Laminar’s new roadmap just got updated:

https://www.x-plane.com/2026/03/x-plane-roadmap-update-april-2026/

12.5 The Flight Model improvements!

(I love it, but I dread it at the same time because it'll take the 3PD's time to implement.) Hopefully they get a bit of advanced access to the release, and/or the Beta is long enough for them to make them.

I'm very curious about the VR improvements.

3 hours ago, UrgentSiesta said:

12.5 The Flight Model improvements!

(I love it, but I dread it at the same time because it'll take the 3PD's time to implement.) Hopefully they get a bit of advanced access to the release, and/or the Beta is long enough for them to make them.

At least Laminar have made a point to ask third party aircraft developers to get in touch so they can be ready - fingers crossed 🤞

I think the main flight model updates will be for helos.  Also some wind gust updates, but that's weather.  Austin has the blade theory stuff down about as good as it gets so don't expect much change in fixed wings.

4 hours ago, Bjoern said:

I'm very curious about the VR improvements.

I hope for 3 improvements.  Better mouse cursor icons and scaling, ability to click on screens such as EFBs (this might be more aircraft developer specific), and reduced cloud artifacts while in vr.

edit: thought of one more.  Get rid of the giant menu screens that appear in front of your face sometimes with no ability to see the edge to grab or move.

Edited March 31Mar 31 by Gilandred

2 hours ago, mldavis2 said:

Also some wind gust updates, but that's weather.  Austin has the blade theory stuff down about as good as it gets so don't expect much change in fixed wings.

Gust winds is not a singular function of just weather, Austin  corrects gust winds  by making adjustment to the flight model in X-plane use of first principle physics as well. He always trying to improve things in the flight model even if you think he is done. He is always discovering something else which what makes these update so interesting and something to look forward to.

 

3 hours ago, BobFS88 said:

Gust winds is not a singular function of just weather, Austin  corrects gust winds  by making adjustment to the flight model in X-plane use of first principle physics as well. He always trying to improve things in the flight model even if you think he is done. He is always discovering something else which what makes these update so interesting and something to look forward to.

 

I remember he specifically made changes for supersonic high performance jets, using the F-4 Phantom as a test mule. 

LR said we were getting a new Phantom “sometime right after 12.1…”

Wonder what happened there…?

9 hours ago, mldavis2 said:

I think the main flight model updates will be for helos.  Also some wind gust updates, but that's weather.  Austin has the blade theory stuff down about as good as it gets so don't expect much change in fixed wings.

There's also fine tunning of the effect that has been causing that unwanted right roll on CW rotating prop aircraft (left roll on CCW).

This has been a long time complaint from me, and Autin gave it a look and tuned it down. It's noy fully fixed IMO but feels a lot better on most props.

He will continue to improve it, but that needs code optimization in order to get a finer resolution of the propwash calculations without impacting sim performance.

I don't really mind having to deal with it using aileron trim when necessary because now I know "it's for a good cause" and, just as many other details Austin models, no other civil fligthsim has this level of detail in it's simulation.

I am critic of all of the sims I use, but heck!, I have to always take my hat off and show my bald head to Austin & the whole LR team, specially after they got making X-Plane 12 look even better, feel even better, have even more details & features than ever before at a rate that is surely the best proof of their commitment to the cause and support to the devs and user community.

I believe I start seeing a progress in product offers for Xp12 too, after a hiatus resulting from the "new kid in town" effect caused by the "rival" platform, that I also use, but don't dare comparing in terms of flight model accuracy... I believe the increasing momentum will show better times to the user community, even if the times we're crossing show some complex constraints / difficulties arising for all.

Then I already dream of X-Plane's next version !!!

I think LR and the dev community should gather, and honestly and strategically take the future of X-Plane to a new level. I am all for a kind of solution that most don't like, and I myself hate at my day work, because we never know when the budget will not allow for the payment of subscriptions, but a subscription model, and sales based on a centralized store as an alternative to buying directly from the dev platforms, while still being possible to buy outside of that Marketplace, would be an interesting route to explore.

Edited April 1Apr 1 by jcomm

16 hours ago, UrgentSiesta said:

12.5 The Flight Model improvements!

(I love it, but I dread it at the same time because it'll take the 3PD's time to implement.) Hopefully they get a bit of advanced access to the release, and/or the Beta is long enough for them to make them.

Some already have it.

There shalt be no excuses 🙂

8 hours ago, UrgentSiesta said:

I remember he specifically made changes for supersonic high performance jets, using the F-4 Phantom as a test mule. 

LR said we were getting a new Phantom “sometime right after 12.1…”

Wonder what happened there…?

Possible other priorities may had gotten in the way. Remember, they roll out feature not in the order in which they are ready. Plus at the time 12.1 was not multithreading, things for flight modeling may have change since then and we might get to see those change through the upcoming road map. Well will have to see. 😊

Edited April 1Apr 1 by BobFS88

17 hours ago, Bjoern said:

I'm very curious about the VR improvements.

Excited and terrified.

Excited, because a lot of the UI is fairly poor to interact with (e.g. opening the settings pages requires hitting a tiny button a long way away, starting in VR loses all the controller configuration), and that really, really needs an overhaul.

Terrified because I only just got everything working pretty much perfectly, and for sure it will break everything... And maybe the UI doesn't even get an overhaul.

13 hours ago, Gilandred said:

I hope for 3 improvements.  Better mouse cursor icons and scaling, ability to click on screens such as EFBs (this might be more aircraft developer specific), and reduced cloud artifacts while in vr.

edit: thought of one more.  Get rid of the giant menu screens that appear in front of your face sometimes with no ability to see the edge to grab or move.

The "giant menu screens" sound like plugin windows. I think that's up to the author to fix, although a SDK callback to enable initialization at the window's last known position sure would be handy.

I'm hoping for proper VR locomotion, i.e. camera movement (one stick: forward/back, strafe left/right; the other stick: raise/lower eyelevel, turn left/right). An outside walkaround in VR is a massive PITA with the current controls.

 

8 hours ago, UrgentSiesta said:

I remember he specifically made changes for supersonic high performance jets, using the F-4 Phantom as a test mule. 

LR said we were getting a new Phantom “sometime right after 12.1…”

Wonder what happened there…?

VSL has picked up work on their F-4E again, so technically, that statement is still true.

 

24 minutes ago, mSparks said:

Excited, because a lot of the UI is fairly poor to interact with (e.g. opening the settings pages requires hitting a tiny button a long way away, starting in VR loses all the controller configuration), and that really, really needs an overhaul.

Terrified because I only just got everything working pretty much perfectly, and for sure it will break everything... And maybe the UI doesn't even get an overhaul.

Yes to all. The VR menu hangar with its tiny whiteboard is just awful.

6 hours ago, BobFS88 said:

Possible other priorities may had gotten in the way. Remember, they roll out feature not in the order in which they are ready. Plus at the time 12.1 was not multithreading, things for flight modeling may have change since then and we might get to see those change through the upcoming road map. Well will have to see. 😊

Agree. I’m a lot more satisfied with what’s come out instead of a new Default addon!

Yknow what’d make me really happy instead? If LR would make the Tomcat’s DLC fully functional, esp since it’s such an interesting aerodynamic feature. 

paging @DeltaWho 😁

3 hours ago, Bjoern said:

VSL has picked up work on their F-4E again, so technically, that statement is still true.

 

Yes, but are the two related…?

reading between the lines back then, it seems likely that Austin and Huff worked on those flight model improvements together. 

But I’m not sure LR’s version was one and the same. 

And given Huffs background and his stated vision for the VSL Phantom, we’re clearly looking at a payware Hi Fi addon above and beyond VSL’s standard “test pilot” fare.

And to be clear, I’ll be one of the first to fork over cash for his version - we really need a Hi Fi mil jet in X-Plane brought to us by someone with first hand experience! 😁🤙 

Edited April 1Apr 1 by UrgentSiesta