There has been a lot of negativity surrounding the Xbox version of MSFS, so I thought I would give my own honest opinion about the sim for those of you who are perhaps thinking of purchasing the Xbox for the purpouse of playing MSFS (like myself a month ago).
I have been a fan of MSFS ever since I was a child and my big brother showed me a copy of Flight Simulator 2000 (you know the one with a Concorde on the cover, yes I’m that old!). unfortunately we never had a computer powerful enough to run it smoothly. Everytime I had saved enough money to finally upgrade to a better system a newer version of the sim was released, and I was once again back at square one. When FSX was released I kinda gave up and went on with my life.
Until recently.
I discovered that there was a new flightsim on the market called simply ”Microsoft Flight Simulator”, which from what I could tell was basically a reboot of the popular franchise I had once loved so much. I also discovered that it could run on a console and that the graphics and performance would be very close to that of a high-end PC! I decided to give it a try since I do not have space for a gaming PC in my home (and honestly, I spend too much on other ■■■■ to afford such a thing).
A month has now passed and I am completely in love with the sim. It is simply STUNNING, and the best part: it runs so smoothly! No more dreaming of one day being able to play flight simulator on max settings with no lag. It is happening! On a console!
Yes, the sim does have its limitations on Xbox, which are being pointed out here in the forums, but if you like me, are just an average Joe who wants to fly for fun with stunning graphics and this is a great alternative for you. I
Perhaps I am just a bit too overwhelmed over how much things has ewolved since I last used a flight simulator, but I do hope this post will help any of you who are currently thinking about purchasing an Xbox to play Microsoft Flight Simulator.
The planes are way too basic & simplistic compared to the real msfs pc version. Yes, the ground satellite imagery & weather is pretty good though,which makes it look good.
Thats odd. My C172 and Pipistrel Virus are exactly the same on both PC and XBox. Maybe you meant that, at the moment, you can’t get the DC-6 on XBox?
anyway - I would recommend PC over the XBox Series S but a cheap XBox is 1000 times better than nothing. I can’t make any comment on the Series X other than I wish I had been able to find one.
Understood,I didn’t know the pc was just as bad as the xbox variants. I was under the impression that the likes of Justflight & the like are making far more superior complex or decent planes on the pc side? I’m xbox x.
I am even older because I installed FS from Floppy Disks back in 1982.
I too always seemed to have a PC that was just a bit too weak to run the then current FS at full bore with sliders maxed.
I have upgraded so many PCs it is really not even funny anymore. And FS has always been the only program that made me want to do that.
But I did also benefit greatly from FS when it came to getting my real PPL and again for the Multi-, IFR and commercial ratings.
Being able to tweak an FS airplane to fly exactly like the real Archer, Seneca and Saratoga was really valuable when practicing at home.
I did have to upgrade my PC again for MSFS and since I no longer fly the real stuff I guess the XBox might have been good enough for me this time around as well.
The same for me , i don’t regret it except something about addons compatibility but as you said, i knew that Xbox couldn’t handle as a pc all the options avalaibles on this market.
I am confident that things will get better and better
Just Flight and others have made their aircraft to be used with the Xbox.
The reason we do not currently have access to them is due to an unforeseen technical issue with WASM (WebAssembly) code and the Xbox OS itself. WASM is utilized by some of the aircraft builders to power the complexities of their aircraft models. Once Microsoft has addressed the issue within the OS, we are going to see these aircraft and many others make their way to the Xbox marketplace.
Next week’s Developer Q&A is, hopefully, going to shed some official light on this for us.
I have the xbox x & from what ive read throughout this forum is that there are some planes, or a better variety of planes on the pc which are more detailed & complex than the basic below par average planes I’ve been flying on my xbox. I wish I was pretending, but if I’m entitled to give my opinion I would conclude by saying that the pc is better than the xbox for msfs.The last time I played msfs on pc was msfs2004 in 2004 & the planes were better quality then than the planes I’m seeing now on the xbox ms2020.
i had fs 98 on a then low powered p.c. , so much so could fly through Chicago at ground level in a free Mig 21 before the buildings were drawn! i do miss meigs field and the spot views from the old sims
As long as you are prepared not to get the choice of add-ons and aircraft from the pc side ,go for it. i have msfs2020 on a low end pc but since its release on the xboxs , i just used my series X. in fact instead of updating the pc went and got a series S so i could fly downstairs too
Software is limited for the Xbox but the selection is growing and I can say for a fact that if gliding was included without external addons it would have been enough for me. However I also need a decent PC and having two lesser systems would only curb my capabilities so for me it’s a no brainer.
I’m having a great time on an XBox Series S. Originally I wanted get a Series X but could not find one unless I was willing to pay an outrageous premium. I’m so happy with performance and good looking environment on the S that I’m not that interested in finding an X any more.
I go back to the CFS1 / FS95 days to put my comments in perspective. I used to spend a lot of $ on PCs to try to get a decent level of visual quality without stutters as each successive version of FS came out. I stopped after FS X and did not go to P3D. So about a decade has passed and I’m stunned with how good this new version looks and how smoothly it runs on the S.
Although I’ll miss having access to some great freeware and payware, as well as the ability to get into the cfg file to fix something for myself, I will NOT miss the endless hours of tweaking just to try to get rid of stutters and other problems. The MFSF GOTY on the Series S already looks a lot better than how I left the FS world a decade ago and I’m pretty impressed with all the little touches they’ve added since.
Most of the planes out of the box are great. I’m not as jazzed about some of the planes that came with the Reno expansion - some glaring problems like incorrect gauge backgrounds - but on the other side I’m exceptionally happy with the Ju52. Are there issues? Of courser there are ~ it’s software. These issues also affect the PC version so it’s a moot point when comparing the platforms.
My personal take on the lack of quality add-on planes for the XBox platform is they will come in time. I doubt the 3rd party developers expected MSFS to run as well as it does on the XBox. It’s in its infancy compared to the decades long tradition of the PC based sim.
My hats off to Asobo and MS for what they’ve accomplished. I’m looking forward to many more hours of my renewed love of MS flight simulation.
FS95 was my first venture with flightsim.
Trying to land the Cessna at Meigs Field, and not having the slightest idea how to do that!
I’ve had every MS version, Steam and P3D (except for P3D5) of it since then.
I agree 100% with this post. I love it average Joe who fly for fun. I got my Xbox series x 2 days ago this was the 1st game I downloaded. I am enjoying every minute.
