Microsoft Flight Simulator Adds Australia

pcmag.com:

Microsoft Flight Simulator added a new destination to the game this week in the form of the giant land mass that is Australia.

Update 1.22.2.0 is a big one, with Microsoft promising to let you "Soar over the renowned Great Barrier Reef, visit the vast regions of Western Australia, and marvel at the natural beauty of Mount Wellington."

In total, there are 94 hand-crafted points of interest, four hand-crafted airports to visit, and 11 photogrammetry cities to explore. Add to that five Bush Trips, five Landing Challenges, and six Discovery Flights over Australia included with the update.

The hand-crafted airports (Longreach, Mount Beauty Airport, Paraburdoo, and Shellharbour Airport) were created by Orbx Simulation Systems who are based in Melborne. Orbx create high-fidelity scenery packages for a range of products and Microsoft also tapped them to add high-resolution detail for 100 other airports. That's alongside the world elevation data and aerial imagery being updated for Australia. The water mask has also been improved for various locations.

Bush trips include Tasmania, Southeastern Australia, Sea to Desert, Great Barrier Reef, and Northwestern Kimberly Coast. The Landing Challenges are for Brisbane, Shellharbour, Mt Hotham, Katoomba, and Mabulag. And for Discovery Flights, you can enjoy flying over the Gold Coast, Sydney, Perth, Darwin, Melbourne, and Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park.

The Australia-focused update is available now for free for anyone who owns the game. Microsoft does point out that PC players may find some of their packages in the community folder haven't been updated. This can impact performance, so the best thing to do is move the community packages to another folder before launching the game.

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