Microsoft Flight Simulator gets a competitive multiplayer mode later this year

Microsoft Flight Simulator is getting a competitive multiplayer mode.

First announced earlier today at Xbox's Gamescom showcase on August 24, Microsoft Flight Simulator is adding a mode based on the Stihl National Championship Air Races. In short, this mode will allow multiple players to fly World War Two-era fighters at up to speeds of 500 miles per hour.

Right now, there's no certified date for this competitive multiplayer mode going live in Microsoft Flight Simulator. However, developer Asobo revealed to Polygon that they're in the stage of playtesting the mode right now, and it could potentially go live as early as October later this year.

Elsewhere in the Xbox showcase, it was revealed that a slate of "legendary" planes are coming to Microsoft Flight Simulator. These are some of the World War Two-era planes that were mentioned earlier as part of the competitive mutliplayer mode, but Asobo revealed that they've scanned these planes down to a millimetre for accuracy's sake, and even consulted pilots who flew the crafts/

There's more to look forward to with Asobo's game before then however, because the next World Update is arriving on September 7. This next World Update is going to include Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, all three of which were teased a little during the Xbox showcase earlier today. Contained within this update itself are four "hand-crafted" airports, according to the developer, so there's a great deal to get stuck into while we wait for the next big update.

See what else we're looking forward to with our guide to all the upcoming Xbox Series X games.