Today third-party developers shared news about upcoming add-ons for Microsoft Flight Simulator and released a new aircraft.
Virtualcol announced a new entry in its Embraer series, the Embraer E190-E2 and E195-E2. It's going to release exclusively on the official in-sim marketplace on August 10.
Pricing has not been announced and do keep in mind that by the developer's own admission, this is not a study-level aircraft and is designed "for fun." Basically, keep your expectations firmly in check.
Here's what you can expect from the product (sic) and a trailer.
- 3D model detailed
- Flight dynamic tested, stable, and most accurate to actual model**
- Wing-flex animation
- Original sound, including "Whale" in minimum revolutions
- 2 repaints of current airlines of both models
- Detailed cockpit with sounds
- Tablet with single solutions:
- Ready to Start engines
- Ready to flight
- ON\/OFF aural sounds
- Flight attendant voices in 6 languages to selecting
- Cabin passenger detailed
- VR limits (Collision polygons), tested using META OCULUS QUEST 2
- Tested and adjusted to use with Honeycomb and Thrustmaster hardware.
Liveries included:
E190-E2
- Air Astana
- Helvetic Airways
- Pionair Australia
- Placar Linhas Aereas
- Wideroe
E195-E2
- AZUL Linhas Aereas Brasileiras
- Air Peace (Nigeria)
- Binter Canarias
- Helvetic Airways
- KLM Cityhopper
- Porter Airlines
- TUI Fly Belgium
Speaking of aircraft, SimSkunkWorks released the Aermacchi SF-260 trainer (or Siai-Marchetti, or Leonardo, depending on which name you prefer for the manufacturer). It's currently available on Simmarket for $30.71 and is also coming soon on the official marketplace (also for Xbox), Orbx Direct, Just Flight, and Aerosoft.
Model
- Highly detailed model, fully animated
- Highly detailed 3D cockpit, fully animated and working
- Frame rate friendly in single and multiplayer
Textures
- Highly detailed, high definition,PBR
- Some different liveries
- Paintkit available upon request
Systems
- Almost all real system have been modelled and working as the real thing
- Flight dynamics modelled close to real aircraft performances tables
Other Features
- Model comes with real aircraft manuals (Italian and English) see /Docs folder
Moving on to airports, MM Simulations has revealed a trailer of its Horta Airport (LPHR) serving Faial Island in the archipelago of the Azores.
Do keep in mind that the trailer says "available now" but the airport is actually going to release tomorrow, August 9, at 21:00 UTC.
Update: the airport has now been released and is available on Orbx Direct for $16.39 with the following features:
- Accurately modeled terminal and interior
- Custom night lighting
- Custom parking positions matching with real life
- Custom surroundings
- Custom people and animated objects
- PBR Materials
- Real World based terraforming profile
- Updated CGL Data
- Ambient animated objects
Last, but not least, we learn that industry veteran Mathijs Kok has joined the team at PMDG. You may know Kok for his work as Project Manager at Aerosoft, where he delivered many products including the CRJ package and the Twin Otter. He also worked extensively on the upcoming Airbus A330.
PMDG CEO Robert Randazzo commented on the hiring on the company's official forums.
I am personally thrilled to welcome my very long-time friend, Mathijs to the PMDG team. I'll have more to say on this topic a bit later- and I may or may not shine a light on some of what we'll have him doing as part of our expansion going forward.
Anticipate him hanging back a bit while he gains his footing and gets up-to-speed. Our culture is very different from the one he has left behind after two decades- and his role here will be quite a bit different as well. There are a few key moments in PMDG's history- and it has been 15 years since we made specific, positive changes to improve the wider skill level and capabilities of our team. Mathijs coming aboard the PMDG team is one of numerous changes taking place in the background that go a long way toward my strategic objectives for PMDG- and I assure you you will be excited when you see what that plan looks like.
In the mean time, I hope you will all welcome him to our team. If your opinion is otherwise- you are welcome to sit back and give him the opportunity to prove himself with a clean, PMDG slate, but you have to promise you will come back here and offer acknowledgement when we prove you wrong.
Microsoft Flight Simulator is available now for PC, Xbox Series X|S, and Xbox Cloud Gaming, on top of Game Pass. If you'd like to read more about the many, many upcoming add-ons for the sim, you should stay tuned on TechRaptor every day, as we have daily Microsoft Flight Simulator news on the topic to keep everyone up to date.
You can also read our interviews with Microsoft's Jorg Neumann about the Antonov An-225 "Mriya" and iniBuilds' CEO Ubaid Mussa on the activity of the popular third-party developer.
In addition to that, we have reviewed multiple add-ons, including Orbx's Stockholm Arlanda and Oslo Gardermoen Airports, iniBuilds' New York-JFK Airport, and RHDSimulations' Boeing 767-300ER.