I read this sentence on the forums hundreds of times in the last 5 years. I wrote it myself at least once.

But I wonder "where" it's getting and "when" exactly it will happen.

Until a few years ago a videogame came out and we played it with peace of mind, we enjoyed it if it was good or dumped it if it was bad, but that was it, we knew what we got. And before the pervasive broadband era, the developers knew that they could not screw up too much with a release. 

That was the case of FS2004 and FSX for me... for many of you with the previous versions as well. And a ton of games of other genres as well: "triple A" productions were usually good from day one.

Now we are constantly in a state of expectation, always waiting for the next update that will get it "there", only to transition from anticipation to dissatisfaction. 

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy flying virtually and in FS2020 and FS2024 only I have more than 2,000 hours. But the feeling above has become a relevant part of the experience, along with the time spent ranting on the forums 🙂 and I'd rather do without it.

I distinctly remember the emotion of returning virtually to North Cape in FS2004 (visited when I was 16 yo), with the snow and the aurora in the sky. Surely the sim was ugly compared with today's visuals and far from perfect, but it was zero stress, just fun and wonder.

What do you think? Were you happier before the MSFS revolution?

Maybe I'm just aging... I'd better go to bed🙂

Cheers

I'm pretty happy now in MSFS 2024.  Almost everything works quite well, the world looks the part, and the flight models are improved from 2020.  We're starting to see more native 2024 addons.

    It used to be a whole lot less complicated than it is today, especially with all the addons required to get things to work properly. The visuals and realism, however, are so much better now, when they work as advertised. I'm just not a fan of streaming almost everything, though. There will always be issues with that type of product, I guess.

3 minutes ago, tamba765 said:

    It used to be a whole lot less complicated than it is today, especially with all the addons required to get things to work properly. The visuals and realism, however, are so much better now, when they work as advertised. I'm just not a fan of streaming almost everything, though. There will always be issues with that type of product, I guess.

My joy from MSFS 2024 is little need for addons.  I do like the nice airport designers and my HJET however.

dd

Fs2024 all the way. Only Atmos Core is missing on my systems.

I'm not waiting for it to get "there". The "here" is plenty good enough for me.

Is it perfect? Of course not. It never will be. Nor does it have to be.

28 minutes ago, MrFuzzy said:

That was the case of FS2004 and FSX for me... for many of you with the previous versions as well. And a ton of games of other genres as well: "triple A" productions were usually good from day one.

You must have been on a different forum than me. My memory is of this forum having an absolute cow, and yelling about FSX being an unplayable mess requiring non-existent alien supercomputers. I also remember the yearslong slog of endless computer and graphics cards updates to try and get some acceptable performance, and all of us having to become systems level users to tweak the thing in any way suggested by the infinite eureka of the week posts by people claiming to have stumbled across the holy grail of smooth framerates.....

Can you see ai-traffic yet? Sure the heck don't wanna get involved with the mob on multiplayer.

 

There is no universal "there". One person might have been "there" when 2024 came out, someone else may never get to that place. One thing that's certain is that flight sims (like most things in life) will always be iterative. Some will take big steps back and forward, others might be more stable and iterate at a slower, but more stable pace. 

Personally I'm quite happy with where we are and where we're going. It's not perfect, but that's never really been the goal.

I’d never go back. V2024 needs work, but it’s already better than it ever was. 
 

aaannnndddd…

ive still Got XP and P3D installed, so…😎

For me, MSFS 2024 is actually getting further away. It was pretty good 2-3 months ago, but now I have poor visuals (especially ground textures), monkey business with my configuration (axes assignments, realism etc suddenly change) and the clouds never looked good.

I actually bought XP 12 because of that a few weeks ago, and I am pleasantly surprised about its quality. Clouds and weather are so much better, the airplanes feel a bit more alive, configuring things is a breeze, you have access to all variables, and I like the GUI better than that of MSFS 2024. I am using both now, with a slight preference for XP 12.

I'm very happy with my MSFS 2020, my gaming laptop, my PMDG 737 and A Pilots Life V2 and SayIntentions..  I've spent days and days tweaking it to look good and run solidly.

I'd like to freeze it in time.  Even Nvidia updating their graphics drivers and me losing my frame gen mod caused me a whole lost weekend of reformatting, reinstalling, and upset, just trying to work out what had happened to my performance.  

I just worry that one day, because this is now just gaming as a service and you don't really own anything, any day Microsoft can just say, "Oh, we're turning off 2020, you need to go to 2024 now."

I know it's unlikely for a good few years.  But MSFS 2024 has put me off so much I don't see myself ever wanting to change to it.  It just runs like absolute carnage on my laptop, while I get a silky smooth 2020 with better settings.  I don't ever want to move.  I guess that will be the day I need a new system and another lost weekend of tweaking.  

I don't think any of us would ever realistically go back to the hobby we had in 2018 though.  It was so inferior in every metric.  Let's not make perfect the enemy of good, or better.  

Edited August 19, 2025Aug 19 by Langeveldt

I was happy with 2020 and am happy with 2024.  

Your spare time is valuable - use it in a way that makes you happy. 

I'm not waiting for 2024, I'm using it as the only flightsim installed on my PC.  I'm not even in the beta updates.  I'm still running SU2 until they actually launch it.  (that's another thing I notice, people complain about beta testing software, then literally sign up to beta test updates).  

One tip (and to quote the great Ringo Starr "I say this with peace and love"), is to unplug from the negativty for awhile.  

With modern always online gaming, there's another feature - "always online complaining".  The negativity is so prevalent in any community.  Video games, TV shows, etc.  It is exhausting.  

Were things better in the "good old days" or was there just less ways to connect with people and the negativity?  Negativity is just human nature, and every community I know has far too much of it.  I'm not sure how to fix it, but I'm always aware of it.

Find what makes you happy.  Then, unplug from the community for a bit and sit back and enjoy the quiet.  

I'll wait till SU3, and then take the dust sheets off MSFS2024. Having lost all my controller assignments and losing the ability to make Tobii work again, I've reverted back to MSFS2020 for now. 2024 is the future of course; no denying that. 

What I see on my computer is systems and operational details, and visuals, that I would never have believed possible.  Anyone who is angry or upset about the state of flight simulation today is not only choosing to be so, they're having to make a real effort at it. 

To each their own.