I wouldn't say I miss air travel, right now. But having the option to fly away from Blighty for a week-long birthday break next month really would be preferable over cancelling that trip to - checks notes - spend the time sitting inside my house, surrounded by my shrieking children, instead.
Yes, of course, there are Bigger Problems. And it won't be too long until the much-awaited Microsoft Flight Simulator swoops in to give fans of soaring through the skies at least a virtual fix of what they're needing. But just as there are very specific rules to follow whenever you're checking in for your flight, so too is Simulator particularly demanding of your hard drive.
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It won't be asking for you to put all of your mini shower gels that you stole from the hotel on your last away-trip into a see-through plastic baggie; but Microsoft Flight Simulator will insist that it fills a whopping 150GB of space on your PC.
This information comes to us from the game's official website via IGN, who qualify the install - which will probably top up over time, via the internet, rather than be a single lump-sum kinda deal - as one of the biggest on PC. Indeed, the only notable bigger game that comes to mind, for them and us, is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, with its eye-watering 175GB install size - itself just shy of what might be the biggest around, Remedy's Quantum Break, which tips the scales at 178GB.
Microsoft Flight Simulator's 150GB weight puts it on par with the equally proportioned Red Dead Redemption 2 - and much like Rockstar's rootin' tootin' hit of 2018, the hit is one that many a gamer will be willing to take, given just how beautiful Flight Sim looks. I mean, really - I'm not a sim-loving guy, but I can't wait to cock my control stick the way of this title's resplendent rudders.
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Ahem.
Alas, to get it looking as pretty as it can be, you're going to need a fast broadband connection (its makers recommend 50 mbps), as information will be streamed to the game via Microsoft's Azure cloud service, providing real-world weather, air traffic and location data, in real time. Full PC specs for the game can be seen in the table below (or online here).
We've not yet got an official release date for Microsoft Flight Simulator - which will also be coming to Xbox One, and to both PC and console via the Game Pass service. But we're crossing fingers, eyes and toes that it'll launch (or, I guess, land?) around the summertime, or maybe slightly after that, ahead of the next-gen consoles.
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Until then, well, there's always the SEGA Ages version of G-LOC Air Battle to play when it comes to Switch on April 30. No, it's not exactly the same, but 30 years will do that to a game. And frankly, anything that shuts out all this blasted noise is bliss, rn.
Featured Image Credit: MicrosoftTopics: Microsoft Flight Simulator, Xbox, PC