This game is totally unplayable now since the latest update, crashes all the time to desktop (hundreds of posts on this subject) Whatever the developers have done has killed it stone dead, Lets hope we see some urgent fixes from Microsoft in the near future, really dissapointing when it was working so well.
So here we are after the latest Patch 29/08/2020
Theres an old saying, if it works dont try and fix it, a complete carbunkle, thank the lord im not a Pilot, halfway through a simple flight in a Cessna 172, all power gone and the plane falls to the floor like a stone, even though the plane has full power, any ideas anyone??? its up and down in the sky like a yoyo.....for me and of course I only speak for me, its rubbish now, where as before the update it was getting better and better, notwithstanding the fact it crashed the program back to the desktop 3 times......cmon Microsoft.
ok so lets get out of the hype and in to the real WORLD, this game is what it is, and in fairness to Microsoft they have made one hell of a fist of it, to be able to map the whole world is amazing along with the graphics which in parts look stunning, notice I said parts :)
My PC is pretty high end, 32 GB Ram i7 9700k, 1080TI..SSD and a 43inch Philips 4k Monitor... and I can get over 90fps in full 4k on a number of games, including Aerosoft FS2... so what's the issue here with FS2020? on full settings maybe 18-23fps yes its playable but not smooth at all, sure if you lower the settings you can get more but then it begins to resemble previous versions.
Are we expecting too much? yes that's a fact, and it should be remembered that this game is only just out of beta, and nowhere near fully optimised, think how much better Windows 10 is now compared to when it was initially released.
Am I disappointed so far?, truthfully yes a little, I got it on the game pass so its not cost an arm and a leg, but I'm gonna see how Microsoft deal with the numerous issues that will have to be fixed then judge it better.
As for Hardware Specs, you are going to need a hefty piece of kit to the get anywhere near the best out of this sim graphically.
I should say that flying over the Alps in Ultra looks very decent.
The Game takes an eternity to get to the main screen and the buttons on the Hotas joystick don't react very well, for instance if you want to do a simple task like let off the footbrake.
I also found that using the "latest" NVIDIA Game ready driver for this sim crashed the Sim a number of times, so..going back to the older driver seemed to stop that.
In conclusion I would say that in there is a Rolls Royce engine, however its been fitted into a Mini....for the moment.....
Ok so here's an update:
After some tweaking I now have it running really good 4k and on ultra, yes the frame rates need to improve (20 FPS) loading on a heavily populated area, say New York its very workable, and the controller buttons work better, no refreshing of buildings, looks great.
I still say that its gonna be heavy on hardware, that's a fact but as I said at the start its what it is.
I'm sure when the optimisation is sorted along with i guess many updates this is gonna be a real winner....4 stars now.