Microsoft Flight Simulator to Add VR Support this Month

Following a round of beta testing back in late October/Early November, it’s been well known for more than a little while now that, sooner or later, VR support for Microsoft Flight Simulator was on the way. – Given that the game (if it can so be called) in its ‘standard’ form already requires a pretty beefy system, however, we suspect that this beta testing was, pretty much, a form of testing the consumer waters to see if it really was viable to take this title successfully (and practically) into the realms of virtual reality.

Well, following a report via TechPowerUp, it seems that Microsoft Flight Simulator is finally ready to bring VR support and, better still, it will be touching down before the end of this month!

Microsoft Flight Simulator

Starting off with some excellent news, despite initial reports that VR headset compatibility was going to be rather limited (or restricted), Microsoft has confirmed that support will be included for all major designs. Oculus Rift, Oculus Quest, Windows Mixed Reality, etc. should all work perfectly fine.

The main real question, however, is just exactly what level of hardware you’re going to need to run this ‘well enough’ in VR. I mean, even the beta had a minimum requirement of an Nvidia 1080 which, while admittedly not exactly representing cutting edge technology, is still a perfectly excellent and potent graphics card even today.

Hardware Requirements?

At the time of writing, despite confirming that VR support will be added before the end of this month, Microsoft has not yet gone as far as to confirm any official PC requirements for it. Put simply though, for a relatively decent level of performance, I think you are probably looking at something around a 1080 Ti or maybe even higher.

On the plus side, however, Microsoft has acknowledged that even in the standard mode, system requirements are a little on the high side and, as such, optimizations will be coming over the next year that’ll look to make it a little friendlier on more systems. – Rest assured though, while I’m not certain my PC will be able to handle it how I would like it to, I’m going to be pulling out my Oculus for this one!

What do you think? Are you going to be trying out Microsoft Flight Simulator in VR? – Let us know in the comments!