FAQ – General information
Which HMD models are supported?
Headsets that run on the 
Windows Mixed Reality, 
Oculus, and 
SteamVR platforms are supported. However, the sim has been optimized for the following headsets:
- HP Reverb G2
- HP Reverb G1
- Samsung Odyssey+
Are motion controllers supported?
Motion controllers are not supported.
How do I fly in VR?
VR can be entered at any point in the sim.
The default keyboard binding to enter VR mode is CTRL+TAB; however, this binding may not be present if you are using a customized keyboard mapping. To check your current bindings, go into the VR Mode tab of General options. Here you will see a list of your current bindings for VR mode. If no bindings are shown, then you will need to bind the VR commands in Controls.
Please note that if you wish to fly in VR with Online Functionality turned off that you must first launch the sim with it turned on.
I cannot switch to VR during a flight
Please verify that your headset is properly connected and ready to use. You can check your headset’s connection by launching your respective platform’s app. For example, for Windows Mixed Reality this is the Mixed Reality Portal.
What are the control bindings for VR?
You can find a list of the control bindings in the VR Mode tab of General options.
Why is the framerate unstable right after I switch to VR?
There are two graphics settings in the sim: one for the desktop and the other for VR. When you switch between the two modes the sim dynamically switches settings, which may briefly impact its performance.
I would like to increase the frame rate. What can I do?
- Update your graphic drivers to the latest version.
- Reduce the graphics settings under VR Graphics options.
- Render Scale has the greatest impact on the framerate, especially if you are using higher resolution headsets.
- Reduce the traffic settings in the VR Traffic options (deactivated by default in VR).
Why am I losing mouse and keyboard input?
If you are using a Windows Mixed Reality headset our input may have been automatically redirected to the Windows Mixed Reality Portal after wearing the headset. The “Win + Y” shortcut will switch focus back to the desktop.
We recommend using manual input switching if you are using a Windows Mixed Reality headset. You can configure this option in the Mixed Reality Portal options in the “Headset display” tab under the “Input switching” section.
How do I preview VR Motion Smoothing in Flight Simulator?
Please follow the steps below to preview this improvement in the sim:
- Install the OpenXR Developer Tools for Windows Mixed Reality from the Microsoft Store. You can get it here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/openxr-developer-tools-for-windows-mixed-reality/9n5cvvl23qbt
- Launch the OpenXR Developer Tools.
- Go to the Developer Settings tab and toggle the “Use latest preview OpenXR runtime.”
If you encounter any major problems, try turning the “Use latest preview OpenXR runtime” setting off and re-launching Microsoft Flight Simulator to see if the issue goes away. Please report any problems in the forums so that we improve the experience for everyone!