Microsoft Flight Simulator — Sim Update 3 now live with lots to offer

Asobo has swooped in with the release of the new Sim Update 3 for Microsoft Flight Simulator a day earlier than previously announced. This update comes with an extensive list of new features added and various improvements made across the board. Clocking in at 7.97GB for the main update and 1GB for the client update, there’s a lot to unpack.

For one thing, there’s a surprise in this latest update: legacy paint schemes from FSX. Legacy simmers will surely recall the fictional airlines of the series like World Travel and Orbit Airlines. Paint schemes for those, along with Kenmore, Emerald Gold, Global Freightways, and Pacifica are now available for the “appropriate planes.” Another surprise comes with contrails. This update finally patched them in for the jet-powered aircraft, though for now this effect is restricted to your aircraft.

Beyond these additions, the patch list for Microsoft Flight Simulator’s latest update dives into some serious details about all sorts of different things. Here are a few more highlights:

Making some tweaks and fixing the leaks

You can now configure Aircraft prior to the beginning of a flight when you’re setting up your flight plan on the World Map. This includes an empty center-of-gravity position, the ability to increase wear and tear on an aircraft’s fuselage (thus affecting flight behavior and performance), and the ability to adjust the maximum angle limits for all of the control surfaces of an aircraft (rudder, ailerons, and elevators).

The autopilot system and flight management systems across various aircraft also received enhancements. This includes improvements for the Cessna Citation Longitude, Airbus A320neo, Boeing 747-8, Boeing 787 Dreamliner (which has a slew of changes), as well as improvements for general aviation aircraft GPS systems.

You’ll find improvements made to the performance of some aircraft like the Beechcraft Baron G58 and Bonanza G36. Even the simulator’s own performance has been enhanced with fixes for various crashes.

There are so many other little details to the new Sim Update 3 for Microsoft Flight Simulator;  you can read the full rundown over on the sim’s official website. By the time you’re done, the new update should be finished downloading by then.

Even more journeys ahead

Beyond this, there’s still much to look forward to. The next World Update, which overhauls and improves the scenery of France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands, will come out sometime within the next few weeks by “early April.”

Before that, however, Aerosoft will be releasing the first “study-level” payware airliner in the form of its Mitsubishi (formerly Bombardier) CRJ 500/700 regional jets on March 16.