If your fun on Microsoft Flight Simulator is hampered by its incredibly high resource usage, then you deserve to know of its upcoming update. That update will boost the performance to a considerable degree.
The Sim Update 5 is coming to PC on July 27, in line with the game’s launch on Xbox Series X/S.
The high resource issue is even found in high-end setups like those with Nvidia RTX 3080, which barely hits consistent 60 FPS in most cities.
Since the game is about to celebrate its first anniversary, developer Asobo Studios will launch a new update to resolve that issue on PC.
Sim Update 5 Showcase
In a Q&A livestream, Asobo Studios co-founder and CEO Sebastian Wloch showed off some improvements that you can expect in Sim Update 5.
Wloch was using a PC powered by Intel i7-9700K CPU and Nvidia RTX 2060 Super GPU.
Initially, the CEO showcased the game’s performance on the current Sim Update 4. As seen on the video, the CPU stayed at a consistent 100% utilization while 75% of the GPU’s resources were used to render the city of Manhattan - considered as one of the game’s busiest cities.
Next, the same city was loaded but this time, with Sim Update 5. Aside from maintaining 60 FPS most of the time, the game only required 75% CPU utilization. It is important to note, however, that the switch was entirely flipped. The GPU is now carrying most of the load.
Be that as it may, it is impressive to see that you can enjoy the game at a smooth frame rate even when you are in a busy city. So, for people with modest PCs, there is definitely something to look forward to.
In another video, Wloch showed the improvements done on the Tree Draw distance. This means that all trees, while you’re in flight, should render at the correct distances.
Xbox Ports
The update will launch alongside the Xbox Series X/S ports of the game. It will default to 30 FPS when you are using a regular TV. But, if you have a TV with a variable refresh rate, it could run higher than 30 FPS.
Keep in mind that the Xbox Series X, being the more powerful console, can render the game at 4K. The Xbox Series S can run the game at 1080p max.
Microsoft has plans to make the game more suitable for Xbox Cloud Gaming. Head of Microsoft Flight Simulator Jorg Neumann said that he is confident that it will work on the service.
Are you excited about Microsoft Flight Simulator Sim Update 5?
