“I Start Where I Land”
The MSFS career mode has great potential, but right now, it lacks immersion and continuity. The biggest issue? You don’t start where you land. Instead, the system randomly places you elsewhere for the next mission, breaking the sense of realism.
What Needs to Change?
Aircraft repositioning should be realistic. Planes should stay where they land, with no magical teleportation. If a player needs their aircraft elsewhere, they should be able to assign an AI pilot to ferry it to another airport. This should take a realistic amount of time. For example, if a PC-12 takes 1.5 hours to fly from Miami to Jacksonville, it should actually take 1.5 hours in real time before it is available at the new location.
Player repositioning should respect time progression. If a player decides to travel to another airport, they should not instantly teleport there without consequence. Instead, the sim should show a stylized time progression in the menu, like a clock fast-forwarding, so the player sees, for example, “I just flew 9 hours from Miami to Paris. It is now 7 AM in Paris, and my next mission happens in real-time at 7 AM.” If a player travels across time zones, the in-game time should adjust accordingly.
There should be no more random mission locations. Missions should be based on the aircraft’s real-world position, not on some random algorithm. Just like in ETS, players should be able to take jobs based on where they actually are. If there are no good missions at a small airport, the player can choose to reposition their aircraft or themselves realistically.
ATC and route freedom should be improved. AI-managed ATC like Beyond ATC should replace the limited stock ATC. There should be no more forced blue brackets for approaches, allowing pilots to plan their own flights.
Why This Matters?
A true career mode should feel like being a real pilot, not just jumping from one mission to another with no logical connection.
The solution is simple: Keep aircraft where they land, allow AI to reposition them in real-time, and let players reposition themselves with realistic time progression.