What the Future of Aviation and Flightsim Could be

As, until nowadays, the world of aviation might look like a steady, and even immutable (in a reasonable understanding) one, is to be affected in the future by major changes. The 'glass cockpits' -the way gauges are now displayed digitally on the panels- or the world-class aeronautical companies' alliances -like, for example, Oneworld, as they gather together several aerial companies for cost-efficiency management of costs) in the 1995's were indeed heralding such changes

How a Boeing airliner could look by 2035 (non-clickable illustration)

New Planes and New Pilotage

The future to planes, to airliners mostly, by the horizon 2025 then 2035 will be of a ecologic and cost-efficient type. Innovating shapes like double-fuselages, engines set together by the tail, composite materials or wind morphing to replace the ancient system of flaps, and the use of 'green' fuels will allow a more environmental-friendly aeronautics and to lower the cost of flights. Such a evolution in shapes and materials further will come with a more and more important automation of pilots' tasks. As far as commercial airliners are concerned, it goes that only one pilot could handle the whole plane and then that the flight deck would eventually turn empty and that automation would handle a whole flight! In terms of military aviation, they should turn, in the same scale of time, further towards drones and a entire flight automation of warplanes. The Chinese market of flight, on a other hand, will be the place where the development of commercial aviation will occur for the next decades. Even GA planes are concerned by that deep evolution as electricity might be the next fuel and a line of small engines-propellers fixed on the wings' leading edge

New Airspaces and New Flight Procedures

The search to a cost-efficiency aeronautics or maybe too worrying about more flight safety is also to bring deep changes into airspaces, aerial routes and flight procedures! Planes are to be more and more allowed to flight more direct routes which will stack upon or replace, former routes, like the Q and T-routes in the USA, for example. More accurate systems of control in the airspace close to airports are to allow a swiftier regulation of departures and arrivals. For the arrivals, that will translate into deeper angles of descent, for example

How and if that will be able to be translated in the Flight Simulator franchise keeps speculative. Even if FSX or the professional version of it as edited by Loockheed Martin could accomodate miscellaneous adaptations, it might that, at a given time, a successor to FSX be considered which could incorporate those different changes so much as far as the planes, than the airspaces are concerned

What About the Evolution of Microsoft-Related Flight Simulator Franchises?

Microsoft, with FSX, terminated its FS creation team. The latest boxed FSX edition is mostly with the 'Gold Edition,' which features the Deluxe, Acceleration and both the SP1 and SP2 updates. But the edition is hard to find, and costly! FSX is now stable thus, but terminated in terms of evolution, except through a vibrant freeware (and payware) community. As Microsoft pulled out from Flight Simulator and sold the FSX rights to both entities, that brought to the following:

• the FSX proper was sold to the English Dovetail Games company as the latter first re-released the original FSX on Steam, that platform of digital delivery services for PC whence you can download and install a game, benefiting two of chat, messaging, etc. Most of commentators, after the release, stated that that franchise is mostly aimed to people who enter it for the first time. Then Dovetail Games ventured into releasing Flight School by April 2016 -- to be a training sim for those uninitiated in the art of flying an aircraft, and a way to bring new people to flightsimming -- or Flight Sim World in May 2017 -- a flight simulator of its own. Both unluckily were terminated early. check views about Flight Sim World
• Microsoft on the other hand, sold the rights for FSX ESP, a professional version based upon the SP2, to the Lockheed Martin American corporate. That enhanced FSX is aiming at professional and academic purposes. It remains mostly backward compatible with FSX addons as Lockheed Martin improved the functionment and graphics of the simulator. Prepar3D however did not incorporated worldwide all what the freeware or the market advanced in terms of evolving FSX. Prepar3D, in terms of pricing, is relatively elevated as its offer is few clear in terms of what is to buy for the average amateur. A good review about the latest iteration of Lockheed Martin Prepar3D, Prepar3D v4 is at the FlightSim.com site; check at Review: Lockheed Martin Prepar3D v4, which hints to wants or better of that sim
• At last, here and there and at times, some companies are releasing new projects. Those, generally, do not equal the level of FSX or Prepar3D

All that eventually let the 17 million FS flightsimmers with few options and even the feeling that Microsoft halted in midstream. Every advance now looks like depending upon Lockheed Martin. It is certain that the flightsim community would like to see a new complete evolution of Flight Simulator, which would account for the latest computing possibilities or commercial products, not to take in account a clear offer and a evolutivity allowing the product to last. Maybe the main thing is just to fly!

->NEWEST! A New FS Franchise by Microsoft to be Released in 2020!
A announcement by Microsoft by June 2019 at the E3 event, is that they are going to release a new FS by 2020, FS2020 both for the PC and the Xbox. The Microsoft main site for the new sim is at https://www.flightsimulator.com/. The name of the the new sim is 'Microsoft Flight Simulator,' mostly likely to turn into 'FS2020.' By that same time, Microsoft announced by Aug. 9, 2019 that they wouldn't renew their agreement with the Dovetail Games corporate. Microsoft thus is taking back all the support for FSX. Dovetail, as far as it is concerned, will continue publishing existing and new add-ons for FSX: Steam Edition on Steam. Microsoft reassured the simmers community that they were to work closely with in the development, which concretized by a Insider program at their site. As of now the sim should work upon a subscription Game Pass fee -- even if it's low at about USD 120 per year! And -- French pride :) -- the main developers to FS2020 are a French team based in Bordeaux -- most of you know the area like a one of wines. Microsoft asked them that the new simulator can be used on a timespan of 10 years!
Miscellaneous data, interviews, and videos are being releasing as month pass as data may be found at usual sim websites (like FlightSim and the like) or social networks, and YouTube. Keep updated here when important public data released!