Today is the Xbox Games Showcase where Microsoft is revealing new trailers and information for their upcoming slate of games. World premiers of new information for a wide range of games has included Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 which gets a brand new trailer and a release date too. Let’s have a look!

The trailer and information reveal

First up, the biggest reveal of the day is easily the news that Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 will officially arrive on November 19. Here’s what the trailer description has to say:

Coming November 19, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is the next installment in the Microsoft Flight Simulator franchise. It is the most ambitious consumer flight simulator ever undertaken, designed to take advantage of the latest technologies in simulation, cloud, machine learning, graphics and gaming. Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 goes beyond merely operating the aircraft; it will allow simmers to pursue their dream of an aviation career. The sky is calling! Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 takes off on Windows PC, Xbox Series X|S, and Steam, and will be available with Game Pass on console, PC, and cloud on day one.

Some key takeaways for the sim include Game Pass on day one, Xbox, PC, Steam, and cloud gaming too. It’s clear that 2024 is building directly on top of the technology developed for MSFS 2020 over its four year development cycle and making that part of the default experience which is, of course, great to see.

The rest of the description doesn’t give us too much to go on except that its clear that the new sim is taking advantage of additional technologies in machine learning to produce even more vivid imagery. The trailer shows off grasses blowing in the winds, dirt and rock formations, and I suspect this is all being generated based on the imagery in the area. It’s a step beyond what the sim currently can do.

Now, let’s break things further down by looking at some of the significant scenes of the trailer.

Trailer breakdown

The opening sequence starts in characteristic fashion with the reveal of some picturesque terrain. It’s already obvious that MSFS 2024 will boast visuals above and beyond what the current sim is capable of with the nearby grasses and rocks looking to be generated at fair higher visual levels. We’re reminded by the captions that everything here is in-game footage and that the images are powered by satellite data and Azure AI.

Our next sequence stays in the same geographic location and introduces us to the Red Bull Air Races. The aircraft on screen appears to be a Zivko Edge 540 V3 which is a popular type among this class of air race though a couple of other aircraft looks awfully similar. Let me know in the comments if I’ve got it right!

Next, we’re on to Commercial Airliners which I feel has been added upfront to combat some of the comments made on the last trailer suggesting that the feature had been purposefully left out. Not so according to this trailer!

We’ve got a shot of New York JFK airport with a bunch of United 787-10s plus a KLM A330 hidden in the mix. Its not hidden in the next shots as we get a closer look at the landing gear and engine. It looks like the pilot is walking up to this airplane as well so that may be a new view type.

The next shots are of an airbus cockpit panel and then the pilot present in the cockpit too. I think this is a switch over to the iniBuilds A320neo v2 as the EFB in the last shot is definitely iniBuilds. The A330 from the prior shots is more interesting and could be Aerosoft’s A330 though I am speculating.

One of the shots also shows moving passengers so it looks like some GSX style features will be baked in from the start.

We’ve got Air Ambulance as the next type of role and here we see a PC-12 that looks like its flown out to an airport to meet up with a medical transfer. Is this SimWorks Studios PC-12?

Quickly we jump to the next role. Aerial Advertising flying a banner plane is next with a towable message in the sky saying “The sky is not the limit.” Fascinating! In this scene, which looks a lot like Florida in the Fort Lauderdale or Miami area, we also see quite a bit of ship traffic. It’s been mentioned that they’d be tapping into marine traffic for 2024 and this may be a nod to that.

Something we’ve seen in the previous trailer was VIP Charter Service and here we have the FlightFX Cirrus Vision Jet. This payware aircraft is now being added to the core of MSFS and it looks like the perfect platform for this kind of mission.

This next sequence appears to show off some more of the new terrain technology with grass fields moving and swaying in the wind. Again we see a pilot walking up to the aircraft, this time a R66 helicopter with a special payload for agricultural work.

This next sequence looks really interesting with a search and rescue operation from a sinking ship complete with a crew member being pulled up into the helicopter. That looks incredible!

Another helicopter mission type on display is cargo transport with what looks like a Sikorsky S-64. We’ve seen this before in a previous trailer.

I love this next one as we get another great look at the iniBuilds developed A400M heavy lift transport. Remote cargo operations with an aircraft like this is already terrific fun in MSFS 2020 and adding both this type of aircraft and a specific mode should be really interesting.

The trailer continues with yet another kind of operation – aerial firefighting. This really came into clear view for me last year with the huge increase in forest fires and so this kind of flying should be both a challenge and also of real world interest.

Going to group this next sequence together where we get another great example of the kind of visuals that the new MSFS 2024 technologies can bring together. We’ve got this great image that looks to be Yosemite park in California. Then very quickly switch to what looks like a Cub modified by Tac-Aero landing in the bush. The wheels are dirty (using some of the technologies that MSFS 2020 bushplane developers have been using) and the ground its landing in looks lush and full.

An animation featuring what is supposed to be a faux-camera lens suggests that you can get out of the airplane and go take pictures of wildlife. Very cool!

We’ve got our first hot hair balloon shot of the trailer here. Paris is obviously in the background and we’ve got some beautiful bloom effects here.

That quickly changes to this sunset image of the famous Jumeirah Mina Al Salam hotel in Dubai and what I think is a Joby Aviation S4 eVTOL.

We’ve got a shot of Cristo Redentor all lit up and another new aircraft type. We’ve got a Blimp of some kind hanging in the sky there next to the statue.

This next shot is very interesting as there’s a DHC-6 Twin Otter. This may well be Aerosofts’ DHC-6 that they stopped sale on a few years ago and said that it would come back in another form. Even then speculation was abound about it being included in a future version of MSFS. Maybe this time it will be available for everyone to fly and some of its niggling issues will have been sorted out!

There’s a beautiful shot of a Cessna dragging a sail plane out for a flight.

Another quick shot of a Cabri G2 helicopter landing at a remote lighthouse.

There’s a blink and you’ll miss it shot of the F/A-18E Super Hornet (already in the sim from 2020) and then we get to a few different shots of some autogryos flying as a group through some scenery. I haven’t been able to figure out the type yet so if anyone knows that let me know in the comments.

The second shot here changes the season and give us fall. Having the colours of the trees and the changing foilage in the mix will be a fantastic thing to have as part of the sim!

If you’ve longed for the return of the hot air balloon to MSFS, it looks like you won’t have to wait much longer. This stunning shot of one firing up looks pretty incredible!

This next one is interesting! We’ve got an Edgley Optica! Both Orbx and GotFriends have done their own renditions of this aircraft so what we’ve got here we’ll have to wait and see!

We’re at the end folks! The last shot of the trailer is just perfect given the recent aurora activity that was spotted all over the world. We’ve got the northern lights, baked into MSFS and not just as an add-on. It looks stunning and I’m guessing may be connected to some real time space weather. Will make flying in those northern regions all the more interesting!

Final thoughts

Microsoft has, together with Asobo Studio, managed to impress yet again. MSFS2020’s first trailer was a genuinely jaw dropping moment coming out of almost nowhere and delivering a revolutionary experience. It’s hard to make lightning strike again like that and with 2024 they aren’t really trying to shock us but instead show us that they can do more and then can refine an already impressive product.

Most of this trailer is, like the one before it, heavily emphasizing activities and mission types. Not only do you have aircraft in your hangar but they have purpose and missions to be sent out on. How flexible these scenarios are remains to be seen but I’m very curious to see what they can tell us as we roll forward towards November 19!

Spotted something in the trailer that I missed! Don’t hesitate to let me know in the comments!