Microsoft Flight Simulator finally received its official July 27 release date for Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S yesterday as part of Xbox's E3 2021 Showcase, and it's been confirmed that the game will run at 30fps on the consoles.
It's an unsurprising revelation considering the game places high demands on PCs in its current state, but interestingly, it will feature the ability to go above 30fps if your TV or similar display supports variable refresh rates.
It might sound disappointing that the game can only run at 30fps even on Series X, but keep in mind that Flight Sim is a pretty slow-paced title, so the difference between 30 and 60fps isn't as pronounced as something like Forza Horizon.
If you're eager to play Microsoft Flight Simulator as soon as it arrives on Xbox Game Pass in July, you can "pre-install" the game now via the service, although it's currently just a placeholder until the full game gets uploaded to the server.
What are your thoughts on this news about Microsoft Flight Simulator? Let us know down below.
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Comments 35
Hopefully this will be okay
Given I was lucky to hit 20fps on my 1060 GTX in built-up areas, I'll take 30fps on Series S (hopefully locked?)
I mean playing Watch Dogs it was only really an issue when I switched to the RT mode when I moved the camera quickly. Walking a long normally taking in the view it was hardly noticable.
So flying along at 30fps unless you are spinning the camera is fine
I knew right from the start that it wouldn't be released for Xbox One (I posted it on NL). Imagine the frame rate on the original Xbox One... 😂
Locked 30fps for a PC simulator on a console will be fine and unlocked fps on VRR TVs like my LG C9 will be even better.
The thumbnail for the article and the caption made me thought I missed something "but It can go above that on VR.."
I thought 30fps was bad especially for this gen
Slightly disappointing, but also not surprising. It's a technological marvel that this is running on a console at all. (People keep saying there's no games that show off the power of the hardware...meanwhile a full-on PC simulator that's never been able to runs on consoles before says hi. This is the first time a console has a CPU that can even remotely keep up with a real simulator.)
I don't have a PC that can run it, but from what I've heard, it can bring even super powerful PCs to its knees easily enough, so this isn't a bad outcome. What does surprise me though is that Series X isn't doing any more frames than S. That implies it's CPU and not GPU bound in terms of the updates going on. I wonder if X then will get some other visual flourish of some kind.
I knew the promise of "4k 120fps" was *****.
It still sucks to be right.
30 FPS is fine for this type of game..
I tried to play this on PC with a GTX 1080, didn't end well. LOL
So 30FPS at 4K is perfectly acceptable for this type of game. It isn't exactly Ace Combat!
The VRR mode makes me think this must be able to hit around 45-50FPS, as VRR smooths anything above the range to be next to unnoticeable.
Nice for those that have a capable TV or monitor.
On PC most sites recommend an Nvidia RTX 3090 for anything approaching 4K on this game.
That graphics card is currently selling for 4 to 5 times the cost of an Xbox Series X - so for a photo-realistic game it's amazing the consoles can run it at all, and 30FPS isn't an issue on a slower-paced game like this.
Anyone expecting 120Hz 4K photo-realistic graphics when even the aforementioned 3090 often has to use DLSS to achieve that is probably going to be disappointed until say 10 years or more from now...
Mildly disappointing but totally expected. This is a PC killer.
Have an LG CX with VRR. Will be interesting to know how far above 30 FPS it can go.
@Royalblues
Agreed - think a few commentators will look for any reason to be negative about Xbox, even on a game that literally includes the entire world and is so realistic-looking it's often difficult to tell screenshots and real world examples apart...
Not surprising at launch. This will almost certainly go up once AMD updates.
Big reason I got my X. I've always wanted to play a flight simulator and have it look like this.
@NEStalgia literally this is the “next-gen” game people were asking for from Xbox. I get it’s a simulator but wow. I’m still a little worried about how the S will run this but can’t wait to see people dive in
Expected, and not a problem for this type of game, really.
Pass. I get headaches and eye pain at 30fps. I will try it though on my LG CX since it has VRR should it not be the case.
Kinds of sucks about the 30 FPS. But honestly with something that plays as slow as this, I don't see much issue.
That said, also have VRR screens so till be nice to see how much higher they let it run.
@Royalblues From yesterday some places in internet are so high in sodium levels, it could kill a person just a few moments exposure.
I can't tell from the Youtube video if it is running at 30 or 60fps. If it runs like this on the Series X then I can't see there being a problem but will be disappointed if it runs less.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZ6XpfaWbko
edit - Found that it is actually 30fps. I'm happy
A few were thinking the XBox One might get a port of this.... From hearing that this will release at 30 FPS makes it seem very unlikely....
@Royalblues He has always been like that..he always downplays Xbox...even if he manages to give Xbox some praise it will be followed with something negative....quite the contrast to how he acts over on pushsquare...everything PlayStation is apparently gold according to him lol
@mousieone Yeah, I don't get the "there's no games that show the power" mindset, or worse the "there's no games that show the power like (a game designed for the limitations of a PS3 with shinier graphics that don't even use ray tracing or run at 4k) Demon's Souls, or R&C that looks like visual improvements on the last R&C + the SSD gimmick. None of that actually shows the raw power half as well as an honest to goodness simulator. People wanted a tech demo, people got a tech demo. But it was the wrong genre so it doesn't count?
If the 30fps is CPU and not GPU based, which for a sim, it probably is, then Series S and X might end up looking remarkably close. Draw distance is probably the biggest worry for S.
@MegaWatts I hit 30fps on my 2060 so I'm glad with 30 here as well.
@John117 personally I don't care about 30fps as I own a switch aswell and see no real difference but my comment was aimed at those few on here and the masses on twitter who took the p**s out of switch for only reaching 30fps
@NEStalgia I’m thinking that. I know DF did several deep dives if the game before. I expect a ton more. But as far as I’m concerned FH5 and MS Flight Sim are definitely what I expected from Series machines. That shows what the future is capable of, and I like it.
@mousieone It's not as good as Corridor Simulator 5.0 feat. Not Nolan North but I guess it'll do.
@NEStalgia you lost me in your references?
@mousieone Oh, just mocking the typical argument against XB by typical Sony fans that will automatically declare any narrative walking simulator in confined corridors technologically superior anything up to and including a full flight simulator with real-world coverage of almost the entire real world planet.
@NEStalgia And don't forget Forza Horizon 5, both are open-world games, Flight Simulator is the whole world, but even the cacti in Forza Horizon 5 are realistically detailed, remember the trees in Forza Horizon 3? 😂
Once Playground ditches Xbox One, I wasn't expecting Forza Horizon 5 on Xbox One, imagine Fable.
But here will come Sony fans saying that Sony's corridor simulators have the same or more flourishes. That Xbox has no new-gen games. No exclusives. No games?
Series X is technically superior than PS5 and most third-party games look better on Series X. Those are facts. Now it needs games that use that power. They are coming.
@BlueOcean To be fair to the ponies, we didn't know about FH5 until yesterday, officially. We were expecting Motorsport 8 until now! I'm sure it won't matter because it's just more Forza, Halo, Gears, but at least we can give them the benefit of the doubt
But yeah, I love how people can demand tech demos while ignoring the PC sim on console, now the bigger better horizon that was already a showcase, technically etc and praise the corridor games as better tech demos. It's not Sonys fault their fans tend to be obnoxious though. They were 360s fans first.
At least Sony and Xbox fans can all agree on one thing. We're all looking forward to Horizon this fall.
I didn’t expect to get 4K 60. My 2080ti OC Strix struggles with this game. I do believe they could include a 60 FPS mode though If they lower resolution. I wouldn’t be surprised to see that in the future. I don’t believe the game is that cpu bound.
@elpardo1984 You've many other problems if you're spinning in a flight sim!
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