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Helicopters and gliders coming to Microsoft Flight Simulator on November 11th alongside 40th Anniversary Edition of the game (free upgrade)

ghostcrew

ghostcrew

The Shrouded Ghost
Administrator
Oct 27, 2017
30,852
Big news! Helicopters are finally making it to Flight Sim alongside gliders and a few other nice upgrades with the upcoming 40th Anniversary Edition. The upgrade is free for existing owners and Game Pass players.

www.theverge.com

Microsoft Flight Simulator’s helicopters and gliders arrive on November 11th

20 classic missions are coming back, too.
www.theverge.com www.theverge.com

The update also includes an airliner - the massive Airbus A-310 "where nearly every single button works just as expected".

The 40th Anniversary Edition is a rather big update for Microsoft Flight Simulator, as it also includes seven famous historical aircraft, including the largest wooden plane ever made: the 1947 Hughes H-4 Hercules. Microsoft is also adding four classic airports, 10 glider airports, 14 heliports, and 20 classic missions from past versions of Flight Simulator. In total there are 12 new aircraft.

Ahead of the 40th Anniversary Edition, Microsoft Flight Simulator is also getting a German cities update today that coincides with Gamescom (held in Cologne). The update includes improvements to five German cities: Hanover, Dortmund, Düsseldorf, Bonn, and Cologne.

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MSFS_40th_Anniversary_Screenshots05_3769b2ce579f3a3217a8.jpg
 
Adryuu

Adryuu

Master of the Wind
Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,886
I may reinstall in the future to learn some heli crashing landing!
 
vixolus

vixolus

Prophet of Truth
Member
Sep 22, 2020
60,587
My dad was a heli pilot for the military. Maybe I'll get him a series s and flight kit for Christmas haha. Can't even think when he flew last. Probably 13 years or so now
 
chrominance

chrominance

Sky Van Gogh
Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,661
cyrribrae said:
Oh really? Makes sense. Loving all the free updates from Xbox this Gamescom. But none of the expansions (including the year one) were paid, no?
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The Reno Air Races packs were paid. I haven't been in the game in a while so I don't know if any air race gameplay mechanics/features are available for free (i.e. are the packs just DLC airplanes) or if you can't do them without buying one of the two packs. Given the prices, though, I would assume air racing is restricted to the expansion.
 
cyrribrae

cyrribrae

Chicken Chaser
Member
Jan 21, 2019
12,723
chrominance said:
The Reno Air Races packs were paid. I haven't been in the game in a while so I don't know if any air race gameplay mechanics/features are available for free (i.e. are the packs just DLC airplanes) or if you can't do them without buying one of the two packs. Given the prices, though, I would assume air racing is restricted to the expansion.
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True true, forgot about that.
 
Watership

Watership

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,336
Much more detail here:
news.xbox.com

Microsoft Flight Simulator Celebrates gamescom with Its First-Ever City Update and Shares New Details for Its 40th Anniversary Edition - Xbox Wire

Check out the free City Update 01 – available today! To celebrate the return of Gamescom, Microsoft Flight Simulator has released its first-ever City Update today featuring five brand-new photogrammetry German cities: Hanover, Dortmund, Dusseldorf, Bonn, and Cologne. Simmers will even be able to...
news.xbox.com news.xbox.com

In summary, the 40th Anniversary Edition will bring:

4 classic commercial airports
10 glider airports
12 new aircraft
14 heliports
20 classic missions from the franchise's past
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So stoked for Helicopters. And they're bringing back Meigs Field! The feels! Also exited we're getting so much free in this 40th edition. Really looking forward to trying the Spirit of Spirit of St. Louis and the Spruce Goose.
 
TeenageFBI

TeenageFBI

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,718
The upgrade I really want is for MS to fix the stupid patching system which takes forever and can break in spectacular ways. I haven't played in a while so maybe it's not so terrible these days.

Ideally the game would patch itself through Steam which is faster and far more reliable.
 
Dash Kappei

Dash Kappei

Member
Nov 1, 2017
5,033
Polk said:
Not counting ancient Thrustmaster Hotas One, I'm only aware of two yokes (Thustmaster and Turtle Beach) made for MSFS.
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vixolus said:
Theyre expensive but they're out there!
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Dang, they sure are expensive! Super cool tho.
I have an ancient HOTAS-X (iirc?) but I think it was only PS3/PC lol, and cheap, bought it for ace combat and After Burner Climax. But yeah, just a flight stick not full on yoke. I don't know, I'm not sure how much fun it is to play MSFS with a controller
 
HylianSeven

HylianSeven

Shin Megami TC - Community Resetter
Member
Oct 25, 2017
20,442
Yesssss! Been waiting quite some time for helicopters to happen.
 
Filipus

Filipus

Prophet of Regret
Avenger
Dec 7, 2017
5,254
I had to uninstall the game since I was out of space on my SSD. But... just bought a new 1TB ssd today! So this is great timing. I'm also thinking of trying some HOTAS with VR, sounds really fun...
 
EricTheGamerman

EricTheGamerman

Banned
Aug 12, 2019
5,159
How does this play on Series X BTW? My laptop definitely isn't running it and I've been looking at Series X for a few titles like this.
 
Dr. Mario

Dr. Mario

Member
Oct 27, 2017
14,356
Netherlands
Aw shit, completely missed the earlier announcement. I flew glider planes when I was a teenager, so this was my biggest request. Definitely going to annoy my wife with slow flying on boring flight simulator for hours on end.
 

Fowler

Member
Oct 26, 2017
748
EricTheGamerman said:
How does this play on Series X BTW? My laptop definitely isn't running it and I've been looking at Series X for a few titles like this.
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It's fantastic — frame rate is not as rock-solid as some of the initial reviews said, but for the most part it looks phenomenal and maps surprisingly well to the controller. I bought a Series X solely for this and thought it was worth it.
 
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