Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 will let you climb out of your plane, walk a trail, and watch the sunset
And it won't hog your hard drive either.
Microsoft Flight Simulator was already sounding pretty damned spectacular, but my excitement levels are now appropriately sky-high following developer Asobo's revelation you'll be able to get out of your plane, stroll about the countryside (or anywhere else), and watch the sun set in your preferred corner of its gorgeous recreation of the world.
That's according to Microsoft Flight Simulator boss Jorge Neumann, who shared the news while chatting to PC Gamer - after reiterating just how much additional detail is going into Flight Simulator 2024's digital version of Earth compared to its already impressive predecessor.
For instance, the team has improved the look of every airport, has added glider airports, every oil rig, and every lighthouse in the world. That's alongside "hundreds of species of animals that run around", and it's also simulating "every ship on Earth" via their transponder signals - all of which, claims Neumann, you'll be able to land on. "I think we're in a new era of making games that I think are going to break new ground, from a scale and complexity perspective."
And then there are the trees. Trees are something Neumann has discussed before, but he now says Microsoft Flight Simulator has the capacity to feature every tree on Earth. "We have a machine learning look [it] up," he explains, "and then we know what the tree is, even down to the point where we know what the species likely is... and then we plant trees, literally trillions of trees, and it's all done in run time, so it's pretty damn accurate."
But the thing that's got me most excited is all that disembarkation chatter, with Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 not only letting you be a digital tourist in the sky, you can be one on the ground too. "You can now exit the plane, walk around, in 2024," Neumann reveals. "You can literally walk your favourite mountain path to your favourite hut in the mountains. Sit on the lake. See the sunset. It is truly a digital twin you can absorb."
Actually, Neumann shares one additional detail that might just have the whole walking thing beat on the exitement scale. Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, he says, won't hoover up your hard drive space like its absolutely gluttinous predecessor.
"In 2020, the initial install is 130 GB," he explains "Then we have 17 world updates. If you calculate it up, we're at 500 GB. And then there are 5,000 add-ons that people have made, which I think are two terabytes... [But] for Flight Simulator 2024, we've changed all that. We basically went for a thin client architecture, and we're not done yet. We're shipping in November, but we think we're going to be... I'd say 50 GB or less, but with tons more data, because we are offloading more to the cloud."
And Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 has a lot to squeeze in. Asobo has already confirmed it'll launch with a frankly staggering list of activities, including aerial firefighting, search and rescue, helicopter cargo transport, air ambulances, crop dusting, mountain rescue, skydive aviation, aerial construction, cargo transport, air racing, glider piloting, scientific research, low altitude training, experimental trips, airship tours, hot air balloon trips, plus VIP charter and executive transport services. And that's before getting to the planes.
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 launches for PC and Xbox Series X/S on 19th November, so there's still a bit of time left to pack a digital suitcase and prepare your flight plans.