What you will need to make the game fly

Microsoft has released the minimum specs for one of the most anticipated games of the year, Flight Simulator 2020, and they’re not as steep as you might have predicted.

Flight Simulator 2020 is the first release in the series in over a decade, and Microsoft has been teasing budding pilots with amazing-looking gameplay videos in recent months.

The good news for gamers is that the minimum specs for the game are relatively modest. AMD-based systems will require a Ryzen 3 1200 processor, a Radeon RX 570 graphics card with 2GB of video memory, just 8GB of system memory, and 150GB of hard drive space. The minimum specification for the Nvidia-based system replaces the processor with an Intel Core i5-4460 and the graphics card with an Nvidia GTX 770. Both require a minimum Internet connection speed of 5Mbits / sec.

As always with games, the “recommended specification” is really the goal you should aim for, and here things are modestly increased. AMD gamers will need at least a Ryzen 5 1500X with a Radeon RX 590 GPU with 4GB of video memory. Nvidia devotees should shoot for an Intel Core i5-8400 with an Nvidia GTX 970 GPU. The memory requirement doubles to 16GB, but the required space on the hard drive remains at 150GB. The minimum connection speed jumps to 20Mbits / sec.

And what if you want the best performance, to see all real-life landscapes, cloud formations, and other visual splendor in the best possible detail? Well, you’re going to need the “ideal specification” and this really pushes the envelope.

AMD fans will need a Ryzen 7 Pro 2700X with a Radeon VII GPU with 8GB of video memory. Devotees of Nvidia, meanwhile, are told to target a Core i7-9800X with an Nvidia RTX 2080 GPU. Both will require considerable 32GB system memory and here the storage requirement is upgraded to a 150 SSD. GB.

Perhaps the biggest jump of all comes in the required bandwidth, with the target set at 50Mbits / sec, which will be a stretch for many home connections. Clearly, much of the data in the Flight Simulator 2020 scenario is transmitted on the fly, which means you’ll need a solid fiber connection to transmit in full detail.

Don’t worry if you don’t have a PC capable of playing Flight Simulator, as the game will be coming to the Xbox One console as well, although presumably compromises in graphics quality will have to be made with the console’s limited hardware.

The game is currently in alpha testing and will be released later this year.