THE 2020 revival of the storied Microsoft Flight Simulator franchise dropped last week. Players and would-be pilots are having fun taking to the air with over 20 planes, from single-engine Cessnas to massive Boeing 787-10 Dreamliners.
But of course, the best part of Microsoft Flight Simulator has always been banking low over a city, and then saying, “Hey, I can see my house in the game!”
Microsoft Flight Simulator uses data from Microsoft’s Google Maps competitor, Bing, to render every major city and every major airport on Earth, processing two petabytes of data from the cloud and plopping them into the game. You don’t just take off and land in NAIA; you can actually take your plane over the entire Philippines and try to spot some famous places.
YouTube user Lomika took a virtual aerial tour of Manila in the video below:
Landmarks appear as text pop-ups in the game, but the entire Metro Manila — including a traffic-less EDSA — is visible from the air. We even spotted the Robinsons Cybergate Complex (which houses the Spin.ph and Summit Media offices) as the plane flew over the Guadalupe Bridge, and then again as it coasted over the length of EDSA. If you live in the NCR, you can probably spot your house in this flyby.
Meanwhile, YouTube user Raffy Manicane took off from Legazpi Airport to visit Mayon Volcano.
And in this video, YouTube user Clumsy posted a video of his Robin DR400 taking off from Clark International Airport, crossing southwest to view Mt. Pinatubo, before landing in Iba Airport in Zambales.
As more and more flight time is logged into Microsoft Flight Simulator, we’re sure we’re going to see more of these videos to come.
True to its name, Microsoft Flight Simulator promises an accurate, realistic flight experience. It is only available for PC. Three editions of the game are available for download now in the Microsoft Store. You can fly over the entire world and land in over 40,000 airports in all three editions, but the Standard Edition (P2,775) comes with 20 available planes, as well as 30 handcrafted airports that have additional detail. The Deluxe Edition (P4,150) has five extra planes and five extra handcrafted airports, while the Premium Deluxe Edition (P5,550) adds another five planes and five handcrafted airports.
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