For a final touch of realism, the game also integrates real-time meteorological data, generating simulated weather conditions that mirror those of the real world.įlight Simulator 2020 purposely mixes a simulation of something imaginary with a visualization of actual conditions. Players fly over terrain and buildings streamed from Microsoft’s Bing Maps data set, and the inclusion of real-time air traffic control information means players need to avoid the flight paths of actual aircraft.

So while playing I remain hypervigilant, gripping the controls so tightly that it hurts.Īll that realism begins with the cockpit instruments and controls, but it extends well beyond. “It doesn’t matter how often I crash.” But the game is so realistic that crashing scares the daylights out of me. “It’s just a simulation,” I keep telling myself. Covered with sweat as I carefully adjust ailerons, trim, and throttle, I worked my way through the how-to-fly lessons, emerging exhausted. While he relaxes with the game, my experiences with it have been more stressful. Growing up next to a small regional airport, he saw private aircraft flying over his home every day, and he learned to fly as soon as his feet were long enough to reach the rudder pedals. “Flying a Cessna 152 in this game feels exactly like flying one in real life,” he wrote. My nephew recently sent me an email about our latest shared obsession: Microsoft’s Flight Simulator 2020.

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