Microsoft Flight Simulator is adding Europe, new planes and more
Microsoft Flight Simulator may have just launched on console, but that is not slowing the team down, as they have announced that World Update 6 is coming, bringing updates to Germany, Austria and Switzerland, along with old and new flying machines and more.
World Update 6 might not have the best name, but it will bring all pilots new aerial imagery, high-resolution elevation maps and several brand-new 3D cities across Germany, Basel in Switzerland, Graz and Vienna in Austria are drastically enhancing the visuals of these three countries and if that wasn’t enough the beautiful mountain-ranges of the Alps.
The team has also hand-crafted about 100 famous locations (points of interest, or POIs) and several airports like Lübeck, Stuttgart, Klagenfurt and St. Gallen. The update also includes new discovery flights, landing challenges and bush trips that take simmers across this beautiful region of our planet. World Update VI will be available for download in the in-sim marketplace free-of-charge on September 7th.
The world is not the only aspect getting updated, classic planes are being added, like the famous German plane from 1930 called the Junkers JU-52.
In Germany, the Junkers JU-52 is lovingly called “Tante JU” or “Aunt JU.” The team has gone to great lengths to recreate the plane as authentically and accurately as possible. We scanned the entire plane with a high-resolution digital scanner to achieve an extremely high level of detail and accuracy. We were fortunate to have the support of Bernd Junkers, the grandson of the original designer, Hugo Junkers, and also worked with an organization that preserves one of the last surviving examples of this famous plane.
While the “Local Legends” series celebrates the history of aviation, Microsoft Flight Simulator is also working with organizations around the world that are shaping the future of aviation. They have partnered with Volocopter, a fascinating German company creating one of the most exciting new aircraft in the world, an eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing) air taxi for urban flights called “VoloCity”. In collaboration with the team at Volocopter, we are integrating their electric air taxis and incorporating Volocopter’s vision for urban air mobility city operations into Microsoft Flight Simulator. The VoloCity air taxi represents our first step toward the introduction of one of the widely-requested aircraft – helicopters.
The VoloCity air taxi will release in November of this year.
Finally, those looking for speed will have choices coming up, not only the Top Gun pack, more details on that are being held back, as to not spoil the movie, but the game will add Reno Air Races, the worlds fastest motorsport.
The Reno Air Races represent the first major expansion for Microsoft Flight Simulator. Simmers will now be able to race against their friends or pilots from around the world with the addition of competitive multiplayer to the sim, those looking to play this, will have to wait until later this Spring
