Microsoft Flight Simulator
Hacker ApprovedThe most recommended of 6 flight simulators
Recommended for its detailed real-world scenery, VR flying, and reliable performance. Critics point to inaccurate terrain, distorted visuals, and a disappointing 2024 version.
Recommended for its detailed real-world scenery, VR flying, and reliable performance. Critics point to inaccurate terrain, distorted visuals, and a disappointing 2024 version.
30 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 20
- criticize it
- 10
- approval share
- 67%
Recommended in 10 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 20 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 2 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 10 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Detailed real-world scenery from satellite imagery
“a very high-fidelity, realistic, inaccurate version of a city”
Comment from 24 Aug 2026 in “The entire city of San Francisco as a video game” “They’re using high res satellite imagery of the entire globe.”
Comment from 10 Sep 2026 in “No Man's Sky Cosmos” “I love doing flybys of my house in MSFS”
Comment from 9 Oct 2026 in “Theranos.world” - Comment from 24 Aug 2026 in “The entire city of San Francisco as a video game”
Flies any plane anywhere in VR
“nowadays Microsoft Flight Simulator has really good VR mode, and it's just such a great experience”
Comment from 14 Sep 2026 in “Steam Frame starts at $1059” “VR in Microsoft Flight Simulator allows you to fly in any plane in any part of the world.”
Comment from 24 Sep 2026 in “Meta VR Glasses” “flight simming is a killer app for VR”
Comment from 8 Jun 2026 in “Ask HN: What's good for VR these days, free and paid” Reliable and easy to keep running
“The 2020 version is definitely set-and-forget once you log into your Microsoft account.”
Comment from 14 May 2026 in “Linux gaming is faster because Windows APIs are becoming Linux kernel features” “it's pretty much always worked fine for me”
Comment from 19 Apr 2026 in “Game Devs Explain the Tricks Involved with Letting You Pause a Game” “that runs fine through Protob”
Comment from 15 Nov 2025 in “Steam Machine” Immersive and good for focus
“working while sitting in an actual plane does provide me a bit of focus”
Comment from 16 Sep 2026 in “Show HN: I made a flight simulator, except you're just a passenger” “It was such a cool experience and totally immersive.”
Comment from 24 Nov 2025 in “Work from Home in Skyrim VR [video]”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Scenery less detailed or accurate than claimed
“Wouldn't call most of the world high fidelity yet”
Comment from 8 Oct 2026 in “Theranos.world” “The mesh resolution in MSFS isn't any higher resolution. Looks about the same.”
Comment from 24 Aug 2026 in “The entire city of San Francisco as a video game” “I think they cheat somewhat with the ocean when far from labdy”
Comment from 9 Oct 2026 in “Theranos.world” - Comment from 24 Aug 2026 in “The entire city of San Francisco as a video game”
Shadows and camera distortion artifacts
“During camera angle changes, they get very noticeably distorted.”
Comment from 25 Sep 2026 in “Pentium II at 600Mhz with Voodoo 3 Emulated on 86Box with M6 Mac Mini” “Microsoft flight simulator has weird sparkly shadows because it's tracing a few hundred rays and expects you to use TAA to cover it up and it's so bad.”
Comment from 14 Nov 2025 in “Why do we need dithering?” 2024 version disappointing
“2024 on PS5 IMO was a waste of money.”
Comment from 21 Feb 2026 in “Phil Spencer is exiting Microsoft as AI executive takes over Xbox” “massive regression with 2024”
Comment from 4 Aug 2026 in “Xbox goes down. You can't play games you own on disc”
Other flight simulators people recommend
The four most recommended other flight simulators, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Microsoft Flight SimulatorThis page | 20 | 10 | 67% | 10 | — | Approved |
| Passenger-perspective flight simulator | 19 | 9 | 68% | 1 | — | — |
| Comanche by NovaLogic | 10 | 2 | 83% | 5 | — | Approved |
| F-15 Strike Eagle II | 10 | 1 | 91% | 1 | — | — |
| Google Flight Simulator | 8 | 6 | 57% | 1 | — | — |
What people said
29 of the 33 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“I think they cheat somewhat with the ocean when far from labdy”
“I love doing flybys of my house in MSFS”
“Wouldn't call most of the world high fidelity yet”
“During camera angle changes, they get very noticeably distorted.”
“VR in Microsoft Flight Simulator allows you to fly in any plane in any part of the world.”
“working while sitting in an actual plane does provide me a bit of focus”
“nowadays Microsoft Flight Simulator has really good VR mode, and it's just such a great experience”
“They’re using high res satellite imagery of the entire globe.”
“It always seemed a missed opportunity that Microsoft Flight Simulator doesn't have a UFO mode”
“a very high-fidelity, realistic, inaccurate version of a city”
“The mesh resolution in MSFS isn't any higher resolution. Looks about the same.”
“has a pretty good version of SF”
“massive regression with 2024”
“one uses a statistical table based model based on existing aircraft”
“sea of thieves and MSFS are both microsoft games but run better on Linux”
“couldn't stand the constant jank/missed frames”
“There was no way to use this expensive purchase from the kid's account on the same machine!”
“flight simming is a killer app for VR”
“The 2020 version is definitely set-and-forget once you log into your Microsoft account.”
“it's pretty much always worked fine for me”
“MSFS flight dynamics was driven from a model using table-based lookup”
“2024 on PS5 IMO was a waste of money.”
“I will give Spencer a bit of credit though for bringing back Microsoft Flight Simulator”
“it functions properly, other than a timing issue with the World War I Ace mode”
“The products where the customers and the users are the same people (Excel, MS flight simulator, etc.) tend to be pretty nice.”
“I've loaded modern games off spinning rust for almost all of the past decade, including such whoppers as Siege, FS2020”
“It was such a cool experience and totally immersive.”
“that runs fine through Protob”
“Microsoft flight simulator has weird sparkly shadows because it's tracing a few hundred rays and expects you to use TAA to cover it up and it's so bad.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.