Finding the default sounds in Microsoft Flight Simulator to be a little underwhelming? Maybe the reverse thrust doesn’t quite feel as powerful as it should, or the ground roll sounds much quieter than you expect? If you’d like to hear more realistic sounds in your simulator, then take note of a new upcoming add-on for MSFS that aims to do exactly that: FSRealistic, the MSFS version of the popular XPRealistic add-on for X-Plane.
FSRealistic was teased by the developer, rkApps, a few months back. A website already exists, albeit with little more than a newsletter subscription box. However, the developer published this weekend a preview video of the Sound Effects to be included with this add-on, the first pack of a series of 3 that will attempt to improve the levels of immersion in MSFS. Expect to also see a Camera Effects pack and a Visual Effects pack down the line, but the improved sounds will be coming first, also because the SDK doesn’t yet support camera effects.
This first FSRealistic pack will introduce at least 24 improved sounds, which can easily be enabled through the included user interface. In the video we can see at least 20 of the sounds to be included in this package:
- Airframe wind
- Airport ambiance
- Auto speed brake
- Blade slapping
- Brakes
- Cockpit ambiance
- Engine startup
- Flaps drag
- Flaps lever
- Flaps stress
- Floats splash
- Gear drag
- Ground effect
- Ground roll
- Over G
- Overspeed
- Reverse thrust
- Speed brake drag
- Stall buffet
- Stick shaker
The video previews three of the sound effects: reverse thrust, floats splash, and ground roll. The differences are more dramatic in some cases, but they definitely make the airplane sound more “alive”.
FSRealistic will be entering a beta stage this month, which probably means a release isn’t too far off. If it proves to be as good as the X-Plane version, then it will certainly be a welcome addition to MSFS, especially when the camera effects become available. New and improved sounds are always nice, but the simulation of head movement to simulate shakes, touchdowns, etc, is something that really makes you feel like sitting in the cockpit.
Stay tuned for further news about this project!
