Microsoft Flight Simulator There’s a brand new update that brings New Zealand into focus with some new major improvements.
Earlier this week, Microsoft released World Update XII: New Zealand, taking the mountainous country to greater heights than before. As with the previous update, this update was made to make flying over New Zealand more realistic, using higher resolution satellite and aerial imagery and improving the digital elevation model based on that.
Of particular note are seven new cities reconstructed using high-resolution photogrammetric data and a triangular irregular network model, including: Auckland, Christchurch, Hamilton, Nelson, Queenstown, Tauranga and Wellington.
In addition, there are nine new handcrafted airports, including Gisborne Airport, Milford Sound Airport (NZMF), Martins Bay Airport (NZMJ), Gorge River Airstrip (NZQE), Rotorua Airport (NZRO), Lake Tekapo Airport (NZTL), Whangarei Airport (NZWR), Westport Airport (NZWS) and Quentin Lodge Airstrip (T004).
Probably most exciting for Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit fans is that Hobbiton village Matamata has been added as one of 62 attractions. Also included in this list of attractions are places like the New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Hell’s Gate, Isle of Dogs Lighthouse and obviously many more.
Three new bush tours have also been discovered, such as New Zealand’s North Island in the Textron Aviation Beechcraft Bonanza G36. You’ll also find three Discovery flights, one of which lets you fly over the country’s largest city, Auckland, in a Cessna 152. For those who like a challenge, there are four new landing challenges, including a strong wind landing of an Airbus A320neo at Wellington Airport and the famous challenge of an Airbus A310-300 at Christchurch Airport.
An update for Microsoft Simulator is now available, just make sure your game is set to version 1.30.12.0.
