Microsoft Flight Simulator: How to Find Your Real-World House
Microsoft Flight Simulator may be one of the year's top-rated games, and a lot of people are thinking of getting into virtual piloting as a result. One of the first things many greenhorns will want to do for their maiden flight is get a bird's eye view of their home.
The simplest way to plot a flight path to any position on earth in the 2020 version of Microsoft Flight Simulator is to enter the World Map / Free Flight Mode and choose two airports from the drop-down menus, departure, and arrival. The game will automatically locate and plot a course between the two airports. However, if someone wants to do a flyover of a specific location (which for now will be called Home), things are only slightly more complicated.
Finding a specific address should be easy using just about any modern mapping software, though Bing Maps is Microsoft's official recommendation. In most cases, users can simply type in "airport close to [home]" and the map program should display at least one appropriate starting point. There are numerous airports to choose from, and Flight Simulator's map data is updated surprisingly regularly.
Unfortunately, it is only possible to plot a course between two airports in Microsoft Flight Simulator, so virtual pilots who want to fly off the beaten path will need to go old-school. For this, the VFR map is invaluable and available by pressing the "V" key.
Users can figure out where home is in relation to the nearest airport by simply plotting a course as if they were planning to drive there. Once a course has been plotted and the pilot is in the plane, the pilot can compare the VFR map with the third-party map and use roads as landmarks to get them where they are going, the same way a real pilot might make use a paper map. For pilots taking advantage of Microsoft Flight Simulator's VR support, this may mean taking off the goggles fairly regularly.
Microsoft Flight Simulator has changed a lot since its first iteration in 1982, and most would say it has been for the better, with increasingly realistic controls and landscapes found in Flight Simulator. However, some pilots may be concerned that the VFR does not show major roads clearly, making it a little more difficult to navigate.
Microsoft Flight Simulator will be available for PC on August 18, with an Xbox One version in development.
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