After what’s been accomplished with 2020’s Microsoft Flight Simulator in the area of graphics, it should come as absolutely no surprise that the upcoming Flight Simulator 2024 is kicking things up a notch further still. This time, the developer aims to deliver a three-dimensional ground map.
As discussed on the recent Microsoft Flight Simulator development update (which was aptly spotted by Jonathan Bolding over at PC Gamer), the developer Asobo Studio basically confirmed our suspicions from a while back: that the rendering of the world we fly over is bound to be the major focus of the new title. Given the ridiculous fidelity of the plane models and their flight models, it does make sense that Asobo would now want to up the ante in regard to the rest of the simulation. So, Flight Simulator 2024 looks like it’s going to have a fully 3D ground map in 30 biomes, as opposed to the prior games’ texture streaming models.
Flight Simulator 2024 promises a higher world fidelity than ever before
What this means, in effect, is that the virtual Earth you fly over in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 features procedurally generated vegetation models across the board, and that the buildings themselves and other geometry will no longer rely purely on rudimentary polygons and stretched-out textures to look correct from some ways away. This should result in a way more believable representation of the real world, and judging by the fact that Asobo is ready to launch the game with 30 fully realized, distinctive biomes ready to go, there should be plenty of variety as well.
Graphics aren’t the be-all-end-all of Flight Sim, however important they might be. To that end, Asobo has also promised a much more detailed realization of AI-controlled aircraft, more flight details and check-ups than ever before, and the ability to walk around planes to do manual pre-flight checkups. Asobo also promises about 500,000 tall obstacles for players to navigate through, around, or above (i.e. towers, turbines, masts, etc.). They have also integrated the global ship traffic into the simulation, with apparently every single oil rig in the world appearing in the Flight Sim precisely as they should. Helipads, too, have been given a similar treatment
Finally, Asobo has also confirmed that we’re getting a proper in-game flight planner feature, which combined with pre-flight checklists should make for a way more immersive flying experience. In the context of Flight Sim, that’s a heck of a claim, and I can’t wait to see more of it in action.
Fans of the franchise should check out Asobo Games’ full 90-ish minute showcase above, as it’s absolutely loaded with exciting showcases from the very start. If for no other reason, then just to see those sweet, sweet ray-traced shadows in motion!
