Microsoft Flight Simulator Is Getting VR Support in Time For the Holidays

While you shouldn't be travelling by air in-person this holiday season, you'll still be able to take to the skies in a different way. Asobo Studio has announced that the virtual reality update will be rolled into an incoming Dec. 22 update for Microsoft Flight Simulator, as part of Sim Update 2.

The news was announced in a recent developer update, the virtual reality update will be free for all users and work on the major VR headsets available, including Oculus and Vive. Beyond just flying, menus will also be in VR, so hopefully turning the volume down a bit mid-flight won't be too jarring.

Asobo Studio has been gradually updating Microsoft Flight Simulator since its launch earlier this year, with major World Updates like its Japan-focused one adding even more detail to an already-detailed world. Its use of new technology to essentially map the planet in real time is still absolutely flooring, largely contributing to our nominating it the Game of the Month for August.

In a pandemic year, it's been an especially welcome escape. It's not necessarily that I miss air travel, but rather, the feeling of travelling in general; seeing new sights, looking out the window and watching ground pass way below me. Microsoft Flight Simulator fulfills my wanderlust, and now I'm heavily debating a VR headset to bring me that much closer to the experience.

It's been a killer Game Pass app for a reason, and with VR on the way and another World Update centered around the UK just beyond it, Asobo's flight sim is looking like it might be an impressively lasting piece of tech. Maybe I'll celebrate the holiday season with a brief flight around the Eiffel Tower.