Hello everyone, the following observation. Flight SAWH to SBPB. I fly with PMDG 738 in 2020, colleague in Prosim 738 in 2024, same route from Simbrief, same altitude. Mach 0.80
Takeoff almost at the same time, only about 10 minutes difference. I fly  in my FS2020 am 30 minutes longer than my friend in FS2024. I didn't think MS makes such differences in weather. It's clear that different weather data is being fed into the simulators here...
Maybe bad english, translated with DeepL

Edited April 20, 20251 yr by Alti

Just to clarify, is it the depicted onscreen weather that differs or is it the actual METARS that differ?

48 minutes ago, jrw4 said:

Just to clarify, is it the depicted onscreen weather that differs or is it the actual METARS that differ?

He is talking about overall flight time. Since METARS only include ground wind and not upper winds, they have no bearing on flight time.

Now I see. Thanks. The OP seems to be suggesting that the winds aloft data are not the same for the two 7:30 flights of almost 3500  miles. Did the two pilots compare the displayed flight level winds during the trip to ascertain if there was a discrepancy? 

 

Hi, yes: In MSFS2020 the wind was not so strong then in MSFS2024. Also Yes: Realtime set in both simulators

Were your friend located in the same place as you? 

Not much is known about how the MSFS severs broadcast their weather data. The winds aloft information is presumably based in some way on global models, but previous discussions on how this is done didn't, IIRC, yield anything definitive. Exactly how often the MSFS wind fields are updated has never been published, nor can I recall information on how that information is propagated through the various content delivery networks. I don't think we know whether or not 2020 and 2024 derive their meteorological data from the same source or different sources at this time.

Others may have better information on some of these details that they might share. As a former VATSIM CTR controller, I can tell you that winds aloft discrepancies are nothing at all new to desktop flight simulation. It was always challenging (to me at least) to coordinate enroute traffic ground speeds in high traffic situations. Everyone seemed to be flying with different winds aloft data.

1 hour ago, jrw4 said:

. Exactly how often the MSFS wind fields are updated has never been published, nor can I recall information on how that information is propagated through the various content delivery networks. I don't think we know whether or not 2020 and 2024 derive their meteorological data from the same source or different sources at this time.

MSFS upper winds are derived from the Meteoblue NEMS30 model. Most upper winds forecasts (no matter what the model) are updated every 6 hours. 

I use Foreflight linked to MSFS, and compare the upper winds in Foreflight (which come from the NOAA GFS model) to the winds in MSFS, and they are normally very close at any given altitude and time. Differing models will always have a slight difference of opinion as to what the winds will be.

You can see this in the MeteoBlue app which can display the animated winds at any flight level from several different models, including the NEMS model, the GFS, the ECMWF, the ICON and others. They are usually close at high altitudes - less so near the ground.

The NEMS30 model (based on a 30 KM grid), will usually show pretty constant surface winds north and west of Palm Springs in Southern California, while the much higher-resolution HRRR model (3 KM grid) will show the increased wind speed in the Banning Pass caused by the temperature differential between the coast and desert.

I checked the credit screen on 2024, and I think you're right, Jim, MeteoBlue is involved. I interpreted the OP's question as relating to the differences he and his friend observed in a simultaneous long flight at high altitude. The wind fields reported by the two sims were different. That this would persist over an eight hour period and thousands of miles seems odd. It does seem to suggest that they pull their data either from different models or at different time intervals.