
Below you can find the updated roadmap, with many items still hidden for the rest of the year. Incidentally, Neumann admitted that not all the aircraft included in the Aircraft and Avionics Update 4 were as great as expected, as this format is still a learning process, and committed to fixing them.
If you’d like to know more, you can watch the full keynote below.
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is currently available for PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PS5. If you’d like to hear more about the simulator, you can watch our latest 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.
