The Carenado PC-12 is finally out! Highly anticipated since its announcement in April, this simulation of the ultra-popular turboprop business airplane is now available in the MSFS Marketplace.
The PC-12’s popularity in the real world should carry on in the virtual side too. It’s a very versatile and capable aircraft, with room to spare for up to nine passengers or a significant cargo payload, but also the necessary power to travel at up to 328 mph at 30,000 feet. No wonder it’s the most successful single-engined turboprop in the world!
Carenado has been working on this airplane for months, despite being busy with other projects such as the Bonanza V35. As usual, we are looking at a beautiful model from the developer, with truly high-fidelity visuals inside and out. The question is: will the sounds, performance, and system depth of the Carenado PC-12 live up to the aesthetics?
This has always been the main point of contention in Carenado’s airplanes for MSFS and it’s what we are most keen to find out. Being a relatively more complex airplane than the last few releases from the team, we expect to see more advanced avionics… which seems to be the case, seeing how the PC-12 comes with Carenado’s very own Avidyne EX600 implementation and also appears to support the GTN 750 units.
The Carenado PC-12 comes to MSFS with 10 liveries, which should be enough to get you started. Third-party creators will surely begin to create real-world repaints immediately, so it shouldn’t take long for simmers to fly with their favorite colors in the PC-12.
In the end, the PC-12 is a very welcome addition to Microsoft Flight Simulator, belonging to a category of airplanes that can definitely see more variety in the simulator. It’s available for both PC and Xbox, and it’s priced at just $24.99 through the Marketplace. It’s also not that expensive for such a good-looking airplane… provided it works well within the expectations of serious simmers!
If you’re a fan of the PC-12, you should know that Sim Works Studios, who created the fantastic Kodiak 100, are also well into the development of their own PC-12. That’s one to definitely be on the lookout for, as it’s being built with the close collaboration of Pilatus themselves. It’s likely to be released later this year, so you still have plenty of time to enjoy Carenado’s version in the meantime!
