Competitive multiplayer coming to MSFS with the Reno Air Races
The avalanche of new content and features coming to Microsoft Flight Simulator this fall keeps on growing. We have the upcoming Top Gun: Maverick DLC coming in November, one of the most anticipated updates yet for MSFS, but there’s a new flying mode coming before that, which the Flight Simulator team is claiming to be the largest expansion to be made available in MSFS since the launch in August 2020: the Reno Air Races!
Announced during the Xbox presentation in this year’s Gamescom, this racing-focused expansion will effectively bring a new competitive multiplayer mode to Flight Simulator, allowing eight pilots to race each other on the famous 8-mile track. For this to happen, a series of technical enhancements will be implemented to the multiplayer function of MSFS, allowing much more accurate positioning of each player in the world. In an interview with Polygon, Jorg Neumann says that a group of friends will be able to perform Blue Angel-inspired maneuvers, which have never been possible before. These new capabilities will also be available for third-party developers to take advantage of and create new kinds of content for the simulator.
The Reno Air Races expansion will also bring a series of new airplanes to MSFS. These will be the most famous airplanes to take part in the races, such as the P-51 Mustang and the Hawker Sea Fury. The scenery around Reno will also be upgraded with new aerial imagery.
While fall is the estimated time frame for the release of this new expansion, a clear date for the launch is not yet set. It may come as soon as October, maybe slipping a little into November, but it seems clear that the goal is to release it before the Top Gun: Maverick DLC. All of this will obviously be available both on PC and Xbox.
