Virtavia releases the mighty B-1B Lancer for Microsoft Flight Simulator

Virtavia has released a surprising new aircraft for Microsoft Flight Simulator, their first in 2024. In keeping with their tradition of military aircraft models, Virtavia is now bringing us a centerpiece of the United States Air Force’s long-range strategic bomber fleet: the B-1B Lancer.

This version of the B-1B for MSFS is derived from models originally developed by Virtavia for earlier platforms and has been carefully remastered for MSFS, showcasing significant improvements, especially within the virtual cockpit, enhanced by MSFS’s rain effects and support for PBR materials.

Virtavia promises a true-to-life model of the B-1B for MSFS, revamped from the previous iterations, which the developer already considered to be of a high standard. This focus has allowed the team to concentrate on enhancing the virtual cockpit with aesthetic improvements.

Included in this package is a detailed sound package, featuring varied switch sounds, immersive cockpit noises, and the iconic afterburner rumble.

However, the transition of the Virtavia B-1B to MSFS has not been without its challenges. A very important piece is missing in this package: the aircraft’s ability to reach supersonic speeds. Virtavia attributes this to existing limitations within MSFS and its SDK, which is surprising, given that there have already been a few supersonic aircraft releases for the simulator. For now, their B-1B remains subsonic.

Besides this factual inaccuracy in the aircraft’s performance, which Virtavia promises to fix in a future update, it seems we’re looking at a somewhat simplified overall package. This is evidenced by the simplified variable-sweep wings with three fixed positions and the lack of other in-depth systems’ simulations seen in other products.

Still, this appears to be the first decent model of the B-1 Lancer for MSFS, and that’s definitely commendable. Virtavia has made the user manual freely available on their webpage, so you can better understand what’s on offer here.

Virtavia’s B-1B Lancer is out now for Microsoft Flight Simulator, priced at around $20.00 USD through SimMarket. No word yet if it will be available for Xbox via the Marketplace.

It’s worth noting that Blackbird Simulations is also developing a B-1 model for Microsoft Flight Simulator. This development was revealed back in December. However, the team has admitted that due to the lack of detailed information about the aircraft, they may release it under their Shrike sub-brand.