Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 Debuts August 18 (Pre-Order Now)

By: Ben Schlappig

Published: July 14, 2020

67 comments

About a year ago it was formally announced that a new version of Microsoft Flight Simulator would be introduced in 2020, which is the first new version since 2006. I can’t even begin to say how much of my childhood was spent playing this game, so it would be an extreme understatement to say that I’m excited…

Well, the game is now available for pre-order.

In this post:

Pre-order Microsoft Flight Simulator now

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 will be available as of August 18, and is now available for pre-order. There will be three versions available:

The Microsoft Flight Simulator Standard Edition ($59.99 USD) includes 20 highly detailed planes with unique flight models and 30 hand-crafted airports. The Standard Edition will be available on day one with Xbox Game Pass for PC (Beta).
The Deluxe Edition ($89.99 USD) includes everything from Microsoft Flight Simulator’s standard edition plus 5 additional highly accurate planes with unique flight models and 5 additional handcrafted international airports.
The Premium Deluxe Edition ($119.99 USD) includes everything from Microsoft Flight Simulator Standard Edition plus 10 additional highly accurate planes with unique flight models and 10 additional handcrafted international airports.

Here’s a chart showing which airports are featured in highly realistic detail for each of the versions:

Here’s a chart showing which airplanes are featured in highly realistic detail for each of the versions:

Here’s a chart showing the spec requirements:

Then here’s a new trailer for the new Microsoft Flight Simulator:

What’s the best strategy for an Apple user here?!

I’m so incredibly excited about Flight Simulator 2020, though as someone who uses a MacBook Air, I’m not sure what strategy I should be taking. I’m terrible with anything tech related, so I’d love some tips.

You can only run Flight Simulator on Windows, so what’s the best approach to take?

Can you run it as a parallel system on your Mac, or does that diminish the performance?
Or should I be buying a PC specifically for this? If so, any tips?

I want Microsoft Flight Simulator to be epic, though am also not thrilled at the prospect of having a huge PC desktop in my apartment solely for this game, though that may be inevitable.

Bottom line

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 will be debuting in just over a month, and I’m so excited. I was obsessed with this as a kid, and the 2020 version looks like an incredible upgrade. Heck, I’m not sure if I should be excited or worried about my lack of productivity that may result from this.

But first I might need to figure out what approach I’m going to take in terms of getting a system that can actually run the game…

Anyone else excited about Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020? What kind of a system are you going to be running it on?

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Rich Moore Guest

August 28, 2020, 10:41 am

Oh, I tried parallels, it did not work at all. Forget using that.

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Rich Moore Guest

August 28, 2020, 10:40 am

Tom, that is better than my 2017 model I5/ 575 4mm, so I think it will run on medium setting well enough. FYI, I have the game pass version, and for anyone reading this a Windows-to-go external windows install will NOT work, there is some kind of drm issue (that has been a bug for a long tine, it will probably not get fixed anytime soon if ever.). I did a manual external windows Install using some instructions from owc (updated in the comments section for newer macs) and that worked fine. Also, you could do the normal boot camp install then move it to an external drive using winclone, Microsoft wants 150g of ssd space just for this game, so I assume most mac users can’t spare enough for both macOS and windows 10 at the same time and will need an external windows Install. My quick thoughts are that the game is beautiful, but has long load times, lots of bugs to stamp out, and some unfinished items they should have finished before release. (No airways on the g1000?). I think after this game has more time in the oven And third party support builds up it will be great, but it may be worth keeping your current sim for another year before switching over, unless you like beta testing.

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James B. Metzger Guest

August 27, 2020, 12:37 pm

Want to know best way to use in a 6 year-old 17" iMac. Or should I wait and buy new iMac and a pc just for FS.

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Tom Guest

August 26, 2020, 1:21 pm

I own a Mac with Bootcamp. 4,2 Ghz, 64 gig Ram, i7 and a Radeon Pro 580 8 GB. Quite good specs for a machine of end 2017. But will this work properly? And with Parallels 16 as well?

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stevan Guest

August 20, 2020, 5:10 am

Does anyone know if it I would need to purchase two licenses for use on two separate PCs in the same household assuming the same MSN ID was used for both and never simultaneously? My son already purchased one copy and installed it on his PC but I just built a PC to set up a simulator in the garage using Xplane 11 with pretty much a full cockpit virtual instrument panel, Garmin 530/430 sim, yoke, rudder,throttle panel, switches, trim, autopilot module, radio panels in the config of a cessna 174. ATC sim server subscription, possibly Foreflight integration as well (my son just finished ground school and has started flight school). I don't know how well I'd be able to plug FS 2020 into my cockpit build but would like to try and surprise him. The realism of the terrain and of the scenery on FS 2020 are incredible compared to xplane, it would be a plus for training using VFR locally, as we were able to identify his high school, our home, local landmarks, among a multitude of things on his first fly around in FS 2020 out of our local airport. It was remarkable. But ultimately the cockpit sim will be more for practicing IFR down the line so If it doesn't work then I wouldn't want to have spent $120+ on an additional license plus duplicate in app purchases to find out. Would save me a little money that I could put back into the sim build.

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