“The world, especially the Big Data world, between Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020) and Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 will be shared,” explains Jörg Neumann, head of Microsoft Flight Simulator. “We will not have two different digital twins – cities like London will be shared, POIs will be shared, the elevation field (DEM) and the aerial images will all be shared. What is different in MSFS2024 is that we’ve optimized how the data gets to the player. So there’s going to be a lot more in the cloud, which gives us more options. Instead of 23 types of trees, we now have about 200. And that ultimately allows us to be a lot more specific. There will still be trees in both worlds, but one will be a little more general and the other more sophisticated, but the worlds will be the same.”
Sophisticated is a key word when it comes to describing what the latest World Update XVII has in store for Microsoft Flight Simulator. From using improved cameras to more accurate data layers, the entire project behind this update is based on leveraging the latest technology that wasn’t available when these regions were first mapped. Not only has this update been long requested by fans, but it’s also been identified by the Flight Simulator team as a project they’ve wanted to tackle for some time.
“We had photogrammetry (for the regions), but it didn’t look very good. And I think that’s what people saw, right? Sure, the city was there, but it was dark, the shadows of the buildings were way too black, and there were all kinds of problems,” Neumann explains. “London was highlighted by the community saying, ‘Please, please, update London.’ So it was always in the back of my mind that we needed to do something with London. And when I worked with the Bing team, we talked a lot about wanting to get England right.”
