Since 1982, Microsoft’s Flight Simulator has enabled us to take to the skies from the comfort of our own homes.
The experience has improved somewhat since the initial version
and the continual updates to Flight Simulator 2020,
plus its re-release on the latest generation of consoles,
as well as for Windows 11 and via Xbox Cloud, make it truly deserving of a closer look.
And what a look it is!
For those wanting to control airplanes and explore the world from the comfort of their home,
there has never been a more exciting time!
Ladies and gentlemen, this is your Captain speaking…
the skies are clear, and we are now ready to depart.
We should arrive at our destination in about 10 minutes, so buckle up!
This is the evolution of Microsoft Flight Simulator!
It all started with a pilot named Bruce Artwick, who was interested in computers.
Bruce founded a software company named Sublogic in 1977 and, just two years later,
published the very first version of the flight simulator we’d soon all come to know and love.
At the time, computers couldn’t handle much more than a few lines at once.
FS1 Flight Simulator, as it was called then, was released on the Apple II computer and was pretty basic, to say the least!
That’s because the Apple II was a humble 8-bit computer
that only had 4 kilobytes of RAM and a processor running at 1 megahertz.
Microsoft soon expressed an interest and obtained the license from Sublogic to create the original Microsoft Flight Simulator in 1982,
also referred to as Flight Simulator 1.0.
It featured much better graphics, with color this time, variable weather, and the time of the day.
Advertisements boldly claimed,
Yeah… I don’t think so!
Fun Fact
One of the more enjoyable aspects of this inaugural Microsoft Flight Simulator was its "Europe 1917" mode.
Similar in premise to the "British Ace" mode found in the Apple II version,
it involved the player flying a Sopwith Camel, one of the best-known fighter aircrafts of the First World War.
The player could navigate a grid-divided area with mountains and declare war by firing at enemy aircraft!
Version 2.0 was launched in 1984.
Minor improvements were made to the graphics as well as the game’s precision.
With version 2.0, it was also possible to use a joystick or a mouse.
In 1988, Microsoft released version 3.0.
It came in a box with a floppy disk inside to play the game.
Version 3.0 added new airports, had higher framerates, better graphics, and it was finally possible to use external camera angles.
In the following year, Flight Simulator 4.0 came out.
The box was almost identical to the previous Microsoft Flight Simulator,
so it wasn’t very clear which version you had since all the newer box said was ‘new version.’’
You had to know which artwork to look out for.
Anyway, version 4.0 featured upgraded aircraft models, dynamic scenery, random weather, and special modes,
including a mode where you could fly a World War 1 airplane to shoot down enemies.
It also had some very beautiful, nostalgic music…
Released at the end of 1993,
Flight Simulator version 5.0 ramped up the realism by using textures to create scenery for the first time.
Graphics and aircraft models were further enhanced,
weather systems upgraded,
artificial intelligence was introduced,
and users could modify their cockpits for each aircraft.
It was also the first game in the series to have sound effects.
In 1995, Microsoft Flight Simulator 5.1 was the first version to be released on CD-ROM.
It featured satellite imagery, faster performance, and it had many weather effects, like storms.
There was also a program to build your own airports and cockpit panels.
After the release of Windows 95, Microsoft developed a Flight Simulator for the newer operating system.
It was almost the same as its predecessor,
but the simulator had better frame rates and additional aircraft.
It also included major airports outside of Europe and the US for the first time.
The next edition, Flight Simulator 98, came in 1997.
The game was a huge success and sold over 1 million copies.
It was the first to really take advantage of 3D environments with graphic cards through Microsoft’s DirectX technology.
Flight Simulator 98 had better performance, more modeled airports,
distinct sounds for every type of aircraft, and a helicopter.
Two years later, Flight Simulator 2000 was released.
Many were disappointed that the game demanded a high-end computer to play it,
and even on expensive systems, frame-rate stuttering was a problem in denser areas of maps.
Flight Simulator 2000 was a major improvement in terms of graphics and details,
incorporating rain and snow for the first time
while also allowing users to download real-world weather conditions.
New aircraft were introduced, including the Boeing 777,
which had recently entered service at the time,
and there was the supersonic Concorde.
GPS made its debut and dynamic scenery was updated with more detailed models,
and AI was improved to avoid collisions while taxiing.
However, the most notable expansion was the 17,000 airports that were added!
This brought the grand total to over 20,000 airports in-game!
Fun Fact
In 2001, Microsoft came up against some stiff competition in the Flight Simulator market
when Russian software developer 1C released its first installment of the ‘IL-2 Sturmovik’ series.
Awards were pretty evenly split between the two games that year,
with different critics acknowledging each title as the top simulator in 2001.
The ‘IL-2 Sturmovik’ series was named after an aircraft produced by the Soviet Union in large numbers during World War II.
The developers continued producing some impressive World War II combat flight simulators
but soon lost ground to Microsoft’s Flight Simulator.
Continuing on, Flight Simulator 2002 was released in 2001,
shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Microsoft found itself at the center of much controversy
because reports showed that the terrorists had used Flight Simulator to prepare for the attacks.
Due to the terrorist’s actions and out of respect for the victims,
the Twin Towers were abruptly removed from the game.
The 2002 simulator introduced Air Traffic Control to communicate with airports
and artificial-intelligence aircrafts to fly alongside computer-controlled air vehicles.
As expected, the visuals once again outshone all previous versions,
and the game seemed to run much smoother thanks to some tinkering by Microsoft.
Next up was Flight Simulator 2004: A Century of Flight,
which celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers’ first aerial achievements.
It featured several historical aircrafts,
including the Wright Flyer, that was used by the famous duo.
One of the key focuses for the 2004 edition was the weather, which benefitted from a revamped system.
Players could now see clouds in 3D, and the weather was localized,
meaning it varied according to where you were and what the weather was likely to be in that region in real life.
Adding to the realism was a more reliable GPS system and more detailed air traffic control.
Then came Flight Simulator X in 2006.
With its higher resolution textures and a more engaging multiplayer experience, it lived up to its name by offering an X factor
that had been missing from the previous titles.
Flight Simulator X allowed players to be an Air Traffic Controller and two players to fly in a single airplane.
The game included 18 planes, 28 detailed cities, and over 24,000 airports for the standard version,
while the deluxe version had even more planes and detailed cities.
While the game’s framerate was at times a sore issue,
it nonetheless received favorable reviews, scoring 80 on Metacritic.
On top of its innovations and multiplayer capability,
an expansion pack named “Flight Simulator X: Acceleration” became available a year after the standard version was released,
increasing the game’s longevity by adding new missions and several more aircraft.
Fun Fact
The soundtrack used in the main menu for Flight Simulator X was composed, orchestrated, and produced by Stan LePard,
who is best known for his contributions to the Halo game franchise.
Anyone who played Flight Simulator X will likely recognize the default audio track,
"Pilot for Hire" or "FSX01,” which was brought back as a “Legacy” menu option in 2020.
That longevity would be sorely needed, as it turns out,
since we had to wait an agonizing 14 years for the next game in the series!
When it did finally arrive, though, on August 18th, 2020, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 surpassed all expectations,
becoming without a doubt the best flight simulator of all time.
That’s not just my opinion as a captain, either.
It currently holds an outstanding 91 out of a 100 score on Metacritic
and has picked up several awards,
including ‘Best Sim/Strategy Game’ at the Game Awards in 2020.
Why is it so good, though?
Well, firstly, the graphics speak for themselves,
especially if you’re playing on a modern system with the best possible resolution enabled.
The in-game environment is essentially a virtual recreation of the entire Earth,
built using textures and data from Bing satellite imagery in conjunction with Microsoft’s Azure system.
This ground-breaking technology was used to generate photorealistic 3D models of buildings,
trees, water, and other geographical features.
Incredibly, you can fly anywhere on the planet,
including above the skyscrapers in New York,
the Pyramids in Egypt,
and even your own home.
Famous landmarks everywhere in the world can be seen,
and new hand-crafted locations are added all the time.
What’s more, the flying conditions are as close to authentic as possible,
with advanced physics and real-time weather updates, meaning if there’s a storm outside your real window,
you can fly through it and experience it from the sky in-game!
The level of realism, combined with the scale of the environments and seemingly endless features in this game, are breathtaking.
However, when the game first came out, there was a sharp intake of breath for another reason.
It was suggested that to play the game at its best, a high-end computer was needed.
A minimum of 150 gigabytes of storage was required for the PC version,
but the game has since become much more accessible
now that it has been released on the Xbox Series X/S, and even on the Xbox One via the Xbox Cloud.
Oh yeah, and you can now even fly planes on Microsoft Flight Simulator in virtual reality!
Making flying more realistic than ever before.
So far, three editions of the game have been released.
The standard edition consists of a staggering 37,000 airports,
30 of which are hand-crafted plus 25 flyable aircraft.
The Deluxe edition adds 5 aircraft and replaces 5 more airports with hand-crafted versions.
Then there’s the Premium Deluxe edition which adds another 5 aircraft and replaces 5 more airports with hand-crafted versions.
The game’s developers, Asobo Studio, are constantly improving the game in the form of ‘Sim’ updates,
which deal with the aircraft models,
flight controls,
flight modeling,
physics,
weather engine, and user interface.
There have been 10 Sim updates in total as of August 2022.
There are also regular ‘World’ updates that aim to keep the global terrain in check,
ensuring airports,
water masks,
buildings,
roads, and landmarks are all as they should be.
In addition to maintaining an air of realism, an attention to detail, and the satisfaction that comes with it,
the development team has released expansions that add a whole new element of fun and competitive action.
The Reno Air Races expansion came out in November 2021
and featured multiplayer races with a global leader board and single-player time trials.
The ‘Full Collection’ of the Reno Air Races DLC went on sale at $59,
for which the buyer would receive 40 “unique, officially licensed and carefully modeled planes”
which could be flown anywhere in the base sim once purchased.
Alternatively, you can buy 4 starter planes for only $19.
The second expansion released for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 was ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ in May 2022.
Offered as freeware to coincide with the movie,
the DLC brings fighter jets, training missions, and a fully functional aircraft carrier to the game.
Hopefully, there will be even more expansions in the future, but if you haven’t checked out these two, I highly recommend them.
Fun Fact
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 was so popular that it led to a shortage of flight sticks in stores.
Even on Amazon and in many stores,
the best-selling sticks were unavailable to buy new for quite some time during the game’s release month!
Thank you for flying with Flatlife!
If you enjoyed this trip,
then please consider subscribing.
I’ll see you again soon.
Subtitles done by Emir Kahvecioglu