MS Flight Simulator Can Chew Through 180 Mb/s of Data In Flight

The amount of data used to create the whole world in Flight Simulator 2020 was astounding. While the installer itself was quite large, the actual world data that can be streamed was measured in petabytes. With the upcoming release of Flight Simulator 2024, it seems that data isn’t getting any smaller, with the game having a more modest installer, just 30 GB, but relying on much more streamed resources from the Microsoft game servers.

To get the game to operate smoothly, you’ll either need to pre-download or cache this streamed data, something you could do in the 2020 release. Or, if you have fast enough internet, you’ll likely have no issue streaming it in real time, but just ensure you’re on an unlimited bandwidth connection, or you’ll get into big trouble.

Flight Simulator 2024

As if the game’s system requirements weren’t already going to be demanding, with claims that the RTX 4090 will max the game out at 4K 60 (so long as you use DLSS Quality), you’ll also be burning through 180 Mb/s of internet bandwidth mid-flight to stream in terrain and other data.

That might not sound like a lot, but it’s still around 81 GB per hour. I’m on an extremely fast unlimited FTTP connection, so 81 GB is nothing for me, but if you’re on a metered connection or a slower speed connection, well, this is certainly going to have an impact on your playability of the game.

Microsoft recommends at least a 50 Mb/s connection for the game, which is likely what the game runs on at average speeds, but as we said, it can pull data a lot faster depending on where you are, how you’re flying, speed, and no doubt many other factors.

Either way, I simply cannot wait to play this game, as 2020 was a brilliant sim, but this one promises more activities and challenges, and simply just more “gamer” things to do rather than just trying to figure it all out yourself.