Four years after the original arrived in Microsoft Flight Simulator, Top Mach Studios has released the 2024 edition of its F-22 Raptor, and the studio is not calling it an update. The phrasing in the announcement is “almost an entirely new aircraft module,” rebuilt from the ground up over close to a year, and the price attached to it reflects that framing.
The aircraft recently went live on the Marketplace for PC, with Xbox to follow and PS5 further behind. Top Mach also published a detailed FAQ covering the questions it says it receives most often, which talks about what the aircraft does and about what it will not do.
What a year of rebuilding produced
We tracked most of this work through the studio’s April development update, when Top Mach confirmed the avionics and display overhaul was finished, the exterior and interior mesh work was complete, and visual effects were wrapped. The main item then, and arguably still now, was the revised flight control system: the studio said principal development of a new fly-by-wire implementation for MSFS 2024 was done.
The studio now describes the finished package as covering new systems, features, sounds, effects, flight model improvements and capabilities. In practice, the most visible change for returning pilots is how the aircraft is configured. Stores management now runs through a native EFB application: open the MSFS EFB, go to Applications, select the Top Mach F-22 Raptor page, pick a configuration and load it. Top Mach has said it intends to expand that EFB presence over time to cover simulator configuration menus and checklists.
Cockpit interaction has been rebuilt around the ICP. Weapons bays open through OTHR, then BIT, then WPN DOORS, or via the Toggle Spray Off keyboard command for anyone who prefers a binding. Thrust vectoring is toggled from the DVR button, with a warning displayed whenever it’s off. Air-to-air and air-to-ground modes are selectable, and targets can be picked up on the tactical situation display with a double-click to select and another to lock, at which point a shoot cue appears on the HUD once master arm is enabled and the target is in range.
On the HUD itself, Top Mach has pre-empted a complaint: the pitch ladder behaviour some users find strange is intentional and based on real USAF documentation. The original behaviour is still available through the HUD CDL 1:1 option.
What it won’t do
So, what can’t this F-22 do in MSFS 2024? For starters, weapons cannot be fired. This is prohibited under Marketplace rules, so weapon jettison isn’t supported either. Drop tanks can sometimes be released through master arm and the jettison button on the left auxiliary panel, but the studio describes the behaviour as inconsistent and without animation, and points users back to the loadout manager instead. Weapons carried by other F-22s aren’t visible in multiplayer, and Top Mach says that isn’t planned for a near-term update.
The fly-by-wire system also cannot be switched off. The switch has been deliberately disabled on the basis that the real aircraft isn’t meant to be flown without its flight control limiter system.
Existing owners should also note that the G1000/G3000 flight planning widget is gone. Top Mach removed it to stay compatible with the native MSFS 2024 flight planning system and with future simulator updates. Planning now goes through the MSFS EFB, sent to Avionics & ATC with an IFR plan filed, or a VFR direct plan created before entering the flight.
The pricing question
Now, on to the most contentious aspect of this release. This new F-22 costs $35.99 USD, with a $17.99 upgrade for owners of the 2020 Marketplace version. But, anyone who bought the original 2022 release through Just Flight doesn’t get the upgrade price. Top Mach explains that it moved away from third-party resellers because of what it calls ineffective anti-piracy protections, has sold only through the Marketplace since, and chose not to make an exception. The studio admits some customers will be unhappy but says the policy stands.
On the upgrade fee itself, Top Mach’s says that the discount is a courtesy rather than an entitlement, and that at one point the team considered shipping this as an entirely new product with no upgrade path at all. Existing owners have pushed back on the number, pointing out that $17.99 sits above the $5 to $10 range they say has become normal for 2020-to-2024 upgrades, and that the 2020 version still works in the new simulator.
Landing in a busier market
The original F-22 was one of the first credible fast jets in MSFS and held a following for four years on the strength of how it flew. The rebuilt version seems to be a more capable aircraft by every measure the studio has published, but it arrives into a market where the bar for military add-ons has bee being raised by developers taking these machines more seriously.
See, for example, AzurPoly’s Dassault Rafale, which is coming next week with a custom weapons module and partially simulated radar that goes further than anything else currently in the simulator. And there are many more already available.
The 2024 F-22 Raptor is available now on the MSFS Marketplace for PC.
