Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 (PlayStation 5)

I have always loved the idea of flying. In any game where I get the chance to get behind the controls of some airborne object, that's where I direct my steps first. The airport, for example, is always my first destination in any GTA-like title and I'd be so bold as to say that I've also become quite good at flying in games over the years. So when it was announced that Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020) would be released, I was equal parts happy and horrified. Happy because I would finally have the opportunity to take to the skies in an almost authentic experience and horrified because I neither owned nor had any plans to acquire a platform for which the simulator was released. PlayStation was the system I primarily played on at the time and although I later got a Switch, it didn't help much as it was of course either PC or Xbox that was required to take to the skies under Microsoft's auspices. I had to stay on the ground.

Now, of course, it's not the 2020 edition I'm going to talk about, but the sequel Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 to be discussed, but in light of the paragraph above, you can certainly understand my happiness when editor Mäki, just hours after I rejoined the editorial team, sent out the question of who could consider reviewing the highly topical PlayStation 5 version. It was finally time to put on my pilot's goggles and take my place behind the controls of a whole host of real (albeit simulated) flying machines to finally find out what I had been missing all these years. And with that dreamy flashback, I welcome you to Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024.

The first thing I notice when I fire up my new life among the clouds is how long it actually takes to boot Microsoft's new PS5 version. Sure, I understand that a game that literally loads resources from all corners of the world needs a while to get ready, but for someone who has become accustomed to the current generation's lightning-fast SSD wait times, it's still a change to have to wait upwards of a minute and a half before I can get started. Once the wait is over, however, it's time for me to create my own pilot through a fairly simple character creator by standard standards. Despite my reservations about a personalised pilot avatar even being necessary in a first-person view simulator, I take the task seriously and put together an aviator who I imagine is an older version of my GTA Online character and who, in a parallel universe, left the path of crime to pursue his (or possibly my) dream full-time.

Even here, however, I notice that Microsoft's flight simulator seems to suffer from some performance issues, as the image gets a bit choppy, while Microsoft's flight simulator seems to have trouble loading simple things like the small amount of shirts or hairstyles that I'm going to dress my old troublemaker with. Of course, it has very little to do with the game itself that I have to wait a few extra seconds before I can see which brand of energy drink characterises one of the overalls on offer, but at the same time I can find it ultimately a superfluous element that also drags down the technical expectations of the rest of the simulator. A character creator is of course not a necessary component here, but if it is to be included, it is my humble opinion that it should at least work flawlessly.

But enough about that because a few button presses later I finally get to take a seat behind the controls of a small private plane. After a rocky start where the game sadly failed to load the instructions that my flight instructor was supposed to share, I finally got to put Bromma airport under me and take my first stumbling wing steps in Microsoft's worldwide simulation. And yes, it was magical but also much more difficult than I expected. In retrospect, it goes without saying that Grand Theft Auto cannot be compared to Microsoft Flight Simulator, but the cockiness that I had built up during my years in Los Santos airspace was now gone and I had to learn everything from scratch. For example, the nose of the plane should be angled upwards to regulate speed, while too much engine power in that position will cause my altitude to be way too high. If you know anything about aeroplanes, you probably identified a handful of errors in just that one sentence and can probably conclude that I don't know what I'm talking about at all, but I would counter that I'm learning! All the time! And that's one of the great things about Microsoft Flight Simulator, I feel like I'm constantly learning new skills about how to handle aircraft, from basic takeoff and landing to aerodynamic lessons to consider in the air. It's not always easy, but maybe that's why I feel like I'm growing in the role the more time I spend in the air.

In addition, I feel that Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 gives me just enough information to make me feel like I can handle the challenges without the game holding my hand to any great extent. The instructions are even quite sparse and much is left to my slowly increasing sense of control to handle step by step. I basically like it, but sometimes it actually becomes a little too difficult to decipher what the game wants from me, as the robot-like voices often use a language that feels adapted for fully trained pilots and not for newly hatched pretend pilots like myself. However, a significant part of the training consists of learning a number of keyboard shortcuts on how to control the plane, which is a bit of a shame considering how detailed the cockpits of flying machines actually are. Every little control is seemingly represented and can be interacted with, but I never get a lesson on which buttons and levers actually do what. From what I understand, the information can certainly be read through various checklists that I, in my beginner's state, do not understand, which means that I have never, despite repeated attempts, managed to start my craft on my own. On the one hand, it is of course gratifying that I can be in the air relatively quickly, but at the same time it always feels like I am missing out on an important part of the experience when I am not allowed to click and turn various instruments as I imagine real pilots do. Especially when everything is available in front of me and the knowledge of "how" is the only thing missing.

Once I'm up in the air, however, it's not something I think much about, because it's easy to lose most of one's criticism when I'm not only piloting my own aircraft, but also actually flying over Stockholm, Gothenburg, London, Sydney and other known and unknown places in the world. Real places that open my eyes to what I really already knew but that I still feel good about being reminded of. The world is a big place. And through Microsoft's flight simulator, I can experience it in its geographical entirety from my living room. While the experience is constantly riddled with optimisation issues, with textures on the ground frequently flashing in and out of my field of view, and while I had hoped that such issues would have been addressed since the game was actually released for PC and Xbox as early as last year, it is a true delight to travel across the sky and look down on our actual landscapes unfolding in all their glory. I do experience some problems with the image refresh at times, and I would have liked to have seen the frequency increased to 60 fps. It's a lot to ask of a game with the world as a stage, but when such a large part of the experience is based on looking out over the views, it would have contributed that little extra if everything flowed better than it does now. I also feel that the visuals feel a bit outdated and not always as nice and crisp as I had imagined beforehand. Technical shortcomings are there and unfortunately pull the rating down a bit, but for me it is easy to ignore when I live in the pilot role.

They've also done a good job of utilising the brilliant technology of the DualSense controller, both in terms of the resistance of the triggers when I correct the rudder, but also the vibrations and the built-in speaker is used extensively in a satisfying way. I'm glad that some thought has been given to the possibilities of creating further immersion with the PS5's hardware, and it's easy for me to dream on and toy with the idea of a possible PSVR2 update at some point in the future. The idea of being able to casually look out the windscreen and see the world below with a simple flick of the neck could really do wonders for immersion in the same way that it did in Gran Turismo 7. What's more, the annoying analogue stick-driven mouse pointer used in the cockpit could have been replaced with a motion-sensitive control scheme that might even have incentivised the developers to teach me how to start my flying machine manually and made me completely immersed in my surroundings. And that wouldn't have been good for my real job, my studies or my social life as I would probably never have left my digital aeroplane ever again.