Microsoft

Sydney is the de facto capital of Australia, containing as it does, the most iconic architecture, beaches, harbours and people.

Overview and tactical tips for this classic series.

May 2000

The most popular operating system on home compters. Most flight sims resisted running inside windows until the late 1990's, but it soon became the norm. For developers and users alike WIndows obviated the need to deal with custom device drivers.

Beta version CD ROM provided August 2000 by Microsoft | Retail box (2 x CD ROM) | A4 colour flyer.

Although not entirely representative of the graphics in-game, this video gives a good sense of the sort of action the sim seeks to engender.

It doesn’t get any better than this! Total realism as I flew under the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Except for the bit about flying under the bridge. Previously to get anywhere near this level of detail for a particular locale you would have to purchase a 3rd party scenery pack and then suffer abominable frame rates. Not any more!

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 came loaded with historical aircraft covering the first 100 years of powered flight. Aircraft: 1903 Wright Flyer, Curtiss "Jenny", Vickers F.B.27A Vimy, Ryan NYP "Spirit of St. Louis", Ford 4-AT-E Tri-Motor, Model 5B Vega from Lockheed, Douglas DC-3, deHavilland DH-88 "Comet" and the Piper J-3C-65 "Cub".

A short flight by MiGMan created on the release of the sim in 2004.

A short flight by MiGMan created on the release of the sim in 2004.

A short flight by MiGMan created on the release of the sim in 2004.

Nearly every notable pilot of the day flew the Vega, using the theretofore unprecedented combination of speed and range to set record after record. A short flight by MiGMan created on the release of the sim in 2004.

Transcontinental Air Transport made headlines in 1929 when it reduced the travel time between New York and Los Angeles to a mere 48 hours.

A short flight by MiGMan created on the release of the sim in 2004.

I did some virtual barnstorming in 2004. In terms of fun this was as good as it got, and that was pretty good!

"Today we can easily imagine the exhilaration of that first flight, but we may not at first pause to consider the realities of the airborne experience: wooden propellors driven by bicycle chains, muslin-covered wings, an engine generating 12 horsepower. Takeoffs and landings are unpredictable at best, and the first successful flight lasted all of 12 seconds. The elegance of such astonishing success belies a crucible of self-sacrifice and daredevil perseverance."

The Comet carried all of its fuel in the fuselage ahead of the cockpit. This allowed for very thin, dagger-like wings...and very limited forward visibility.

A look behind the scenes at how artists and programmers create the clouds in the world of flight sim.

This is one of the most entertaining and clever ads I have ever seen for a software product.

Demonstrating just two of the many thousands of free 3rd party add-ons available for the Microsoft flight sims.

Breaking every rule in the book I fly under the Sydney Harbour Bridge, through a football stadium, and frighten the diners 60 floors up in Centrepoint Tower's revolving restaurant! Oh, and it's at night in a Vought Corsair, which Microsoft thoughtfully provided for us in every copy of Flight Sim 2004.
And then I land at Sydney International Airport... probably in the wrong direction...

After a 14 year hiatus Microsoft re-envisioned their flagship IP. A combination of Bing satellite mapping, cloud storage, Azure cloud computing, photogrammetry, atmospheric physics modelling and many other bespoke software technologies have delivered a quantum leap in the flight sim experience. The next decade looks to be the best yet for flight sim fans!

What I said 18 years ago about Flight Sim 2002 seems totally applicable to this new sim:

Previously to get anywhere near this level of detail for a particular locale you would have to purchase a 3rd party scenery pack and then suffer abominable frame rates.

With the ability to automatically generate buildings, trees, static and flying aircraft and the associated radio traffic this package must have sent shock waves through companies whose business was based on enhancing the Microsoft sims. Still, the open architecture is there and the Pro version even includes an object / aircraft construction kit.

I'd imagine some business plans are hastily being rewritten and in the end we are all better off.

The sim has the ability to support computers and graphic cards that aren't even built yet - but they will be!

Yet it still runs on an average PC and looks good. Who could have imagined 10 years ago that this level of detail and complexity could be modelled on a PC? Only in my dreams!

MiGMan, 2002

Compare this to the same flight in Microsoft Flight Sim 2002.

The press kit at the launch of FSX contained some special items...

Demo trailer for Microsoft Flight Sim X show at the 2006 E3 trade show.

On an unusually grey Sydney afternoon in October 2006 MiGMan was a guest of Microsoft at the launch of their new flagship product - Microsoft Flight Simulator X.
The creme-de-la-creme of Australia's gaming journalists gathered at Kingsford Smith Airport, Sydney, and embarked on a champagne flight over Sydney Harbour in a C-47, the military transport version of the Douglas DC-3.