One-upping 2020’s Microsoft Flight Simulator seemed pretty challenging, considering just how advanced that game was back in the day, but the 2024 version of Microsoft Flight Sim aims to do so with gusto. And, according to the latest news, it won’t even punish your PC for trying to run it.
Notably, the developer Asobo has been showing off just how impressive Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024‘s full 3D landscapes, gameplay features, and content are from the very start. This implied an extremely hefty list of PC hardware requirements, but the official listings are somewhat humble.
Now, obviously, the targeted ‘Ideal Spec’ for this game is basically top-of-the-line stuff, with 64 GB of RAM in town and the excellent RTX 4080/14700K combo. Yet, if you’re just aiming to play the game and enjoy the planes themselves, you’re going to able to do so on the ageing RX 5700 GPU. Astonishing stuff, really.
Official hardware requirements for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 are now in
While it’s always worth keeping a pinch of salt in hand when it comes to official system requirements, the stuff Asobo’s shown off here is promising indeed. It suggests that the game is going to be particularly RAM-hungry, though somewhat forgiving on the GPU and CPU side of things. Let’s be honest here: that Ryzen 5 2600X is getting a tad long in the tooth in 2024.
Storage-wise, too, this infographic is fairly surprising as it suggests the new Microsoft Flight Sim is going to be better at content compression than its predecessor. It’s a steep difference, as the 2024 version of the game requires a relatively meager 50 GB of free space, while the 2020 build asked for thrice as much space by default, at 150 GB on day one.
As Microsoft Flight Simulator spans literally the entire planet, this time rendering it all in some seriously impressive detail, not a lot of that goodness can fit in those 50 gigs by default. To compensate, the game instead streams content from Microsoft’s own servers, which means you’ll need an Internet connection as well. Asobo specifies that a 10 Mbps Internet connection should do the trick well enough, though obviously the faster you trawl the net, the better.
If the bit that concerns you is that Microsoft Flight Sim 2024 is nowhere to be found on Steam, I wouldn’t worry too much. One of Asobo’s senior community managers recently stated that the game would be live for pre-order on September 26, well ahead of its November 19 release date. So, Asobo is getting to it, and the latest Flight Simulator absolutely is coming to Steam.
Published: Sep 20, 2024 11:15 am