Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 PC Requirements Are Demanding, But Not In the Way You Think

With an entire globe to explore and various aircraft to do so in, you'd imagine that Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 will be a technically demanding game when it takes off from the runway this year. While you'll be able to do some digital tourism on a modest PC setup, if you're aiming to play the game on its minimum or recommended specs, you're going to need quite the rig to handle the game in an "ideal" state on that platform.

Developer Asobo Studio has revealed the minimum, recommended, and ideal system requirements for its flight simulation game, and while the first two tiers aren't too outrageous, the first-class travel experience certainly is demanding. The developer recommends hardware like a 40-series Nvidia GPU with 12GB of VRAM and a chunky 64GB of RAM for the game, as well as a stable 100Mbps internet connection so that you can stream in all of its high-resolution assets.

The good news is that because of this cloud-centric approach, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 will have a much smaller footprint on your storage device. Compared to the previous Flight Simulator game that took up to 150GB of storage capacity, you'll only need 50GB available for this year's tour of the skies. The high RAM and bandwidth requirements will help stream those assets in quickly, allowing for high-fidelity graphics. Here's a closer look at the system requirements:

Microsoft Flight Simulator PC Requirements

Minimum

• Operating system: Windows 10
• Direct X version: DX12
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2600X / Intel Core i7-6800K
• GPU: Radeon RX 5700 / GeForce GTX 790
• VRAM: 4GB
• RAM: 16GB
• Storage: 50GB
• Bandwidth: 10 Mbps

Recommended

• Operating system: Windows 10
• Direct X version: DX12
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 2700X / Intel Core i7-10700K
• GPU: Radeon RX 5700 XT / GeForce RTX 2080
• VRAM: 8GB
• RAM: 32GB
• Storage: 50GB
• Bandwidth: 50 Mbps

Ideal

• Operating system: Windows 10
• Direct X version: DX12
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7900X / Intel i7 14700K
• GPU: Radeon RX 7900 XT / GeForce RTX 4080
• VRAM: 12GB
• RAM: 64GB
• Storage: 50GB
• Bandwidth: 100 Mbps

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 will launch on November 19, and will also be available for Xbox Series X|S. One of the big new features in the game is a career mode, as budding aviators will be able to engage in a variety of professions, from private pilots to mountain rescue specialists. Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 will be available for Game Pass Ultimate subscribers as a day-one launch title, but if you'd like a physical bundle, there's a $130 Premium Deluxe Edition available for preorder and it comes with tons of bonus content.