I don’t know man, I have never seen better cloud formations/movement in any other sim/game out there, I think the technology is not yet up to your standard, no offense really, I think some are asking for the impossible.
Winds on the other hand… you might be right, I suspected the same, but we will see extreme effects at some point, for now the flight model is pretty realistic compared to other sims and taking into account it has not even been a year since release if I recall correctly.
They’re literally mindblowing when you compare them to previous gen sims of 10-20 years ago, but clouds are on par with the current state of video game tech. RDR2 has beautiful volumetric clouds. You can make your own Flight Simulator quality clouds following this tutorial: https://youtu.be/4QOcCGI6xOU
Asobo put a ton of effort into making them run fast on lower hardware and look presentable in their 3D environment, and the effort shows. I just think they’re great video game quality clouds, and that’s probably what should be expected from a $60 entertainment title.
There’s room for a lot of improvement though!
The storms in general are on their radar to improve, part of the bigger vision of making the sim world alive as big priority, as Jörg put it in a gamescom interview yesterday when asked about the future of the sim. So wird Deutschland in ein paar Tagen noch schöner! - Flight Simulator | #gamescom2021 - YouTube
Correct, that is imo the only main issue with the flight model, otherwise planes like the DC6, the P28 Arrow or the new BN2 Islander feel almost real to fly.
Really looking forward though to PMDG’s 737, that will really show us what the sim is capable of.
As martial said: there’s not one area of the sim that we don’t plan to improve 
(ofc some will again claim that this is just ‘marketing babble’. Personally, I’m a tad more optimistic.
Yes I know they’ve stated that, that’s why I said I find it astonishing.
This is supposedly a simulator and they’ve actively removed one of the most important features to interesting flight.
The lack of realistic turbulence and weather makes the game dull. Where’s the challenge? I assume for most people landings are the most challenging (and fun!) part of the game but it’s impossible to set up an interesting approach, which takes out about 50% of the game for me. Crosswind landings, far too easy.
Why would you remove something because of complaints you know to be ill-informed? I find that very worrying about their while approach and who they are trying to please. Why not just add a slider? Presumably in the code they just turned down a scalar somewhere. Let us do it. To fly through a hurricane with barely a bump in a tiny plane is just absurd.
This borders on deception to sell the game based on realistic weather and then remove it without asking the user. But apparently a lot of users only care how it looks so I guess that’s why they prioritise the way they do and basic bugs are not fixed a year in…
I really think we need to differentiate between clouds that look great and clouds that behave great. I’m not really sure what the point in one is without the other. Are people really happy just to have a terrain viewer?
Perhaps this is where we are with social media, people don’t care if something works, as long as it looks good on Instagram or a photo message.
Definitely right!
We did open a topic for votes to contest that decision that locks updraft/dowdraft at only 1000ft/min and the limitation of turbulence and of course the real need of thermals which still missing more than a year after the release date! …I’m not even talking about the issue of gust winds in MFS2020, there’s also a thread about that bug…
The absence of convective winds in CB and TS makes MFS2020 totally unrealistic in this area and give to many users a very wrong idea about reality and what’s going on in severe condtions weather, that perhaps the reason why many users enjoy to fly a C152 or even a B787 right into those cells like TS/CB and find it “realistic”…
But as a matter of fact that makes MFS2020 Live Weather very casual that looks like to please the majority of players, unfortunately. Unfortunately not because of the fun that MFS2020 creates for many of us but because it doesn’t work like that in reality at all, it’s factual it’s not about opinion or polemic about this or that, depends on if we do like talking about Aviation or if we do talk about a “game” that gives a wrong idea somehow about aviation. Why’s that? Just because the weather is the corner stone for the safety in aviation, we need to know how it does work before starting the engine.
I think Asobo should care about realism (not only to be focus on beautiful visuals as Hurricane, thunderstorm TS etc) because the first thing we do learn when we start the PPL is to be really careful with the weather conditions of the day via METAR/TAF and certainly not flying under or through CB if you fly a DR400, a PA28, a C172 whatsoever due to severe convective winds that could be very dangerous for the structure of your bird, (which Xplane/Avtive Sky/XEnviro translate in a realisitc way) same for severe turbulence that belong to the CB cells… because in reality trust me guys it’s not that funny if you fly a TB10 or a C172 intp those cells and definitely not safe at all ! (I’m not even talking about TS, you don’t want to go there for the sake of Safety not matter if you do fly a light bird or a tube!)
Asobo should care very strongly about that essential matter without waiting for our votes to get realism in the engine weather, votes that don’t have that much success so far in this community by the way, not because of the community itself but because many users doesn’t have the chance to be a pilot so that how can they know how it feels for real? But some passionate simmers do know even if it doesn’t represent the majority of users here so that Asobo don’t pick that up in the top of the wish-list, and I do understand if I don’t get it wrong that most of users just want to enjoy without learning which is understandable because there’s a place for everybody. We are here to share the same passion at different layers and levels and nobody has to feel superior because he’s a pilot as I am in front of a “casual simmer” which I was years ago starting on FS2002! I had my first licence PPL during FS2004 for the annecdote! 
However Asobo claimed in advertising videos before the release date that we should have the best Engine Weather as never done, well, where that is? Again I’m not talking about the visual and beautiful panorama that are very well done imo.
As a grounded pilot (since now two years except in VFR flights), I won’t advice to fly MFS2020 because of the lack of physics and realism in some terms that create a wrong picture of how it goes in RL (it’s a young baby sim so sure it will grow in realism I do guess) but if you’re lucky to have very good hardware as Yoke, rudders etc and you want to work on your skills for training as Take Off N-1, engine failed after V1 or exercising yourself in landing in gust wind conditions then I will highly gently recommend you to go on Xplane no doubt about it… If you just want to clik on a button to start the engine without any checklist, without taking care of the flight model (still big time issue in MFS2020 with the Adverse Yaw,etc), taking care of the POH … and just in order to enjoy to see your house and elephants on the ground (very well done by the way) then let’s go on MFS2020.
I wish and (I’m not the only one pilot or/and hardcore-simmers) that Asobo will hear our voice to make MFS2020 skies realisitc, because to me it appears like an Arcade mode.
What I mean is that it’s so easy to compare the same METAR with Xplane via the third party addon weather, like at my place yesterday it was very turbulent, gust winds + CB with a base at 1200 ft therefore it was impossible to T/O and of course to land as well with the C172 running Xplane/Active Sky as it shouldn’t in reality but it was so easy to take off with the C172 and to land in MFS2020!!! … and what about the gust winds which were so “weird” in terms of the impact on the envelope of the airplane that it felt so unrealisitc, indeed there’s a big issue of how it affects the flight model and the airspeed, it even doesn’t make sense… This is why I don’t fly MFS2020 because of the lack of realism but I just wanted to test it after the last sim update. Anyways.
I wish Asobo adds two modes to please everyone like “Arcade Mode” and a “Realistic Mode” in order for those who wants to know how it works in the skies as much as it’s possible to reach the reality technically and then could have the opportunity to learn and to practice a little bit more “To whom it may concern”!
This is why I totally understand that the majority believe that MFS2020 Live Weather is great because they just don’t really have an accurate idea how it works out there, same as I was when I started on FS2002 before becoming a pilot, everything was great in my armchair just because it was based on my own perspective which is good enough to enjoy a lot because it’s fun and exciting, and I still have a sweet nostalgia about that time… and see FS2002 wasn’t “very realistic” MFS2020 is much more realistic but too many comparisons kill the idea at the end, right? … But look how good is MFS2020 or any other Flight Sim because it can creates dreams and vocations, it can make the mind telling you that maybe I can fly someday, it says : eveything is possible somehow, without any flight sim that landed on my way I really believe that I woudn’t be able to fly for real but to get to that it’s just about learning, enjoying to learn and learning is FUN!
I’m not pushing to vote but if you want to take a look at the links below you’ll see what we are talking about because I think that this young Flight Sim MFS2020 deserves to get some life/realism in our skies!
and just a video that I share here for the purpose, a landing in very gust winds conditions at LFMP, Xplane 11/Active Sky and a Go Around that felt pretty realisitic which I’d love to see that in MFS2020 someday, nice to practice the Go Around in a Tube as the B737/300 for instance, 737/300 IXEG addon, one of the best Flight Model in Xplane 11!
Thanks for having taken time to read my “novel” !!! 
Happy Flyings Captains! 
Quite true. The storm depiction is actually amazing…just wish it behaved the way it looked
I 100% believe this is his true feelings on the matter. And likely that’s the case with everyone at Asobo and all members of the MSFS team at Microsoft as well.
Where I see a conflict is that MS are the ones steering the ship. So in the end, it doesn’t really matter what anyone at Asobo want. Same with Jorg. He answers to his bosses at MS. If MS decide the weather and other things are “good enough for a video game” and want Asobo to add more gamey features rather than fixing current issues or making aspects (except visuals) more realistic, that’s the route Asobo is going to take. MS are the ones who own the IP, the software, and all the back end infrastructure. They steer the sim in the direction they consider the most profitable.
How about advice them to take that into account when using the sim, and not just outright banning people from using it?
Yes, it looks pretty. But the fact that people are effortlessly flying to the center of the hurricane demonstrates a problem some of us have complained about for the past year. Everything is dramatically scaled back because Asobo thinks the average gamer wouldn’t understand the effects of high winds on a plane.
With the slider you can have a little bit of buggy, unrealistic weather, or a lot of buggy, unrealistic weather. I think most people would just set the slider to 0.
Of course there is no need to ban anybody if you feel correctly what I mean my friend. I will just recommend Xplane for the purpose (only if they want to learn how it works in the skies in severe weather conditions) that is mentioned in my post which has nothing to do with the idea of banning people from using MFS2020 of course not! And I guess that it’s clearly explain in my post but if we take just a quote then that twists my words, isn’t it ? Just because this is not what I’m saying at all sir!
Sorry I quote myself below to make it more limpid then, see
Sure, that’s all true. But if that’s all there is to it (which you never said), why cooperate with a professional company that deals with weather, why hire pros like working title, why have vacant job positions for an aircraft systems designer or engine designer? Are those things really needed, if all you want is easy cash? Do the millions of Xbox players that will carry this sim, financially, really care about whether engines are accurate or not and ask for system depth? Do they really care about having charts or recent nav data? Why create addons like a Ju52, a project that probably took quite some time and organization, to then sell it for 15 bucks? You know what I mean? Maybe it’s just me romanticizing this whole thing, but is it really only about money, or is there more than that? While i certainly believe that money dictates everything, at the end of the day, there is a clear vision behind this project, and also a love for it, a desire to succeed, that’s why I think that there’s more to it than just plain cash. However, all your points stand. The hard business side of things is always there, that’s very clear. What is also very clear, is that I am one of the very few that really believe in this whole thing with a passion, and I’m not ashamed for it.
I wish that so badly so sounds good!
One of the question that raises up right now in my mind is why don’t they easily unlock the limitation of updraft/downdraft winds knowing that it is already implemented in the sim yet? Which will make a big step forward in terms of realism and that will help users to avoid big cells or CB flying a Cub for instance, while creating a Flight Plane based on the weather conditions of the day… More realism, more challenge, more fun! I guess…
My post was hypothetical in terms of execution. I do believe they will eventually improve every part of the sim. They have every intention of doing so and likely will over time. How that will get prioritized though, is another story.
Their priorities, however, are guided by Microsoft’s whims. If MS determine that new content is what makes them more money and that the majority of users, be it PC or Xbox, will accept shortcomings of the sim but still fork out cash for new stuff they shoehorn into the sim, whether it works well or not, then that’s the way it will go.
As passionate and genuinely dedicated to improving the sim the Asobo and MSFS team at MS may be, the business interests of MS come first. MS answers to its shareholders, not simmers, gamers, or devs working on a product.
We’re a year past launch. We’re still seeing the long list of outstanding bugs that have been there since launch that haven’t been addressed. The vast majority of the bugs wish list in the official plan is there from launch and little has changed, but new content (I’m not referring to World Updates) is being added regularly while leaving these old issues to fester. And even the wishlist is still mostly items from launch, although some of those old wishes are getting pushed off the list by new ones (fully driven by the new Xbox player base) without having been addressed.
They could very easily do that and tie it to one of their realism settings in the assistance menu. Give it to people who want it, and let those who don’t turn it off.
I second that 100%! 
I second you two too 100%!