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New 'Microsoft Flight Simulator' Footage Shows Stunning Graphical Improvement Over Predecessor

Ewan Moore

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New 'Microsoft Flight Simulator' Footage Shows Stunning Graphical Improvement Over Predecessor

Featured Image Credit: Microsoft

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 is a stunning-looking game. We all know this. We've covered this extensively here at GAMINGbible, inviting you to gawp with us at the incredible volumetric clouds, impressively realised aircraft interiors, and lifelike weather effects. If this game were a person, it'd be you. Because you're beautiful.

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It isn't exactly breaking news, then, that the upcoming flight sim is considerably better looking than its predecessor. Microsoft Flight Simulator X first launched in 2006, after all, and video games have come a long way since then.

Even so, it really is quite something to see the two games side by side. YouTube channel Flight Sim has put together a fascinating video comparing the airport scenery in Microsoft Flight Simulator X and Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, and it's honestly like looking at the real thing next to a hastily assembled stack of cardboard boxes.


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In short, the airports in 2020 are bloody gorgeous. And I say this as someone who believes with all their heart that airports in real life are the closest thing to hell that a person can experience before death.

Again though, perhaps it's not a major shocker that 2020 looks the way it does. After all, we already know just how much work developer Asobo Studio is putting into the game, right down the fact that it'll feature "all the airports on Earth," including an incredible 37,000 airports that have been manually edited by the studio.

Of those 37,000, 80 of the the busiest airports on the planet will get a little extra polish and attention, which means we'll get things like surface definition, more detailed signs, and that sort of thing. There's also a "top level category" which will feature some of the most "iconic" airports in the world. These locations will be further fleshed out with unique buildings, props and terrain - they should be indistinguishable from their real-life counterparts.

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Microsoft Flight Simulator Is Back - And It Looks Absolutely Stunning. Credit: Microsoft
Microsoft Flight Simulator Is Back - And It Looks Absolutely Stunning. Credit: Microsoft

Lead game designer Sven Mestas explained how the team was making use of textures and topographical data from Bing Maps, as well as Microsoft's Azure cloud tech to generate terrain and buildings.

"In order to reach a new level of reality in flight simulation, we needed a new approach," he said. "That's why we decided to innovate by editing airports from real satellite pictures. This technique involves editing each airport manually, which means particular attention to detail has been given to every single one of them, to bring them a step closer to reality."

Topics: Xbox One, PC

Ewan Moore
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