Microsoft Flight Simulator review

Microsoft Flight Simulator is truly amazing. It is difficult to fully describe the feeling of jumping into a plane and having the freedom to fly to and from anywhere in the world.

Microsoft Flight Simulator’s greatest asset is the ease with which you can experience the wonder of flying. It is, of course, first and foremost a simulator – the amount of buttons, dials, and indicators in each plane is staggering. Almost all of them also have a tangible function, and it’s easy to see how the game could be used to train real pilots in operating certain aircraft or navigating certain routes. But the first thing Flight Simulator throws at you is a menu to determine your level of assistance – a whole host of optional adjustments and notifications are there to help you get airborne or guide you on what to do and how to do it. At the most basic level, it’s easy to get into the air quickly with minimal input and just a gamepad. In this time we will explain all the details in our Microsoft Flight Simulator review you can read and install now.

Microsoft Flight Simulator, however, pushes you to learn more. The tutorial tries to teach you how to read the dials and gauges in your cockpit, guides you through basic flight theory and etiquette, and guides you through how to navigate the air yourself. Although my experience with arcade flying games led me to choose a middle ground where we controlled the plane in a largely realistic way, we found myself very eager to learn more.

Microsoft Flight Simulator review: VR Headset

Microsoft Flight Simulator supports OpenXR-compatible headsets (no, Oculus Quest 2) such as Valve Index, Oculus Rift S, HP Reverb G2, and Meta Quest 2 (no, Oculus Quest 2) (opens in new tab). Previously, you could sign up for a closed VR beta program, where you can obviously use any VR headset, but you will need at least an Intel Core i5-8400 or AMD Ryzen 5 1500X processor, Nvidia GTX 1080 or equivalent GPU, a and at least 16GB of RAM. However, this latest update opens up Flight Simulator to many other VR headsets.

Microsoft Flight Simulator review: Visuals and Sound

Quite simply, the graphics are amazing, and the best reason to play Microsoft Flight Simulator is simply to marvel at all that the earth has to offer, natural and man-made. Perhaps the most unrealistic aspect of the game is that as you drive down the highway, you see cars and trucks, but surprisingly there is no traffic jam.

Since everything is generated from Microsoft’s vast database of world maps, it feels as if you are looking out the window of a real airplane; it is hard to imagine any other company, with the exception of Google and Apple, pulling this off. However, the graphics may need some work. In New York, the images under several bridges were distorted, making it look like a curtain was draped over the deck below.

Suffice it to say, you need to invest in a good monitor to really enjoy everything the game has to offer. It’s also useful because many important pop-up screens such as Air Traffic Control, your flight map, and navigation log quickly take up a lot of space. You can set the Simulator for any time of day or night, and you can also include real-time weather information, which adds even more realism and challenge.

Microsoft Flight Simulator review: Gameplay

Although we’re not exactly new to flight simulators or games, we haven’t sat at the helm in years. We’ll just take the training courses, of which there are several, and they cover both propeller planes and jets, and we’ll fly in the friendly skies. Then we tried to land. It took a few tries before we could land the Cessna 152, a regular single-propeller airplane, safely.

Fortunately, simulators are very forgiving and allow you to adjust how “realistic” you want your flight to appear. However, there is a real learning curve. After about a dozen flights in various propeller-driven aircraft, I got up the courage to fly a Boeing 747 out of San Francisco International Airport.

You can take off and land from almost anywhere on the planet. You can look at a world map and choose where you want to go, the plane, and the time of day. Meanwhile, for those who just want to sit back and enjoy the scenery, there are several introductory flights where the simulator does all the work.

Microsoft Flight Simulator review: Final Words

Microsoft Flight Simulator is a triumphantly ambitious venture that pushes the boundaries of photorealism in gaming environments. It takes a lot of horsepower and support for Azure technology to accomplish such a feat, but these barriers are erased when you look down on endless cities and dense jungles from thousands of feet in the air.

Despite the technical challenges, there are a few notable problems here that I hope will be corrected in time, as they throw off the impression of a brilliant journey into the natural world. As someone with zero knowledge of aviation and new to simulators, the opportunity to turn on the assistants and lose myself was great. That is, before the inevitable crash and burn.

George Southwell
George Southwell
George Southwell is a seasoned content editor at Bollyinside, renowned for his expertise in simplifying complex tech topics. Specializing in "Tips and Tricks" articles, he excels in breaking down iPhone, Android, hardware, and software insights. George's insatiable curiosity fuels his hobby of testing the latest tech updates, keeping him on the cutting edge.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Related Articles

Hubspot Service Hub review 2024: a comprehensive platform

When it comes to customer support operations, HubSpot Service Hub is an all-encompassing customer service platform that is meant to...
Read more
When players on Windows 11 or 10 try to log in to Steam, they may get the error code E87....
Users of Windows 11 or 10 may find it frustrating to deal with the error number 147-0 in Microsoft Office....
The Microsoft Store is an important part of the Windows operating system because it gives users a single place to...
It can be hard to find the right balance between usefulness, durability, and cost when it comes to kitchen storage....
Both AirDroid and Vysor are well-known tools that help Android users control their devices and mirror them. One of the...
Microsoft Flight Simulator is a triumphantly ambitious undertaking that pushes the boundaries of photorealism in game environments.Microsoft Flight Simulator review