Microsoft Flight Simulator Closed Beta released to final testing

If you've been waiting for Microsoft's latest Flight Simulator release, the time is close at hand. Today the folks that run the development of Microsoft Flight Simulator revealed that they'd reached an important milestone. Alpha 5 was was released this week, on the 9th of July, 2020, and Closed Beta was moved into final testing!

Included in the update notes for this latest upgrade for Microsoft Flight Simulator was... a lot of polish. They mentioned the word polish approximately six times. They suggested that this update was all about community feedback, bug fixes, and "an overall polish pass."

That includes a bit of "polish" for:

• All planes (which also got another round of tuning)

• The World

• Airports

• Scenery

• The Weather

They also suggested in their official update release that they're "hard at work focused on community feedback, polish, polish, and more polish." By the time this Flight Simulator is released to the public, it'll be too shiny to see properly! You'll try to lean against an airplane and slip so hard, you'll bust your face on the pavement!

They suggested that they delivered "improvement to the ground effect formula" for this latest edition of the game in order to "improve the overall 'realism'" of the experience. Updates were made to engine and propeller effects on all propeller planes, specifically for P-Factor, Torque, Gyro-Precession, and Prop Wash. Both Flap lift and drag adjustments "across all planes" were implemented with this update, too.

If you've been playing since the beginning, you'll likely flip your lid knowing that you'll now be able to perform a belly landing with the Bonanza G36. They also adjusted TBM 930 Engine torque, and improved overall A320 Fly By Wire (FBW) implementation.

A couple of... probably pretty important updates were made for all planes in the areas of Auto Pilot and Landing Gear alerts. Before this update, reaching 16,000 MLS meant you'd be seeing a "Landing Gear" alert blasting incessantly – that's apparently fixed. Auto Pilot also had a bug, now fixed, which caused aircraft to "rock" from left to right when ON.

If you're not currently an Alpha tester for Flight Simulator, you'll want to look to "new invitations for Closed Beta participation" in the very near future. They've announced a Closed Beta release for the 30th of July, 2020 – so soon! Head over to Microsoft Flight Simulator now and check it out.

The official final release for Microsoft Flight Simulator is scheduled for release on Windows 10 with Xbox Game Pass "in 2020" and "coming to Xbox One at a later date."