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One year on from the initial release of the sim we are already on World Update 6 and the sheer amount of content that continues to be pumped into the virtual skies and this latest offering, which has actually been delayed from its original August release date will cover some of the most stunning areas of Western Europe including Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.
Microsoft said on its Gamescom 2021 Xbox stream: ”Our latest World Update celebrates the region of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. New aerial imagery, high-resolution elevation maps, and several brand-new 3D cities in Germany, Basel in Switzerland, Graz, and Vienna in Austria are drastically enhancing the visuals of these three countries and 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.”
Also coming alongside the update will be some ‘Local Legends’ – a new series that will feature aircraft that are more specific to the region, but not so well known outside of it. Case in point here is the inclusion of the Junkers JU-52.
Microsoft has worked with one of the few pilots who flew one of the last of the Junkers. The Local Legends isn’t a free update which might be a bit of a kicker but will arrive on the same date as the World Update priced at $14.00 in the in-game store.
More exciting news was perhaps a Microsoft partnership with Volocopter – a german company working on a vertical take-off electric air taxi. The VoloCity (see what they did there?) Air Taxi will release in-game this November and you will start to hear a lot more about them in the real world in the coming months we are sure.
The final announcement for Flight Simulator 2020 was that the Reno races expansion pack will be released before the end of the year. Endorsed by RARA (Reno Air Racing Association) the pack will allow pilots from all over the world to race together at 500mph 50ft about the ground.
It’s actually being billed as ‘the first major expansion of Microsoft Flight Simulator’ which is both incredible and exciting when you consider what has come before it in the last year.
We will bring you a full review when we get our hands on the code.
