Microsoft's 'Flight Simulator 2020' Release Date, Requirements, Editions Announced

Microsoft's “Flight Simulator 2020” can and will be the next best thing for frustrated pilots for good reason: the graphics are insanely detailed from the weather, terrain to traffic conditions. But all of these plus more will come at a hefty price of 150 GB of hard drive space.

It's not much of a surprise because the title is, well, a flight simulator, and it should come with real-life experiences to stand up for its name. The 2020 version is the 11^th major entry in Mircosoft's “Flight Simulator” series and promises to “simulate the entire Earth” courtesy of Azure, Microsoft's cloud computing service.

IGN meanwhile added that, notwithstanding the gargantuan size that would-be pilots should sacrifice in their hard drive, “Flight Simulator 2020” also requires them to have at least a minimum of 5 mbps of bandwidth or ideally, 50 mbps for “data streaming.” In addition, the simulator also targets 8GB of RAM as its minimum requirement, although the ideal would be 32GB.

The outlet also detailed Microsoft's GPU recommendations, ranging from the Radeon VII or NVIDIA RTX 2080, to a subtler but older Radeon RX 590 or NVIDIA GTX 970. As for processors, a Ryzen 5 1500X and Intel i5-8400 shouldn't be a problem, but it does recommend a Ryzen 7 Pro 2700X and Intel i7-9800X “for the ideal specification.”

“Flight Simulator 2020” will have three editions: a Standard Edition which will have “20 highly detailed planes” and “30 handcrafted airports;” a Deluxe Edition which comes with everything plus an additional "5 highly accurate planes with unique models” and “5 additional handcrafted airports,” and the Premium Deluxe with 10 additional planes airports” according to MS Power User.

The development team of “Flight Simulator 2020” announced that the closed beta is scheduled for a July 30^th release. Microsoft also said those who are not an Alpha tester will be given a chance to test the game again via invitation, said Endgadget.

“Flight Simulator 2020” is slated to be releasedmon the PC on August 18 through the Microsoft Store and Xbox Game Pass PC, with preorders already starting. The Standard Edition will cost $59.99, while the Deluxe Edition can be had for $89.99.