RTX 2080 Ti, 32 GB RAM used to run Microsoft Flight Simulator during X019

During the X019 event, numerous materials from Microsoft Flight Simulator were presented. One of Reddit users, participating in the event, revealed the hardware specs of the computer used to run the game, and shared his impressions about the title.

[FlyingFoxy]

Smells a bit like RDR2, recommended spec GPU set in the low/medium range making you think the game won't be demanding. Then it turns out it's intended for like 1080p at low/medium settings or whatever.

[UltraNova]

Honestly I cant see this game looking bad at 1080p medium settings either, its gorgeous.

[343_Guilty_Spark]

So they should showcase the game at 1080p medium specs?

[UltraNova]

Who are we kidding, of course they'll show off the game on a decked out super PC. When a game has a nice design, art direction etc it can still look good at something lower than full 4K ultra settings.

[TommyVercetti88]

Sony did the same with Ghost of Tsushima during the E3 that was running on a PS5 not a PS4 pro.

[ShadowWolf712]

@LazyTown except it wasn't.

[rainslacker]

@lazy

That takes me back to that one e3 where everyone was saying they were showing games on the pro, but it turned out they were being shown on the standard ps4.

Good times.

[WhiteHawk]

So like basically every single PC game in history.

[rainslacker]

It seems odd to overspec this product. MSFS is a long standing franchise, that is liked by a wide range of people. I'll even go so far as to say that it's not really a game, and that I think that most gamers may actually not realize that this is an actual flight simulator, where you fly a plane, like you would fly a real plane. There is no real game play scenario involved. Because of this, it appeals to enthusiast, and always has. The enthusiast generally don't go all in on hardware, so having too demanding of a requirement could easily limit their potential market.

Not saying they have to skimp on the visuals or performance, but there should be options in there for others who aren't hardcore gamers.

[UltraNova]

"There is no real game play scenario involved"

Honest question here(ignore the trolls that fly in): how do you think it will fair review-wise in this day and age?

[rainslacker]

Depends on who's reviewing it. To be honest, I don't recall this game ever being reviewed by the gaming press the way that reviews are done today. Been quite a while since the last in the franchise. The reviews came from PC gaming press, but most of it was by reviewers who understood what they were reviewing, so they didn't hold it to gaming standards.

It's hard to say how the gaming reviewers of today would rate a game like this, unless they added significant game play elements. I mean, Death Stranding gets a lot of criticism for no game play from some, and many people are pointing out how some reviewers are saying it's not fun, but still giving it high scores. Well, MSFS isn't what I'd call a fun game in the way we think of the games we usually play as being fun. It's a simulator in the truest sense of the word. Not a simulator like say Forza or GT are, which also have game play scenarios embedded in the game play, and challenge involved through the natural sport of racing. You take off, you fly around, you land.

Past games have had some challenges, but it isn't the focal point of the game. There was a combat style expansion to one of them, but it was not like Ace Combat or other games which are more about fun than precision. If people found the "Walking Sim" of DS to be not fun, they're going to absolutely hate FS.

So, overall, I say if the game is reviewed as a typical game, it's not going to score well at all. If it's reviewed as a sim, then I dunno how it'll review. Only games on meta only go back as far as 2004. Three versions, 2 at 80, one at 88. Mostly all positive reviews from all of them though. I also can't say how the quality of the game will be at this point. It's very nice to look at, but also seems to have the same mechanics of the older versions, which is what I'd expect from the franchise. This started as a MS project, not an Xbox project. I doubt they're going to make it into a more casual experience, or even a hardcore fighting sim which would introduce game play elements.

Unfortunately, I know I can't really discuss what MSFS is actually like around here too much. Too many people want to hold it up as a huge thing for Xbox. That's fine with me really, but I think they're going to inflate the expectations of what people will actually be getting with the final product, which may lead to a lot of disappointment. Not because I think it will suck, but because I know what a lot of gamers expect from games.

Best advice I can give, to those that don't have Game pass at least, is maybe try out one of the older titles to see what the game is like. Unless they add some stuff for game play, it's probably not going to be a great departure from the others.

[UltraNova]

Fair enough!

We'll see what happens when FS is reviewed.

[VariantAEC]

@rainslacker
What are you talking about?
Enthusiast PC gamers are a tiny fraction of the PC gaming market and knowing the history of Microsoft's flight simulators this software will likely still run on some pretty weak sauce PCs. The game is slated for release on Xbox One that means my PC will likely be able to run it at 60FPS even if it's 30hz on the base Xbox One machine. My PC isn't exactly top tier given I picked it up 2 years ago and there've been major innovations in GPU tech since 2017. Rocking a GTX 1070 so I should be fine again if a console can run this your PC should be fine so long as it's at least as comparable to an Xbox One.

[rainslacker]

@Varient

I was responding to the original poster, and I'm saying that it would be atypical for MS to go overboard on specs, for much the same reasons you say they aren't likely to.

[sampsonon]

i thought it was always being shown on an Xbox one x

[MasterCornholio]

Why would they show it on a console when they have PC?

[StarLink]

And now they dont need to hide it.

[MasterCornholio]

@Star

I'm only asking that question because it is possible for them to show off the game at its best. It wouldn't be lying because if you had a PC like that you can buy the game and achieve the same results.

What I don't agree with is showing off a game on a platform that it isn't available on. That's very misleading in my opinion. But that didn't happen here.

[StarLink]

Oh I know that just saying a few years back MS was caught using a PC to run their games when they were exclusive to Xbox One but now that all there games are releasing on both platfroms they have the liberty of showing any game running on a PC without problems of decitefullness.

[rainslacker]

Primary audience for this will be the PC player. It's not really a game in the traditional sense. It's a real plane simulator, and it can be kind of dull because flying a plane isn't exactly a thrill a minute kind of thing. Fans of this are primarily on PC, so it does make sense to show it on PC. A lot of the Xbox gamers are latching onto this game, and I don't think they really understand what to expect from it.

I love MSFS. Played several versions since the first one back when it was just vector graphics. I was a teenager. I hated it because I really didn't know what it was when I first played it. I became a fan later. But, I'm realistic about what it is, and anyone buying it for a fun game, is probably going to be seriously disappointed.

[SolidGamerX]

lol, nah

[timotim]

You would be wrong. It is first and foremost a authentic flight sim for Windows 10 and PC gamers...although it will be on Xbox consoles as well.

[WhiteHawk]

Exactly, they are obviously going to show the PC version first, not just because it looks better but because it’s the main version, the XBOX One version is the port this time around.

[WhiteHawk]

Haha, good one.

[Psychotica]

You also need a good internet connection since most of the images are streamed in.

https://www.polygon.com/201...

"Last week, we learned that The Last of Us Part 2 would ship on two Blu-ray discs. A single copy of Microsoft Flight Simulator would need 20,000 of them. So, instead of installing the game off disc, or even downloading a large portion of it as part of the initial installation, consumers will stream in assets while they play."

[StarLink]

Damn thats one demanding game then. Well the game looks realistic enough.

[WhiteHawk]

2 Petabytes of mostly ground textures, people have been downloading chunks of satellite imagery to use as ground textures in flight sims for a while now but it uses up so much storage space you can’t hold much, this gets around that problem plus it’s slightly higher resolution than most pick to download in current sims. Then the system places trees and 3D buildings. You will get to select the size of cache to store the high quality textures so if your internet goes down you will still have that high quality area.

[milohighclub]

Do you think next gen could have 32gb ram? 🤔 makes no sense releasing a console next year that isn't capable of running what they're showing today.
If not revealing this before next gens hit seems like a really bad marketing strategy.

[SolidGamerX]

What they're showing today is being marketed as a PC game first, Flight Simulator has always been a PC game the only reason its even coming to console eventually is to help boost gamepass subscriptions. I have said from the first moment I saw the footage of this game it was gorgeous and I also said it was running on a very high end PC there's no way its going to look like that on scarlet and anyone who thinks otherwise is in for serious disappointment..

[Kiwi66]

So if its only coming to console to as you say boost gamepass then why is there going to be a physical version for xbox as wouldn't they only have digital if that was there plan

[SolidGamerX]

@Kiwi66

Why would anyone who owns xbox buy the physical version when all we ever hear is how great gamepass is, now all of a sudden you guys are buying physical? hmmmm

[Kiwi66]

Have i ever said that gp is great and do you honestly think that every xbox owner stopped buying physical versions of games as its like you've found something you can cling to and say in every xbox article plus why lump me in the "you guys" group when I don't have an xbox

[SolidGamerX]

@Kiwi66

Oh so you take issue with my comment to the point you needed to reply to it yet you "don't have" an xbox, um ok sure. If you don't want to be lumped in with 'you guys' maybe don't sound like them.

"something you can cling to and say in every xbox article"

First off the hypocrisy in that comment is fantastic, second this is the first time I've ever said it and third yeah that doesn't sound like a comment an xbox fanboy would say at all. s/

Look bud rather you think gamepass is great or not is irrelevant the fact is adding Flight Sim to it will only help bolster subscriptions end of and stop acting like xbox fanboys on here regardless of rather you want to deny you're one of them don't constantly go on about how gamepass is the greatest gift to gaming since the history of forever so to try and pretend the majority of xbox owners are going to suddenly buy physical copy now to try and make your argument is not gonna work so don't bother.

[timotim]

You have to understand that while no, no next gen console is going to have 32GBs of ram...however, 32GBs of DDR3-4 ram is not the same as 16-24GBs of DDR6 ram. Next gen consoles will have its strengths. And yes, this game will look damn good on next gen Xbox consoles.

[SolidGamerX]

So much for the people that thought they were seeing Scarlett gameplay, I knew it was PC.

[WhiteHawk]

Don’t forget, they have already stated this is a ten year deal, they’ll support it and it will grow and get better, and plenty of people are going to upgrade their PC at least two or three times during that, graphics cards at least anyway.

[WhiteHawk]

Hey, the one person downvoting me for stating facts, your hilarious, I mean, your life is hilarious.

[dekke]

next article will be smt like "plays best on NSW" :P

[badz149]

LOL that's totally out of nowhere and totally hilarious! nice one. have an upvote