Happy New Year! Say goodbye to 2017 and hello to 2018! Another year has passed and it has been a good one for fans of the genre.

Look for some big payoffs this year

Both DCS and IL-2 series had foundational years in 2017 with a lot of content being worked on and planned for. This has laid the groundwork for some seismic shifts in both series this year. DCS will see the release of DCS World 2.5 by the end of this month while

IL-2: Battle of Kuban is set to release sometime this winter (possibly in the next 6-8 weeks) with some major feature upgrades and new content coming. The rest of the year will see the first of IL-2: Battle of Bodenplatte’s content come out while DCS has a long line of new modules coming both known and unknown. The F/A-18C Hornet will be something truly special I think.

It was also a big year for IL-2: Cliffs of Dover which saw a new lease on life with the Blitz edition re-release and official recognition of Team Fusion’s efforts to keep the title going. Team Fusion will continue to develop that title with DX11 support, VR support, and a planned North Africa-based follow up title.

A good year for hardware too

In 2017 VKB released the first of its Gunfighter series and updated the Gladiator to the Mark II. VIRPIL came into the community in a big way with their high end T-50 stick.

In the 2018 I’m looking to see VKB’s new throttle system and VIRPIL to release a new lower end stick. VKB in particular is getting better North American support now while I’m still hoping that VIRPIL will.

Thrustmaster also teased a new F/A-18 based stick based on their successful Warthog stick. Will we see more of that this year? I hope so!

It’s going to be a good year

This year is going to be an exciting one for the flight sim community with the sheer number of new products and modules currently planned for and on the way. We have much to look forward to and be excited about, both in the near term and in the long term.

Let 2018 be another year of the flight sim!