Microsoft just shared new details about Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, including plans for future updates.
During a livestream on Twitch, we heard as usual from Head of Microsoft Flight Simulator Jorg Neumann, Asobo CEO Sebastian Wloch, and Executive Producer Martial Bossard.
We hear that the beta of Sim Update 2 will come soon. The current plan is for it to be ready for March 20 but the date isn’t set in stone just yet.
We hear about the partnership with Embraer, and we hear that it was basically five years in the making as the company is precision-oriented and did not get involved lightly. They decided to go for it only when they were sure that their aircraft would be reproduced with great detail.
Specifically, the Embraer Praetor 600 will be a collaboration between Asobo and Working Title. It might be released around November. For the moment it has not been decided whether it’ll come for MSFS 2020 as well or only for MSFS 2024.
Next, we hear that the aircraft from the Deluxe Edition and Premium Deluxe Edition of both MSFS and MSFS 2024 are now available as separate purchases on the newly opened official marketplace.
Speaking of MSFS 2020, there is a Sim Update 16 in development which is coming down the line. This includes improvements for Xbox and more, including the plan to unify the aerial imagery between the two simulators.
The third plane that will be released at no additional cost to make up for MSFS 2024’s turbulent launch is almost complete and the fourth is in development. Neumann would like to release them by May, albeit he’s not yet ready to announce what they are.
Sim Update 2 will include quality-of-life improvements for the controller settings menus. The ability to manually download content (aircraft, airports, etc.) is planned for Sim Update 3.
Sim Update 2 will also come with native support for DLSS 4 and FSR 3.1.
There is a possibility for future world updates in South America, but they may come much later down the line, in 2027 or 2028.
Past Local Legend and Famous Flier aircraft will be updated and improved in the future.
The developers would like to bring back the AI copilot in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, but they’re not ready to provide a date.
The Darkstar won’t come to Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, as Microsoft doesn’t have the license to implement it. On the other hand, the D77-TC Pelican and the Ornithopter could come down the line.
More real-life airline liveries will continue to be added over time. A couple of “big deals” have been locked and will be shared down the line.
The degradation that affects textures of airports from Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 making them blurrier will be fixed in Sim Update 2. The Rolling Cache will also be made more efficient and LOD and texture resolution will be optimized as well.
Gaya is currently focusing on improving airport performance and after that is done, there will be an optimization pass for ships.
Bossard admitted that having the setting for the rolling cache saved in the cloud was a mistake, as it’s shared between different machines and that shouldn’t be the case, so it will be changed.
There is plenty of countryside photogrammetry that has not been implemented yet and it’s currently being worked on. All of it is coming and will be added down the line. It’s a rolling process and below you can see a non-comprehensive map with many of the locations we can expect. New areas will also be purchased over time.
Many updates for the career are planned for Sim Update 2. The balance of economy is being worked on, but it’s on the server side, so the results will come separately from Sim Updates. A fix for making heavy cargo missions available is in the works and will be released down the line, albeit no date was shared.
The team would like to add helicopters to the firefighting missions, but it’ll come when some elements of the sim preventing it are cleared.
In Sim Update 2 there will be an option to visualize Wake Turbulence. Wake Turbulence itself did not work in multiplayer at launch and it will work in Sim Update 2. When the fix is implemented, whatever flies in the sim will produce wake turbulence.
Below you can check out the visualization option.
The developers are considering an option to disable wake turbulence at will.
The development team has also found a way to optimize 800 MB of VRAM for players using ray-tracing, which will help with performance.
We then hear from Nick Dackard, Founder and CEO of Heatblur Simulations, who announced that an F-4 Phantom is coming to Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024. It’ll be as close as it can be made to the real aircraft.
Finishing touches are underway, so the wait won’t be too long. It’ll be launched “within the next couple of months.”
The developer has also been working on technologies that can be used in future aircraft. This is a third-party product, but Neumann mentioned that he has been trying to convince the developer to create a first-party product. It has not happened yet, but this is a great first step.
Below you can check out a few impressive screenshots.
City Update 10 is coming in April and it’ll feature American cities (United States 4) including Dallas and Forth Worth in Texas, Honolulu in Hawaii, Denver in Colorado, and San Francisco in California.
Below you can find the updated roadmap for upcoming updates.
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is also available for PC and Xbox Series X|S. if you want to see the massive visual difference against Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, you can enjoy our video and screenshot comparison.
Recently we published an extensive interview with Jorg Neumann himself about the present situation of the sim and the plans for the future.
You can also check out our in-depth analysis of how much data the simulator downloads from the cloud, clearing the air from some widespread misinformation that made the rounds over the past few months.
