'Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024' Preview: Advanced, Audacious Leap Forward

The new iteration of the flight simulator franchise set for release in November features improved aircraft flight models and new aviation careers.

Sean Siff

Monday, September 23, 2024 at 12:26 PM ET

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Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is set to release on November 19. [Courtesy: Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024]

Key Takeaways:

**Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 (MSFS2024)** is a brand-new, ground-up simulator launching November 19, designed for enhanced user experience, expandability, and reduced loading times through cloud streaming.
It introduces significant advancements in **aircraft realism**, featuring improved flight models, highly detailed system simulations (hydraulics, electrical, mechanical wear), and a vast array of new general aviation, helicopter, airliner, and military aircraft.
The **flight simulation environment** is extensively upgraded with high-resolution ground modeling, dynamic weather (storms, cirrus clouds, smoke), seasonal vegetation, realistic animal models, and enhanced airports with improved lighting and AI traffic.
A **comprehensive new career mode** aims to lower the barrier to entry, offering structured flight training, diverse missions (e.g., cargo, search and rescue, crop dusting) with persistent aircraft wear, and engaging challenge and photography modes.

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Four years after the launch of Microsoft Flight Simulator in August 2020, developers are preparing the launch of the most advanced and audacious Microsoft simulator software product in the 40-plus-year-old franchise’s history.

In a media preview that took place in early September, journalists were given a few hours of early access to Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 (MSFS2024) to see just how much more is coming to flight sim pilots on November 19.