The last major update of Microsoft Flight Simulator for 2021 is now available

After a series of regular updates throughout the year, Microsoft Flight Simulator just received the final major patch for 2021. It goes without saying that this patch will check all the major boxes. It has a bunch of new planes and backgrounds, in addition to graphical upgrades, lots of bug fixes and sim improvements.

Dubbed “Game Version of the Year”, this update officially introduces sim version up to 1.21.13.0. It includes five completely free and brand new planes for existing users, plus eight new handcrafted airports located across Central Europe and the United States. These airports, along with the missing 545 airports, have now been added across the United States. Landscape upgrades were also introduced, resulting in Europe adding 11 new cities using fully 3D photogrammetry. The update also brings new missions and new tutorials.

Direct flights to DirectX Intl.

In terms of technical upgrades, Microsoft Flight Simulator now finally supports DirectX12 thanks to this update (and it works in VR too). It’s still in beta, so consider this feature a work in progress. In addition, the sim’s weather engine has also been upgraded, with improved data integration. Players can now “refer to real airport METARs (weather reports) in flight” when Live Weather is activated.

Another big new improvement for VR players is that the sim now supports VR controllers. One feature that could be loved by any player, is the addition of an in-sim replay mode. Before that, playback functionality was handled by external add-ons. This new integration is accessed from the developer console. So it’s still not as simple as your sims, but it’s clearly getting there.

This last update includes a bunch of changes, fixes and improvements made to the overall stability of the sim, as well as some default planes. NS Full list of patch notes It might take a couple of cups of coffee to read, but it will save time while the update is downloading.

Along with this GOTY update for Microsoft Flight Simulator, the paid expansion Reno Air Races was also released, bringing a whole new flying style to sims. Our preview discuss how this mode works.