Microsoft Flight Simulator Arrives on Xbox Series X|S

Written by Brandon Hofer on July 28, 2021

News: Console gamers finally get their turn at exploring our beautiful planet from the air.

Microsoft Flight Simulator has finally arrived on the Xbox Series X|S. This new title will allow you to challenge real-time weather including accurate wind speed and direction. Microsoft utilizes satellite data from Bing Maps and cloud-based AI using Azure to bring in the living and dynamic world that we inhabit. Using this aforementioned data, you will be able to travel the entire planet in incredible detail with over 37,000 airports, 2,000,000 cities, 1.5 billion buildings, real mountain ranges, roads, trees, traffic, animals, and more. Console gamers can expect the same level of depth as PC players with the most authentic and realistic flight simulator Microsoft has ever created.

With this being a simulator you are going to need to know your stuff but no worries if you haven’t ever been in a cockpit, virtual or otherwise. There are some great tutorials for you to go through so you can quickly get up to speed, along with some assists that you can turn on that will help you navigate the friendly skies. Some of the key aspects for Flight Simulator on Xbox Series X|S include the following:

Flight Training

Flight Simulator on Xbox Series X|S has an improved training program to make sure the onboarding process is smoother than before. There are 22 training flights for you to experience that will teach you the basic fundamentals such as basic handling to landing and takeoff. You will also learn about VFR navigation and learning how to fly one of the big boys like an Airbus 320neo. There are also more contextual voiceovers to help explain things in case you are having some difficulty.

Flight Assistance

This is a new tool that will help the AI during your flight. Using this feature you can select nearby points of interests or airports and set them as your destination to get direction. You can also set the AI to land the plane for you if you are having difficulty grasping how to do that. You can also use it for anti-stall and auto-trimming as well. Utilizing this toolset should greatly help you early on as you wrap your head around everything.

Land Anywhere

With our planet being 71% water, the development added some much needed options. They added some water landing options and revamped several of the planes with optional floaters, skis, and a “large tire” feature so you can land just about anywhere.

Discovery Flights

If you are new to the franchise (or even if you are a veteran) you can experience some of the great wonders of the world with this, including the Great Pyramid of Giza, the Eiffel Tower, the Great Wall of China, and much more.

World Exploration

The world map now features satellite imagery, map labels and main point of interest names to make exploring as easy as possible. You can activate these POIs during a flight so that you can get an understanding of the distance and relationship between cities, mountains, and other landmarks that might be in the area.

Microsoft Flight Simulator allows you to freely roam our planet and if you are a Game Pass member, you can download it for free. This is going to be one of the best looking games released to date but the question is, where will you fly to first?