'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), launching November 19, is a completely new software built from the ground up, designed for expandability, user-friendliness, and reduced loading times through cloud streaming.
It features vastly improved aircraft flight and systems modeling (including hydraulics, electrical circuits, and wear/tear), alongside a significantly enhanced environment with high-resolution ground detail, dynamic weather, and realistic global vegetation and animal models.
MSFS2024 introduces a wide array of new aircraft across general aviation, helicopters, airliners, and military categories, with all previous MSFS2020 aircraft upgraded to take advantage of the new flight model.
A comprehensive new career mode offers guided flight training, diverse missions (e.g., cargo, search and rescue, crop dusting) with persistent aircraft wear, complemented by new challenge and world photographer modes for varied gameplay.

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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.