9 hours ago, HiFlyer said:

4 years ago, we couldn't even have dreamed of a sim that looked like this. What will we be flying 10 years from now?

This is absolutely mind-boggling unbelievable. My guess is that, at this speed, in 10 years we should have full 8K VR at 90fps living / flying in MSFS2034 world which is about 90% indistinguishable from the real world.   

Nah... I'm waiting for the Holodeck.

1 hour ago, FlyIce said:

This is absolutely mind-boggling unbelievable. My guess is that, at this speed, in 10 years we should have full 8K VR at 90fps living / flying in MSFS2034 world which is about 90% indistinguishable from the real world.   

I bet those "land bars" will still be there

This is amazing! The possibilities for virtual tourism/hiking/mountain climbing/whatever going forward are limitless. I have no idea what will be possible in 10 years or even 5 years, but based on some of the responses to this incredible video, I can predict with absolute confidence that no matter now great this (or any future sim) becomes, there will always be nitpickers who wlll be unhappy with it no matter what. (Fast forward to MSFS2040, I can see it now: "This sim is garbage --- the species of beetles, the types of conifers, and the rock types are all wrong!"   

Edited December 4, 20241 yr by cobalt

I'm a geek who has been doing some of these things using drone view in the past anyway so I can't see a down side to what they've achieved especially if they can still balance performance with this level of detail  

I always start my flight in the terminal and walk the jetway to board my plane 🤦‍♂️

I usually switch to drone view to go down to the tarmac and take a quick look at the plane unless it's bad weather then I send my virtual co pilot out into the rain or snow lol  ( I do also understand not everyone wants to do this so do hope it is always an option) 

I've been known to land in Las Vegas and go to my room at the Cosmo to watch the Bellagio fountains 😄

I've even done a route in Trainsim to get to the airport before starting a flight 😁

I've definitely landed a helicopter in the yard to get home 

The concept of an entire digital twin model of the earth which is what they are striving to achieve is simply incredible!  My only "issue" is still some of the melted PG at ground level hence the comments someone made earlier about walking around major cities and why certain areas will be far more suited to a leisurely stroll than others. 

Outside of those PG areas though people can call it gamey or whatever they like but personally I think this is very cool...   

From a technical perspective it's simply an incredible achievement at this scale.  I was only a decade ago we were still excited about Ultimate Terrain add-ons LOL   

With all of that said I do also understand why people could be upset that walk around mode is there but a lot of the default aircraft in a "flight simulator" have issues and some of the more core sim features didn't seem to get much focus before release.  I can see where others are coming from but also doubt the team doing walk around was also doing aircraft development so I doubt it was a this got done "instead" of that scenario...  

Edited December 4, 20241 yr by psolk

This sim is turning to be more of a sightseeing platform that an actual simulator...LOL

Edited December 4, 20241 yr by CarlosF

13 minutes ago, CarlosF said:

This sim is turning to be more of a sightseeing platform that an actual simulator...LOL

Tourism ads incoming in 3..2..

9 hours ago, Sethos said:

Really wish we could remove that "Toggle EFB" notification. 

I think there's a thread about this at MS Flight Simulator Forums. All votes would help. I used to scoff at the folks who wanted all the detail inside terminals. I haven't tried that yet, but I go on a nature hike after nearly every flight.

55 minutes ago, CarlosF said:

This sim is turning to be more of a sightseeing platform that an actual simulator...LOL

The sim is more of a sightseeing platform than 2020, *and* it's more of a flight simulator than 2020.

If one is not throwing tantrums about the current bugs and actually experiences all the improvements in the digital twin earth rendition, visual fidelity, weather, flight dynamics, ground handling, avionics, flight planning etc etc then that would be readily apparent.
 

Edited December 4, 20241 yr by lwt1971

2 hours ago, psolk said:

 been doing some of these things using drone view in the past anyway so I can't see a down side to what they've achieved especially if they can still balance performance with this level of detail  

The concept of an entire digital twin model of the earth which is what they are striving to achieve is simply incredible!  My only "issue" is still some of the melted PG at ground level hence the comments someone made earlier about walking around major cities and why certain areas will be far more suited to a leisurely stroll than others. 

From a technical perspective it's simply an incredible achievement at this scale.

With all of that said I do also understand why people could be upset that walk around mode is there but a lot of the default aircraft in a "flight simulator" have issues and some of the more core sim features didn't seem to get much focus before release.  I can see where others are coming from but also doubt the team doing walk around was also doing aircraft development so I doubt it was a this got done "instead" of that scenario...  

Totally agree. I've spent far more time in 2020 in drone view than in the cockpit, probably a ratio of maybe four or five to one. Found some fascinating places and grabbed some great (to me) shots. I see vast amounts of time ahead wandering around the world in 2024 (and beyond?) I don't do any other games, for the same reason I'm not bothered about career mode or things like APL etc - I am absolutley not interested in any kind of role playing.

But yes, even I, a confirmed non-serious simmer and non-pilot, find it a bit odd that even some of the basic default aircraft don't have working landing gear, for example. Definitely should not have been allowed out in that condition.

But then, I worked for a very well-respected computer company in the 1980s, with more than a few guys who were world class technical experts, and yet I remember when they were getting their corporate knickers all moist with the big buzz of quality control standards they actually printed up and distributed several thousand posters about having achieved the ISO whatever-it-was and managed to actually misspell something in the main title. Can't remember the actual word now but it wasn't anything complicated and it was in the main title in letters about four inches tall. And this was the same organisation that decided for a brief period of time (until the resulting acronym was pointed out to them) that calling departmental managers Business Unit Managers was perfectly acceptable. Not particularly defending Asobo or apologising for them, but I can see how **** happens.

But back to the original post here, then yes - wow!

And it'll be fascinating to see what addons come along to exploit this. I'm still working on getting my installation all set up the way I want it but I will certainly try this out in some of the more remote little addons I have. Whether it will replace the drone camera for me, only time will tell. I'd certainly like some avatars that don't all look desparately young and dumb. Actually, a nice grizzly bear or hulking great gorrilla would be good. Oooh, how about a Darth Vader walkabout?

I followed the route I walk my dog earlier today just to see what it looked like.

2 hours ago, psolk said:

The concept of an entire digital twin model of the earth which is what they are striving to achieve is simply incredible!  My only "issue" is still some of the melted PG at ground level hence the comments someone made earlier about walking around major cities and why certain areas will be far more suited to a leisurely stroll than others. 

This. I don't understand why they can not use AI to process PG data and make them into good 3D objects, and then match them with terrain and street maps etc. Maybe they decide to reserve this upgrade for the future MSFS 2028. 

This is an arcade game, not a flight simulator.

3 hours ago, tamba765 said:

This is an arcade game, not a flight simulator.

I suppose it was inevitable that someone would get around to labeling MS2024 an "arcade game", just as all of its predecessors over the years have been called at some point. Either you have no idea what an arcade game is, or you're just trolling. Neither MS2024, MS2020, FSX, or even FS9 bears any resemblance whatever to an arcade game. Show me an arcade game where you can fly over real-world scenery with a choice of hundreds of aircraft and liveries; fly from practically any airport in the world; use cockpits that are modelled after real cockpits in high detail; have real weather options; flight planning; ATC; etc. etc. etc. Paraphrasing Winston Churchill: some arcade! some game!

5 hours ago, Tuskin38 said:

I followed the route I walk my dog earlier today just to see what it looked like.

Tonight, inspired by this thread, I hooked the PC up to our big 4K TV, set the LoD to 400 and from the comfort of our sofa my wife and I walked up Helvllyn in the English lakes via Red Tarn and out along Striding Edge to the summit with a wireless Xbox controller in live weather.

On the summit we were enveloped by cloud. It was astonishing.