Microsoft Flight Simulator World Update Australia & More Announced; PMDG Boeing 757 Teased

Today Microsoft and Asobo Studio hosted a livestream showcasing upcoming plans for Microsoft Flight Simulator.

We hear from head of Microsoft Flight Simulator Jorg Neumann, Asobo CEO Sebastian Wlock, and executive producer Martial Bossard.

World Update VII has been announced and it will be Australia. It will include more photogrammetry-enhanced cities than any world update before. It’ll launch on January 25 and more information will come at a later time.

The next Local Legend aircraft coming alongside the world update will be developed in partnership with Orbx. It’s the “Southern Cross” Fokker F.VIIb/3m trimotor flown by Charles Kingsford Smith in the first trans-Pacific flight to Australia from the mainland United States.

It’ll have a version with the original cockpit and one with modern instrumentation. The package will include a manual and dedicated missions reproducing its history.

You can see a work-in-progress image below.

The next announcement comes from PMDG, which confirmed that the DC-6 is coming to the official marketplace and the Xbox version of the simulator. It’s coming next week in the marketplace for PC and later on Xbox.

PMDG has 14 projects in the pipeline for Microsoft Flight Simulator, and founder Robert Randazzo teased a Boeing 757.

The partner for gliders has also been announced, and it’s FlighSim Studio AG. The studio aims to simulate both the relaxed and the thrilling sides of flying gliders. The project is still in the research phase, so it’ll take some time to come to fruition.

Sim update 8 will come in late February and will include the new Chinese localization and the “Marketplace 2.0”. Below you can find the new feedback snapshot.

We also hear that there is the potential for performance improvements with DirectX 12, but it’ll be worked on in future updates. Wlock mentioned that he thinks it could be a 10-15% improvement.

If you’d like to hear more, you can check out our review of the Microsoft Flight Simulator Game of the Year Edition and Reno Air Races expansion, and read our interview with head of Microsoft Flight Simulator Jorg Neumann. You can also take a look at the F/A-18 Super Hornet in action.

If you’d like to read more about Microsoft Flight Simulator add-ons, you can enjoy our recent reviews of Auckland International Airport, Skiathos Airport, Athens International Airport, Bergamo Orio al Serio Airport, Amami Airport, Bristol Airport, Marrakech Menara Airport, Great Britain Central, Tehran Imam Khomeini Airport, Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport, Shanghai Pudong Airport, Kraków Airport, Fukuoka City & Airport, Fort Lauderdale Airport, Chongqing City & Airport, Manila Airport, Santiago Airport, the Frankfurt City Pack, Key West Airport, the Okavango Delta, Bali Airport, London Oxford Airport, Berlin Brandenburg Airport, the CRJ 550/700, the PA-28R Arrow III, Kristiansand Airport, Macau City & Airport, Bonaire Flamingo Airport, Milano Linate Airport, the Singapore City Pack, Tokyo Narita Airport, Yao Airport, the F-15 Eagle, the Paris City Pack, Greater Moncton Airport, Tweed New Haven Airport, Santorini Airport, Sydney Airport, Helsinki-Vantaa Airport, Reggio Calabria Airport, Bastia Poretta Airport, Munich Airport, Paris Orly Airport, Newcastle International Airport, Sankt Johann Airfield, Dublin International Airport, and Seoul City Wow. We also have a beta preview of Singapore Changi airport.

If you want to learn more about the game itself, you can read our review that will tell you everything you need to know about Asobo Studio’s game.

Microsoft Flight Simulator is already available for Windows 10 and Steam, and Xbox Series X|S.