CJ1045

The buildings are auto generated by the mod together with Bing maps satellite images. Any airfield not specifically modelled by the developers will only have a vague similarity to reality. The explains the situation fairly well: https://www.eurogamer.net/flight-simulator-airport-list-standard-deluxe-premium-hand-crafted-airport-listed-7043 CJ

After seeing me fly MSFS on my XBOX with Thrustmaster One HOTAS my cousin went off and bought an XBOX with the same stick purely to learn how to fly. XBOX is so much cheaper than a PC of even close spec and Games Pass make it so cheap to own the base MSFS as well as being to able to add the Deluxe packs etc. My cousin has not even owned a console before. I suspect that this is not un common. I myself have moved from MSFS on high end laptop which ran it perfectly at 1080p to me Series X which runs it even better at 4K. Further it required no extra software payment at all as I already owned it via Games Pass on the PC and also my Deluxe upgrade ownership is shared for free across the two platforms. It seems to me that to maximise your sales of MSFS products of any type - hardware or software then you are going to want to support XBOX console too. CJ

What PMDG and MS has found, in this case, is that the XBOX dev kits that are suppose to be the same as the XBOX itself for testing are not performing the same way. When PMDG tested on the dev kit it worked fine. This situation, the difference, is very unusual in console development. CJ

Just looking at the two screenshots of the runway - developer shot versus Guenseli - the former is clearly using different textures for the grass as the grass is a lot greener in the developer pics. CJ

Looks awful inside and the exterior views I saw were not great either. The Hawk looks a much, much better option if you want to fly a military jet. CJ

One thing I found with my controller was that the default assignements had two functions linked to one control which meant if I pressed that control (in my case the rudder) the plane did a massive jiggle. In the controller settings in the sim one of the filters allow you to see just the assigned controls. I would go into the sim and have the filter set to that and then see what controls are assigned and watch for duplicates. CJ

Yes, legacy cockpit interactions are not available on XBOX - hopefully this will push MS/Asobo to make them available as it will also make the Liners a lot easier to control. CJ

The Series X runs MSFS so well. Contrary to some posts above it is ideally suited to flight sims as the code can be so highly optimized for it. Also it is so good not have to spend half your life updating drivers and optimizing the graphics settings. On the XBOX the ONLY graphics setting is HDR yes/no. That is it. Flying is stunning and so smooth. I would advise anyway even slightly fed up with the PC version to consider buying an XBOX. If they had bought MSFS through the MS store they don't even need to buy it again! CJ

Weird - am running Windows 11 dev build and I got 12meg update as the game booted then no WU6 in game but content manager updates. It is going to be one of those days!! CJ

Really depends on your point of view. As a reliable high performance platform for the official Microsoft release I think the XBOX Series X is much better and a LOT cheaper than a PC version. The only real downside is it does not have access at the moment to the huge range of free, variable quality add-ons (mainly airports and liveries) that are available to the PC owner. However, the Microsoft content is still massive though. I own both versions (the PC version since the initial release of the sim) and the XBOX version works so much better for me. I do not miss the extra content as the standout extras are available in the in-game store for XBOX too at the moment. I would very highly recommend the Thrustmaster HOTAS One as the XBOX compatible controller for it too. So factor that into your purchase too - it is about £85. CJ

As a Beta Tester for the alternate/competing version is it appropriate for you to comment on this one?

XBOX and PC marketplace purchases transfer CJ

MSFS is inevitably going to run better on the Series X as Asobo know exactly the Series X capabilities. The software for a PC is always going to be compromised as it has to work on a huge variety of hardware. This is as true for MSFS as it is for any other dual/multi platform software of which there is a huge amount out there. I have both. PC is great for free stuff, XBOX is better for smoothness and detail running sweet as a nut on my 4K HDR 60inch OLED screen. I am finding I am not missing the free stuff much as there is so much with the standard Deluxe Premium version that I still after a year feel I am only just scratching the surface. CJ

Not appearing in store for me either - tried all the usual/previous tricks including repairing the XBOX app that worked one time still no download in the store. CJ

To reiterate XBOX is the platform name Microsoft now gives to all games, both PC, XBOX console, phone and tablet. The XBOX servers being down means they are down for all system types. CJ