Heatblur is putting the final touches on the DCS: F-14 and today they started to show off their incredible artistry and attention to detail on the backseat of the F-14B: this is the RIO’s (or Radar Intercept Officer’s) seat.

Right down to the specs of dust

Heatblur unleashed a torrent of new images showing off the long awaited F-14B’s back seat and they show off what we now have come to expect from Heatblur – their attention to detail, getting the finishing touches right, and really working to exceed our expectations.

Look at the details on the below screenshot:

In just this one shot we can see all kinds of details and I think the circuit breakers help illustrate how detailed they have gone here. Each one appears to have its own appearance making sure that no two appear to be the same (they may be but the repeat is hard to spot).

Of course the rest of the RIO’s seat looks amazing too.

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These are just SOME of the screenshots that Heatblur released today on their part of the DCS World forums and on the Heatblur Facebook page.

Jumping to the back seat

Of course, Heatblur has developed JESTER AI to help handle flying the DCS: F-14 in single player or as a solo player on a multiplayer server. The AI appears to be remarkably good and with a wide enough selection of responses so that things don’t get too monotonous or robotic.

For people intending to hop in the backseat apparently a limited AI will keep the plane from plummeting to the ground. If you’ve got a friend flying then you’d be inhabiting the back seat position full time providing the radar and navigation support that the pilot needs to do his part of the job.

The DCS: F-14 is going to open up all kinds of great gameplay opportunities.

A release date is still not certain but recent comments from the dev team suggest that February is a possibility but may yet be premature. The team has said that they expect release to early access before March 31st so hang tight.