Microsoft Flight Simulator has been the hot new sensation all over the internet lately. This is the first Flight Simulator game from Xbox Studios since Flight Simulator X way back in 2006. Asobo Studio, which is also the team behind A Plague Tale: Innocence has done an incredible job at crafting the perfect flight simulation experience.
While the game is incredibly detailed with its piloting aspects, the most impressive part of Microsoft Flight Simulator lies somewhere else. With help from Bing maps and Microsoft’s Azure cloud-processing, Asobo has managed to map out the entire world for the game. This means that literally every place on planet Earth has been accurately crafted using photogrammetry data and some smart AI work.
The result? Microsoft Flight Simulator is singlehandedly one of the most impressive technological feats that we’ve witnessed in the gaming world for quite some time. It doesn’t just stop there though, Asobo Studio has also hand-crafted a lot of major monuments, airports, and cities to within mere centimeters of accuracy.
All of this is topped off with a sweet and robust weather system. While you can adjust the weather and time of day on the fly in Microsoft Flight Simulator, those who are looking for a truly authentic experience prefer the Live Weather option.
You can actually fly to Hurricane Laura in-game
Using the power of Bing Maps and Azure, Microsoft Flight Simulator can accurately simulate the weather of any location you’re flying over. This even includes real-life weather events like hurricanes and crazy thunderstorms. And since all of this data gets updated in real-time, it is shockingly close to the real thing.
So, with the dangerous category 4 Hurricane Laura approaching Texas through the Gulf of Mexico, players in Microsoft Flight Simulator decided to fly over and see if the game has managed to catch on to it. And surprise surprise, it’s right there in its full petrifying glory.
https://twitter.com/SCoude/status/1298743278909534208
If you have Microsoft Flight Simulator on your PC, you can fly over to the Hurricane right now and see it for yourself. All you have to do is to find an airport near the coast of Louisiana or Texas and head south from there.
Beware though, flying into the eye of a hurricane is not the easiest job in the world and you’re going to experience a LOT of turbulence.
"relaxing game" on the outskirts of Hurricane Laura pic.twitter.com/ev5w93DYHr
— Gene Park (@GenePark) August 27, 2020
If you don’t have the game, you can grab it for only $1 using Xbox Game Pass.
Flight Simulator has proven that it is here to stay
Asobo Studio has already made it clear that they intend to support Microsoft Flight Simulator for at least another 10 years. And, with the technological and visual foundations already there, achieving that task does not seem too ambitious.
The game already has a healthy player base and events like these will always spark more interest as people keep diving into it to witness these magnificent displays of nature.
Furthermore, with climate change looming over us, we can sadly expect the frequency of these anomalies to go up. And, while these aren’t exactly things we are supposed to look forward to, at least we can fly over to these places and judge the situation. In addition to that, data scientists could also use the data collected by the game to predict certain things about these extraordinary events.
A fun aspect of the live data though is the fact that if a building gets constructed in your neighborhood, or if it gets erased, it’ll get updated in Microsoft Flight Simulator pretty soon.
Nevertheless, Microsoft Flight Simulator is an incredible achievement and the timing of it couldn’t have been better, with the flying restrictions all over the world.
Microsoft Flight Simulator is out now on PC. You can get it on Steam or via Xbox Game Pass. The game is currently sitting at a lofty score of 93 on Metacritic.