Microsoft Flight Simulator: Game of the Year Edition includes DirectX 12 support!

Microsoft Flight Simulator: Game of the Year Edition will be available with DirectX 12 support on November 18th. Five new aircraft, eight new airports, as well as new discovery flights and tutorials, will be included in the free update. The most notable addition will be DirectX 12 support for PC gamers.

Microsoft Flight Simulator developers Asobo already released an update earlier this year that included significant PC performance improvements. Because DirectX 12 includes improved CPU utilization, this new DirectX 12 update should improve things even more for certain PCs.

The transition to DirectX 12 will pave the way for ray tracing in Microsoft Flight Simulator in the future. Better water, improved shadows, and the usual reflections seen in ray-traced games should all be present. In this upcoming update, Asobo will also include an updated weather system and a dev mode replay system.

A Reno Air Races mode separate from Microsoft Flight Simulator: Game of the Year Edition allows players to race against their friends and other online pilots in a competitive multiplayer mode. The Reno Air Races expansion pack is Microsoft Flight Simulator’s first major expansion, and it is based on the famous STIHL National Championship Air Races.

Microsoft Flight Simulator: Game of the Year Edition will be released on November 18th, following the release of Forza Horizon 5 on November 9th and before the release of Halo: Infinite on December 8th. It’s part of a series of Xbox Game Studios releases this fall, which also includes Age of Empires IV on October 28th and Minecraft joining Xbox Game Pass for PC on November 2nd.

Microsoft will also hold a special broadcast on November 15th to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Xbox. “While no new games will be announced, this anniversary broadcast will be a special look back at Xbox’s 20 years,” says Matt Booty, head of Xbox Game Studios. “We’ll have more information soon, so stay tuned.”