MSFS

Product Information

Developer

Orbx

Purchase From

Orbx

Price

$22.72 AUD

BUY HERE

Version Reviewed

1.0

Press Copy Provided By

Orbx

FSElite's preferred Flight Sim vendor is SimMarket. (Why?)

As per our Community Charter, all of our reviews are free from bias, prejudice and favouritism. Don't forget, each reviewer has their own style and thoughts, although they all abide by the Review Guidelines - something I suggest you read.

For me, Essendon Airport holds a special place in my heart. When travelling to Australia a few years ago, I found myself in the vibrant city of Melbourne and was impressed by the skyline of the city. I was so impressed that I felt the urge to fly around and see the city from a different perspective. It was then when I found that Essendon Airport had plenty of opportunities to do just that. With the private flying lesson booked, I headed to the airport and started my one-hour session around Melbourne. Unknown to me at the time was the fact that Essendon would eventually become the future home of Orbx’s Australian offices and that a detailed version of the airport would be produced. With my memory and plenty of pictures in mind, I couldn’t wait to get stuck in with the new flagship from Orbx.

A little history of the airport is needed first. Essendon Airport was, at one point in time, the main airport for the city of Melbourne. Situated only 8 miles from the city, the airport served a great purpose for allowing visitors across the country to visit Melbourne. However, as time went on, more and more airlines needed more space and so the primary airport for Melbourne was moved. However, all wasn’t lost as Essendon retained its vital use by providing the city with a buzzing hub of general aviation traffic with numerous flight schools, the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia and also the home of Orbx. And being the home of Orbx, there was no doubt that all the stops would be pulled to ensure that Essendon Fields was recreated to the highest degree. This is absolutely the case with the new version released for Microsoft Flight Simulator, as I’ll explain in this review.

Product Information

Developer

Asobo Studio

Purchase From

Microsoft

Price

$14.99

BUY HERE

Version Reviewed

1.0

Press Copy Provided By

Self Purchase

FSElite's preferred Flight Sim vendor is SimMarket. (Why?)

As per our Community Charter, all of our reviews are free from bias, prejudice and favouritism. Don't forget, each reviewer has their own style and thoughts, although they all abide by the Review Guidelines - something I suggest you read.

When it was announced that Microsoft would be bringing the Junkers JU-52 to the simulator, it didn’t immediately appeal to me. As someone who often flies jetliners, or smaller GA planes with friends online, the idea of a historical aircraft didn’t strike me as exciting. However, when I saw the overall quality of the tri-engine bird, I suddenly felt drawn to how she looked. Factor that in with the ability to fly over Germany in a new level of detail thanks to the World Update, it was a no-brainer for me to download the first of (hopefully) many Local Legends.

Let’s just back up a little before we dive into the review. While Microsoft is the publisher of the Junkers JU-52, it has been developed by someone extremely familiar with the plane and its 90-year history. Oliver Moser, who originally released the Junkers JU-52/3M for X-Plane 11 was the lead developer on this project, meaning he brought over his experience and first-hand knowledge to the project. In fact, Microsoft went so far as to work with Bernd Junkers, the grandson of the original creator of the JU-52 (Hugo Junkers), to help create this replica in the simulator. That’s the dedication to bringing a plane to a flight simulator. With that in mind, it’s time to step into this digital replica.

Product Information

Developer

Aeroplane Heaven

Purchase From

Aeroplane Heaven

Price

$32.95

BUY HERE

Version Reviewed

1.4

Press Copy Provided By

Self Purchase

FSElite's preferred Flight Sim vendor is SimMarket. (Why?)

As per our Community Charter, all of our reviews are free from bias, prejudice and favouritism. Don't forget, each reviewer has their own style and thoughts, although they all abide by the Review Guidelines - something I suggest you read.

The Supermarine Spitfire is a plane that barely requires an introduction. It is one of the heroes of World War 2, and the Battle of Britain specifically. The plane was designed by R. J. Mitchell, although he would sadly never live long enough to see what his plane would eventually be capable of. R. J. Mitchell passed away in 1937.

Aeroplane Heaven’s rendition of the Spitfire is that of the Mk1A. As the name might suggest, this is the first version of the Spitfire. It would later lead to many different variants with several differences over the original. In this review, we will dive into Aeroplane Heaven’s latest release and see how well made it is, and how such a vintage plane holds up in our still relatively new simulators.

Product Information

Developer

Black Square

Purchase From

Just Flight

Price

$39.99 USD

BUY HERE

Version Reviewed

1.0

Press Copy Provided By

Just Flight

FSElite's preferred Flight Sim vendor is SimMarket. (Why?)

As per our Community Charter, all of our reviews are free from bias, prejudice and favouritism. Don't forget, each reviewer has their own style and thoughts, although they all abide by the Review Guidelines - something I suggest you read.

How do you feel about the taxiway signs that default Microsoft Flight Simulator has to offer? Personally, I think they’re pretty mediocre. Lacking in accuracy, tough to read, and have a slight tendency to get in your way. The folks at Black Square and Just Flight agreed, and decided to develop Real Taxiways USA. Let’s find out if it’s worth picking up…

Video produced by: Spencer te Wildt 

Product Information

Developer

Pilot Plus

Purchase From

Pilot Plus / Orbx

Price

£14.49

BUY HERE

Version Reviewed

1.0.0

Press Copy Provided By

Pilot Plus

FSElite's preferred Flight Sim vendor is SimMarket. (Why?)

As per our Community Charter, all of our reviews are free from bias, prejudice and favouritism. Don't forget, each reviewer has their own style and thoughts, although they all abide by the Review Guidelines - something I suggest you read.

Welcome to Bristol Airport. This regional airport in the south west of the UK is home to airlines such as easyJet, TUI, Ryaniar, Aer Lingus and many more.

Installing the scenery is easily done. You can either buy the airport directly from the developer at Pilot Plus’ website or through Orbx Central. If you download directly, then you will use the Pilot Plus installer, which takes just a few moments. Using OrbxDirect is easier, but neither method is difficult.

If we start by taking a look at the airport as a whole, we’ll see that Pilot Plus has done a fantastic job at blending the environment with the default scenery of the simulator itself. It is worth noting that Pilot Plus has made the airport inline with the current airport layout, including some of the construction work that is ongoing at the old terminal building. In addition to having the airport seamlessly integrate with the default scenery, Pilot Plus has included precise 1m mesh, which means the runway is sloped accurately. This is a step beyond what was seen in previous versions of this airport from this development team on other platforms.

As mentioned earlier, I have travelled through Bristol all of my life. To see it recreated in this level of detail is really amazing. Taking a trip through the terminal building, we can see that all the shops, cafes and check-in desks have been included. Banners advertising certain routes and airlines have been included, while the easyJet bag drop zone has been branded really nice. Shops such as WH Smiths, M&S and Soho coffee have been modelled to an impressive level of detail. Continuing through the terminal, we can see that the security lanes have been included, along with a great rendition of the main terminal building. There are a few big shops missing, but that is only noticeable to those who frequent the airport a whole lot. Plus, this is a flight simulator so that’s hardly a big issue for anyone looking to add the airport to their UK collection.

Product Information

Developer

Just Flight

Purchase From

Just Flight

Price

$44.99 USD

BUY HERE

Version Reviewed

0.2.0

Press Copy Provided By

Just Flight

FSElite's preferred Flight Sim vendor is SimMarket. (Why?)

As per our Community Charter, all of our reviews are free from bias, prejudice and favouritism. Don't forget, each reviewer has their own style and thoughts, although they all abide by the Review Guidelines - something I suggest you read.

Tom takes us on a tour of Just Flight’s latest aircraft addition to Microsoft Flight Simulator. This popular training aircraft has many features that are sure to appeal to a large audience.

Video Produced By: Flight Sim Global

Product Information

Developer

Asobo Studio

Purchase From

Microsoft

Price

$59.99 USD

BUY HERE

Version Reviewed

1.18.13.0

Press Copy Provided By

Self Purchase

FSElite's preferred Flight Sim vendor is SimMarket. (Why?)

As per our Community Charter, all of our reviews are free from bias, prejudice and favouritism. Don't forget, each reviewer has their own style and thoughts, although they all abide by the Review Guidelines - something I suggest you read.

Never in my lifetime did I see a full flight simulation product be made available for a home console. In fact, I didn’t expect Microsoft to re-enter the flight simulation market after the tragic events of Flight back in 2012. Yet here we are in 2021 with both of those things. In fact, Microsoft Flight Simulator on Xbox could not have come at a better time. In a time where most of the world is still under some form of lockdown, exploring our planet from the comfort of your own living room has never felt so appealing.

I reviewed Microsoft Flight Simulator last year when it was first released and I was already hugely impressed. This review will focus on the Xbox experience more so than what the simulator offers. As they are both like-for-like, you can get an idea of what’s going on under the hood with our previous review. Having that said, I will be looking at the most recent update that paved the way for a lot of the technical and accessibility improvements that the Xbox version required for the new way to play.

Let’s just get this out of the way: this is a true flight simulation n experience. There are no gimmicks, no limitations on where you can fly and certainly no restrictions on how you fly. If you own the PC version of Microsoft Flight Simulator, then you will already know what it will be like on Xbox as they are like-for-like. That’s right, the whole experience of a flight simulator can be enjoyed in your living room from a tiny little box. No need for an expensive PC or worry about ensuring you have the right hardware – you can truly explore the world using a game console.

I admit that it must seem a little incomprehensible that a game console could even run a flight sim. After all, we have spent years as a community trying numerous performance tweaks and/or buying the most expensive hardware to get every frame possible from the sim. Yet now, a $299 game console can run the simulator at a steady frame rate and still look good.

Product Information

Developer

Pyreegue Dev Co

Purchase From

Orbx

Price

$29.95 AUD

BUY HERE

Version Reviewed

1.0.0

Press Copy Provided By

Developer via Orbx Central

FSElite's preferred Flight Sim vendor is SimMarket. (Why?)

As per our Community Charter, all of our reviews are free from bias, prejudice and favouritism. Don't forget, each reviewer has their own style and thoughts, although they all abide by the Review Guidelines - something I suggest you read.

Discover what makes this release of Edinburgh Airport for Microsoft Flight Simulator special in this FSElite review.

Edit – 11 Aug 2021:

We have been made aware of some of the following corrections to our review:

– The runway textures do match the airport as of 2021. Our comparison of 2018 imagery is incorrect.
– The runway edge lights aren’t meant to line up due to runway drainage. This was a mistake on our part.
– Performance of this airport was tested using 16gb of ram, as per the recommendation from Microsoft for the simulator. 32gb of ram is being recommended by the developer, but this information is not specified on the product page.

Product Information

Developer

MilViz

Purchase From

MilViz

Price

$39.99 USD

BUY HERE

Version Reviewed

1.0.0

Press Copy Provided By

MilViz

FSElite's preferred Flight Sim vendor is SimMarket. (Why?)

As per our Community Charter, all of our reviews are free from bias, prejudice and favouritism. Don't forget, each reviewer has their own style and thoughts, although they all abide by the Review Guidelines - something I suggest you read.

Hello everyone, Patrick back again and today we’re taking a look at the MilViz FG-1D Corsair. The Corsair is an American fighter that first took flight in 1940. Going on to serve in World War ll and later the Korean War. Now in 2021 it’s serving you in Microsoft Flight Simulator.

During late January 1945, The FG-1D was first delivered to the Port of Columbus Airport in Ohio. Today the airport is called John Glenn Columbus International and that’s where I will be showcasing the Corsair for you today. 

Video Produced By: The Flight Sim Deck

Product Information

Developer

Orbx

Purchase From

Orbx

Price

$22.72 AUD

BUY HERE

Version Reviewed

1.0.0

Press Copy Provided By

Orbx

FSElite's preferred Flight Sim vendor is SimMarket. (Why?)

As per our Community Charter, all of our reviews are free from bias, prejudice and favouritism. Don't forget, each reviewer has their own style and thoughts, although they all abide by the Review Guidelines - something I suggest you read.

This is a redux of a former P3D scenery brought to the new modern standard of MSFS. Much has been updated with the new technologies available and Tom takes you for a visit.

Video Produced By: Flight Sim Global