Dean Criss from DC Designs has been one of the most active developers for Microsoft Flight Simulator, with a number of notable releases and upcoming projects that have garnered some good attention from the community. After the recent launch of the F-14 Tomcat, the developer is now focused on the legendary Concorde, aiming for a release later this year.
In another Friday news update, DC Designs shared some new images of the Concorde in MSFS. We first saw the aircraft a year ago, with the first teaser images of the old P3D model being ported to the new sim. We now have a better look at how the aircraft is looking in MSFS, and things are looking promising for a release timeframe in 2021, due to the good head-start that was made possible because custom code that was created for P3D has carried over to MSFS with no apparent issues.
These new images that have been shared show a few perspectives of the Concorde, but the developer notes that they all show a work-in-progress, as it’s basically the old P3D model. Much of the work for the near future should be dedicated to bring this up to MSFS standards with higher resolution textures, PBR, decals, and more.
As for what to expect from the overall package, DC Designs says visual fidelity will be significantly improved, with extensive rebuilding in the exterior model and particularly in the cockpit. Concerning the systems’ simulation, as usual from DC Designs, the goal will be to provide a reasonably detailed experience while still being accessible to all users. So, don’t expect a “study-level” aircraft, even though some of the quirks of this legendary airplane will be implemented, such as “fuel transfer for pitch trim, step-climb profile for cruise acceleration, nose-droop animations, highly realistic flight model with super-cruise and more.”
The DC Designs Concorde will come with liveries for the main operators of the aircraft, a manual “the size of a refrigerator” and support for the built-in interactive checklists in MSFS, so that new users can take the Concorde on a full flight, from start to finish, without having to reference any additional documentation. This should also make the Concorde more accessible to console users, so yes: the DC Designs Concorde will be available on Xbox.
This new model of the Concorde for MSFS will make use of many of the features that the platform is capable of, such as the complex lighting and animations. The only thing that the developer says should not be available at launch will be true afterburners, a base MSFS feature that has been delayed for 2022. Because of that, the Concorde will make use of the developer’s custom afterburner system and visual effects that are already present on the F-15 and F-14.
While the development carries on with the Concorde, DC Designs has also very recently announced a new freeware aircraft that will be coming to MSFS in the meantime, the Northrop P-61B Black Widow. Two very different airplanes coming from Dean Criss who will surely please a wide variety of simmers!
For now, enjoy these brand-new WIP images of the Concorde in Microsoft Flight Simulator. As usual, we will let you know of any further news about this project!
