Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 Needs Test Pilots, But Only If Your PC Is Powerful Enough

To prepare for launch, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 will have a technical alpha during a weekend later this month. To do so, the team is searching for test pilots to put the sequel through its paces. But there's a catch: Your PC has to be powerful enough to handle the game.

Developer Asobo Studio pointed out on the Flight Simulator website that participants will need to fill out their PC specs to be considered for the technical alpha. Last month, the team detailed the Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 PC requirements, which are broken down into three tiers: min, recommended, and ideal. The last one is quite demanding, wanting 64GB of RAM, for example.

Now, if your PC is up to the task, the developer notes that the Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 technical alpha "is not intended to gather feedback on the overall design or features" of the game. Instead, the team will be checking out content streaming, servers, and how live weather data works--among other things.

One big difference with Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 over the last game relates to the amount of storage needed on PC and consoles. The sequel will only require about one-fifth of the space of Microsoft Flight Simulator: 30GB compared to 150GB.

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 was revealed during 2023's Xbox Games Showcase. Premium preorders for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 are live at Amazon. The game is set to release November 19.