It’s been a long, long time since I last played Microsoft Flight Simulator. If I had to guess, it was at least 25 years ago, and that was possibly Flight Simulator 98 or an old copy of Flight Simulator for Windows 95. Returning to the IP by way of the stunning Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, sitting on the couch with a PS5 controller in hand, has been an interesting and unexpectedly captivating experience – at least when I could figure out how to actually access the different activities, in-flight navigation tools, or just get the damn aircraft systems to do what I wanted.





That said, it’s worth starting with the good rather than my frustrations. There is a lot to love about Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 if you have even a passing interest in the wider world. If you’re someone who enjoys flicking through paper maps, or using a combination of Google Maps and “Street View” to explore a region before you visit (or just for the fun of it), this is one of the most engaging ways to do it. Forget terrifyingly technical take-offs and landings, one of the greatest joys a casual player can take from Flight Simulator 2024 is simply exploring fascinating or remote parts of the world from a digital aircraft.

There is a lot to love about Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 if you have even a passing interest in the wider world.

There are - for those who want them - progression systems that unlock new structured activities with increasing technical difficulty. First, you create your own pilot avatar and copilot from a limited set of customisation menus, then earn experience from your flight hours to unlock new pilot license tiers and new activities to go with them. These include: medevac and firefighting missions in emergency aircraft; competitive challenges like stunt aircraft rallies and other low-altitude/high-risk scenarios; and classic activities like planning and executing cargo and passenger flights. For me though, it was all about digital tourism activities like photographing landmarks, or trying out more relaxed airship and balloon tours.



That might not sound like the most wild experience, but the incredible technical depth on offer in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 mean that only diehard sim fans are able to critique it fairly. As a casual player, assists meant that I could crudely pilot any craft by controlling the speed, pitch, yaw, and roll. The flight stick, throttle, ailerons, and rudder were assigned to the thumbsticks, triggers, and face buttons. My take-offs and landings were far from spectacular but got the job done so I could focus on exploring the world and, when I remembered it was an option, even get out of the plane for a pre-flight inspection in airports or to explore dynamically generated environments to take some more photos.

…the incredible technical depth on offer in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 mean that only diehard sim fans are able to critique it fairly.

In stark contrast, disabling the assists resulted a hilarious sequence of failures that usually meant I couldn’t even get airborne. Simply getting the aircraft ready to taxi onto the runway was a challenge. Taking off was doable, but typically followed by a swift stall and crash as I failed to hold a stead ascent angle while managing my speed. Part of that is simply my own lack of knowledge and unwillingness to read through dozens of tutorial pages. The bigger problem is once I did, the lack of inputs on a gamepad results in a ridiculous number of menu and button combinations you need to memorise before doing anything fluidly.



The standard flight controls are just the first problem. You also need to deal with the incredibly detailed flight planner tablet that you can pull up at any time. It contains pages of essential information, from flight details, to radar and weather checks, fuel management vs. cargo load calculations, and vertical profile planning. It’s packed with tiny text, multi-level menus, clustered toggles, and search bars, all of which make for an absolute nightmare to use. The thumbstick acts as an emulated cursor and you’re often forced to bring up the console OS onscreen keyboard. There’s an option to have the aircraft trigger autopilot automatically when using it, but it’s clear the whole interface was designed around a mouse and keyboard – ideally paired with a proper joystick, throttle, and peddle set.

…it’s clear the whole interface was designed around a mouse and keyboard – ideally paired with a proper joystick, throttle, and peddle set.

All that said, with so many assists available to render many of the technical elements unnecessary, it was still easy to lose hours simply flying around remote parts of the world I’ve wanted to visit (and plenty that I never even considered). This allowed me to appreciate the level of detail that has gone into the environments – even if that detail means you’ll need to be online constantly to stream in the required data (it won’t even launch offline). Sadly, it’s during these moments of exploration it also became clear some regions and airports – typically major urban centres in the USA, Europe, Japan, and Australia – received the bulk of photogrammetry efforts, while more exotic locations are limited to satellite data that only holds up from a decent altitude. I also wish the brief location descriptions had links to a proper online encyclopaedia, so you could lose yourself down a rabbit hole of unplanned research.



Despite wishing that more locations received more detailed environments (anywhere in Africa would be nice), Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is still a success on PlayStation 5 for those content to pay for a more casual experience with a controller, or those lucky enough to get the most out of it with one of the rare supported joystick and throttle setups. Regardless of whether you’re a simulation fan or digital tourist, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 offers incredible scope and there’s nothing else quite like it. Just note there’s no getting around the fact it was designed with a mouse in keyboard in mind, so there’s a steep learning curve and constant friction trying to do even simple things like set a nearby airport as your destination.