Microsoft Flight Simulator has the best graphics we've seen to date, new spectacular screenshots

DSOGaming writes: "Microsoft has shared a new set of spectacular screenshots for Flight Simulator that will leave you speechless."

[PrinceOfAnger]

Striking, i want to play it with vr :D

[UltraNova]

It looks frickin beautiful indeed.

[BLizardXD]

could pass for real life.

[shiva1]

Will this have day and night cycle... Watching auroral colors at night while flying would be fun...

[GtPawnSacrifices]

Same! Damn, I’d pick up a set of those Logitech flights sticks to boot.

[spicelicka]

In VR this would be insane! I wish they would use the already created world to make an action arcade spinoff of something, or even a fun mode. As incredible as this is, it's a flight simulator at the end of the day.

[rainslacker]

There were some mods back in the day that did some challenges. Not sure about an actual flight combat simulator though.

Would be cool if they could make the engine do a flight combat game. Weren't that many this gen. Agree on keeping it arcade action though, because real fighter jets simulations aren't as fun.

[Obscure_Observer]

@spicelicka

"I wish they would use the already created world to make an action arcade spinoff of something, or even a fun mode."

This technology can change the way Microsoft first party studios build/create vast and realistic open worlds!

[sinspirit]

We've had terrain scanning for quite a long time. Really, the issue with trying to adapt all this to a game is it may not end up working all that well for balancing and fun purposes.

It would be super awesome though if like you said, an arcade type game could work with this. Like, imagine a battle royale using the geometry from assets like this, and randomly selecting any city or urban terrain existing in these massive maps to drop players in.

[VariantAEC]

@sinspirit
Lol at the one disagree.
I guess they don't know that even Ace Combat used real locations scanned in by satellite imagery. Artists then went in and added some of their own flair and of course created many of the craters across Strangereal.
That was back on the PS2. Before then many games including some flight sims relied on artists impressions of the surrounding environments. It was most likely due to lack of RAM because color arial photos of many developed cities already existed even before the satellite age which itself started well before the 1970s which was about 30 years before PS2 launched!

Anyway I think MS spent more time working on the simulation of the atmosphere and yes those glorious clouds than making the cities look good. BTW if you look close many objects still look very... Bing-y?

Apple boldly claimed to have pioneered the tech that makes those 3D trees and structures based on arial photographs taken from aircraft themselves. The reality is that at this point it still looks like flying through Google or Apple maps. It's good but up close it's... Not as good based on what I've seen it's still incredible, but it doesn't pass for real life if you fly to low... At least not yet.

[frostypants]

Flight sims and driving sims always lend themselves to better graphics than action-oriented games because the worlds are relatively static. This level of graphics wouldn't be possible in an "action arcade spinoff"...not without considerably more horsepower, anyway. A realistic combat sim, maybe. Even then though, the amount of stuff having to be processed could be too much to maintain this environment quality.

[Obscure_Observer]

@frostypants

Are you saying that Gran Turismo Sports has the best graphics on PS4? I call BS on your statements!

[spicelicka]

Yes you're right, I can't imagine it would look as good but the scale along would be incredible even if the graphics were downgraded.

[ArmrdChaos]

They should make a Red Bull competition mod. Use different areas from the circuit.

[Damrock]

But how does it play?.

[UnSelf]

I think you fly planes in it

[rainslacker]

It plays just like you're flying a plane. You take off, you fly, you land. Probably be some challenges and stuff. One of the older ones had some areal acrobatic stuff and flying through rings and stuff. There were some mods out there which did different things for the last version, adding some game play elements to them.

It's not really a game per say, but cool if you like accurate simulations.

[Father__Merrin]

finally DCS might have some competition that game in VR is amazing

[1-pwnsause-1]

DCS and this are completely different but I get what you mean

[Spurg]

I hope the game truely is as it looks. It seems like a very demanding game.
This is the second exclusive Asobo studios have been working for Microsoft, I'm guessing it will be the next studio they acquire.

[Abnor_Mal]

A game that I would like to try, but I do not own an XBox, wonder if my 2016 Dell laptop could play it.

[nowitzki2004]

Year of laptop/pc doesnt matter. Whats inside does. There is web site called Systemrequirementslab, and you pick a game and it will tell you if your laptop will run it.

[Abnor_Mal]

Okay, thank you for that information, I know nothing about computers other than how to type.

[nowitzki2004]

No problem. its really easy to learn, youtube how to build and you will see the parts that are inside.

[BizarroUltraman]

maybe, but theres alot of processing happening via both cpu and Cloud. But i think 2016 depending your specs might be fine. If not upgrade or get a Scarlett.

[Wasabi]

"Microsoft Flight Simulator has the best graphics we've seen to date"

Bold statement, but I agree - the visuals look incredible.

[badboyz09]

Best graphics to date Detroit

[Takwin]

The graphics are crossing over to an area where they might surpass reality.

[UnSelf]

Error 404. Humans can not perceive graphics that surpass what they constitute as reality

[Computersaysno]

Of course they can, it's called drugs

[rainslacker]

Drugs don't change reality, just alter one's interpretation of it.

[Bnet343]

@rainslacker clearly you have not seen the Matrix ;)

[PrinceOfAnger]

Are you sure

[Kumakai]

Can’t wait

[WickedLester]

Too bad it's still flight simulator. It's like saying the video of your cousin's wedding has the best picture quality of anything on TV.

[Wulfer]

Difference is unlike the old days MS now shares all it's studio breakthroughs with all it's XGS's. Another words well see this tech used in other XGS games. Rare shared it's SOT water effects with Playground games for FH4!

[NeoGamer232]

People bark at MS for a lack of diversity in their games.

They put out unique and diverse games then people bark that the diversity is boring.

People can't have it both ways. And simply "doing what the competition is doing for diversity" is not a recipe to be better, it is only a recipe to be equal with the competition.

There are probably large amount of people out there that would like to know what it is truey like to fly a plane. Flight Simulator has done this for decades and it has a cult following. This version looks to bring it more main stream.

Wow, a game where you don't shoot someone, level up, make levels, platform, etc. A truly different game and people saying "too bad it's still flight simulator".

[Wasabi]

@Neo

"They put out unique and diverse games then people bark that the diversity is boring"

The "too bad it's still a flight simulator" attitude is less to do with diversity and more to do with the platform(s) the game is releasing on and the wording of the article title.

You only have to look to the comment that saw fit to bring Detroit become human into the conversation to see how articles like can this stoke people's insecurity.

I'm looking forward to trying this one out.

[thexmanone]

can`t wait to do a flyby over my house

[Kavorklestein]

Seriously Incredible Visuals.
If MS could ever release an Action game or Single Player title with this level of visual dynamite there would be no choice...
I'd have to play it. If they could combine the visual mastery of Flight Simulator with an Epic Story that is of the same Quality or Caliber as Mass Effect, Halo, God or War, Uncharted, or maybe GTA, or RDR2, then they would be among the top dogs in the Industry.

[CDbiggen]

Looks great, but I know bugger all about actually flying. Is there a simpleton mode for plebs like me who want arcade/traditional game controls?

[CDbiggen]

Why the fuck was that reply maked as spam?

[Dannycr]

This is quite possibly the most ambitious and technologically advance game that is coming out.

Everything about the tech and how it works is simply ground-breaking, and the graphics, sometimes I cant even tell if its a real world pic or no.

Even professional pilots and long-time players are praising the extreme realism of this game.

This may not be a giant seller, its a very niche thing, but it certainly will be a powerhouse of a game. If it works as intended, a sure candidate for a GOTY.

[potedude]

I reckon you'd need a pretty serious rig to play this one.

[FlyingFoxy]

Recommended Requirements
OS: Win 7 64
Processor: Intel Core i7-6700K 4-Core 4.0GHz / AMD Ryzen R5 1600
Graphics: AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 8GB or NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070
System Memory: 16 GB RAM
Storage: 50 GB Hard drive space

Other than using quite a lot of RAM, which isn't all that expensive these days, those are relatively mid-tier specs.. imagine what game they could make that targeted higher specs!

[The_Sage]

Looks great! I wonder if there will be moving things in the environment... It would be cool to see traffic in the city and stuff when you're coming in to land.

[AK91]

This does look amazing but I'm not a fan of simulators so I'll be skipping this one.

[NeoGamer232]

Why does the gaming press have to say stuff like "spectacular" in the title for screen shots?

Why can't they just say "Screen shots released for flight simulator" and let the people who read the article decide how good they are or are not? Seriously it is like they are marketing the game.

BTW the screen shots are impressive.

[timotim]

The tech in use here is truly impressive stuff. Next gen even. Microsoft would help themselves a ton be using this tech in smart, other ways and genres. AI is going to play a much greater role in gaming come 2020 and beyond.

[Wikkid666]

Definitely amazing tech... they're finally are showing off the power of AI and cloud based gaming.

[Stanjara]

It is really impressive and beautiful. Keep in mind that this will also be a high end simulation where you will have runway checklists and regulations. It will also support all kinds of hardware sim instruments and controls. Probably it will have an "easy mode" where you could just pick a location, time of day and just fly to see the world, which is really exciting.

[whitbyfox]

i’m going to buy an xbox one x just to play this.

[SolidGamerX]

The graphics do look incredible so good in fact it has me worried that an inevitable downgrade will happen upon release of the game but I guess we will see.

[Wikkid666]

It's a cloud based game. All the environments are stored and generated in the cloud. It takes satellite images from Bing and then transforms them using AI to 3D renderings.

[SolidGamerX]

Yeah I'm aware of how it works and the fact that its cloud based makes it even more likely a downgrade will happen, I hope not but I have a feeling it will.

[CaptainCook]

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 looks more realistic than real life.

[VariantAEC]

Agreed those clouds and aircraft are incredibly believable. Can't wait to see if my PC can handle it!