Some surprises coming next week to MSFS, Canada World Update in September

Continuing our coverage of the latest Developer Q&A by the Microsoft Flight Simulator team, who yesterday released a gorgeous new “Famous Flyer” airplane and announced that Sim Update 10 has been delayed, we’re back to share with you some details about the platform roadmap for the coming weeks. There are a few exciting things to look forward to!

World Update 11 coming to Canada

First of all, there’s a new World Update in sight, scheduled to arrive next month, September 27th. It’s just over a month away and it will be dedicated to a long-coveted country: Canada! The second-largest country in the world is getting the next content update in MSFS, which will hopefully bring this territory up to par with the neighboring United States.

As usual, the Canada World Update (the 11th in the series) will bring improved elevation data to the covered territory, along with new aerial imagery, 5 bespoke airports, 89 POIs, and 12 photogrammetry cities. The airports that are getting remodeled are:

CYCB Bella Coola
CYCG West Kootenay

CYDA Dawson City
CYDF Deer Lake

CYFB Iqaluit

Besides the updated scenery, Word Update 11 will also add 9 new activities: 3 Landing Challenges, 3 Discovery Flights, and 3 Bush Trips.

During the stream, Jorg Neumann let out an interesting tidbit about a future World Update. Africa has been a continent that some simmers wish could be improved and some even hoped would be featured in the next World Update. It won’t, but Jorg revealed that the team is working on it!

Some surprises in store for next week’s Gamescom

The Canada World Update is now well set in the calendar, but there are some surprises to look forward to before that. The MSFS team hinted at some serious announcements during this year’s Gamescom, which will take place next week in Germany. Apparently, the team will take the opportunity to be in the world’s largest gaming event to unveil the next Local Legend aircraft and a new kind of content update: CU 1. Any ideas about what it may stand for? Continental Update??

MSFS content updates — So many updates! What will “CU I” going to be?

Gamescom will also be used to show the latest advancements in helicopter development in MSFS. As we know, official support for rotorcraft will arrive on the platform later this year with the 40th Anniversary Edition of Microsoft Flight Simulator, so Asobo is hard at work implementing all the features and mechanics necessary for helicopters to thrive in MSFS.

One of the default helicopters that will become available in the Cabri G2. During yesterday’s stream, Sebastian Wloch provided a very cool sneak peek into the current status of the helicopter, both in terms of modeling and when it comes to flight dynamics. The advanced computational fluid dynamics that were recently added to the sim can be seen at play during Sebastian’s preview, as air flows realistically around the helicopter when it lifts off.

Sebastian is very confident in the team’s implementation so far, with the G2 behaving very close to reality in terms of raw performance and flight model. Stay tuned during next week’s Gamescom to learn more details about helicopters in Microsoft Flight Simulator!

News about the ATR

Finally, a word about the ATR 42/72. It continues to be worked on by Hans Hartmann and Asobo, with the help of ATR themselves. There’s no estimated date for the release, as the team is treating this project as an “expert level” aircraft. It’s done when it’s done, even if there were some expectations of having it ready by the end of this year. With Milviz (now Blackbird Simulation) working on the same aircraft, it will be interesting to see how these two study-level versions of the regional airliner will compare!