Microsoft Flight Simulator got its biggest update ever on PC on Tuesday!

Microsoft Flight Simulator got its biggest update ever on PC on Tuesday. The new patch will deliver significant performance improvements. Since its launch last year, the game has been notoriously demanding, but the team behind the stimulator has been focusing on improving memory storage and CPU. PC players can now download the new update, and it should improve frame rates across a variety of hardware.

One of the users tested the update for the past couple of weeks on his PC equipped with Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti and an Intel Core i9-11900K, and the improvements are shocking even on top hardware. The user also used Microsoft Flight Simulator for benchmarks for GPU reviews, and in the same section flying across Seattle, the frame rate has gone from an average of 45fps up to 68fps. With ultra settings enabled at 1440p, that is more than a 50 percent leap.

Even flying across New York City sees some great improvements. With the user machine now managing to hit 80fps average. The improvements were so surprising that the users had to check the setting to ensure that he is running ultra on everything. Overall the game looks smoother with fewer random fps drops than before. On a wide range of hardware, it should be a lot more payable.

Earlier this month, Asobo, the developer of Microsoft Flight Simulator, showed the game running on an older system with an RTX 2060 Super and an Intel Core i7-9700K. It jumped from around 30fps to nearly a solid 60fps on this PC, and memory utilization also dropped significantly.

According to Asobo CEO Sebastian Wloch, “We have rewritten a lot of the parts of the engine … to get the maximum performance out of the sim.” The team mainly worked on CPU optimizations, and it worked well. Without a move to DirectX 12, all these have been achieved. DirectX 12 version of Microsoft Flight Simulator launched on Xbox Series X / S on Tuesday. The PC version will remain on DirectX 11. That leaves room for future improvements.

With the upcoming move to DirectX 12, Asobo will be able to introduce ray tracing in the game. Effects should include the usual reflections found in ray-traced games, improved shadows, and better water. It has not yet been confirmed by Asobo when Microsoft Flight Simulator will move to DirectX 12 on PC.