Microsoft and third-party developers had news to share about Microsoft Flight Simulator and its add-ons, alongside the release of an airport.
We start with Microsoft itself, which launched an extensive beta build of the upcoming sim update 12, which is now slated to release on March 21.
The update includes plenty of changes and additional improvements to the Garmin G3000 and G5000 navigation suites, the Aurbus A310, the Bell 407, the Cessna Citation Longitude, the Curtiss JN-4, the Daher TBM 930, the Douglas DC-3, the Grumman G-21 Goose, the H-4 Hercules, the Spirit of St. Louis, and the Wright Flyer, on top of plenty of tweaks to the scenery released with the world updates, the 40th Anniversary Edition and the Game of the Year Edition.
You can find the full patch notes on the official forums, keeping in mind that this is a beta, so you should join only if you're willing to deal with the risk of having your experience degraded to help test it so that it launches polished.
Next, we take a look at the Panavia Tornado by IndiaFoxtEcho, alongside a development update shared on Facebook.
"We believe that our decision to redo (once again) most of the 3D geometry was the right one in terms of quality: it is now 90% complete and frankly we are quite happy with it - to the point that we invested a significant amount of time on several liveries which we will show you in the next few days.
There is still some work to be done on the cockpit before moving to the systems integration stage - and, before you ask, NO we do not have a release date yet.
Speaking of systems and cockpit, we are leading towards the legacy IDS as the main variant of our package - we have not finalized the list of features and the level of fidelity, but as usual we will try our best to deliver a detailed simulation of the aircraft. It is a very complex machine and it will not be easy.
We will include external visual model variants (including the British GR.1) but they will most likely share the same cockpit (although things may change over time, of course).
Here are some screenshots of the Luftwaffe liveries, the Desert Storm Italian livery and the RSAF one. Please keep in mind that these are still preliminary and details like pilots helmets and uniforms will be fixed at a later stage."
Next, we get to see new screenshots of Pyreegue's upcoming East Midlands Airport (EGNX) in the UK, and they certainly could be mistaken for real world pictures if I didn't know better.
A release comes from Fly2High, and it's Haverfordwest Airport (EGFE) in Wales, UK. It's currently available on Simmarket for $9.53 plus applicable VAT.
Here's what you can expect, alongside a trailer.
- Authentic replica of the airfield EGFE Haverfordwest Airport
- Texturing based on tons of on-site photos
- Detailed modeling including main terminal, maintenance and club hangars
- Custom static aircraft and 3D people to enhance immersion
- Custom marking runway
- Flag moves with the wind
- Animation human
Microsoft Flight Simulator is currently available for PC, Xbox Series X|S, and Xbox Cloud Gaming, including Game Pass. If you'd like to learn more, you should stay tuned on TechRaptor as we host daily Microsoft Flight Simulator news to keep you updated on the many add-ons coming and released for the sim. We have also recently reviewed Orbx's Oslo Gardermoen Airport.
