Microsoft Flight Simulator now lets players glide over the Great Barrier Reef with World Update: Australia

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Somehow Microsoft has made Australia look even more breathtaking

Microsoft Flight Simulator Australia
(Image credit: Microsoft)

Microsoft Flight Simulator has just received World Update 7: Australia, allowing players to fly above the Great Barrier Reef. 

With assistance from Orbx Simulation Systems in Melbourne, Australia, Microsoft has implemented a number of stunning locations from down under in one of the biggest updates yet for Microsoft Flight Simulator. 

The new update includes four handcrafted airports, five bush trips - including The Great Barrier Reef and Tasmania - as well as five new landing challenges, new discovery flights, and new Photogrammetry Cites. A full list of the new features of the update can be found below as well as on the Xbox Wire website. 

Handcrafted Airports

  • YLRE – Longreach
  • YMBT – Mount Beauty
  • YPBO – Paraburdoo
  • YSHL – Shellharbour

Bush Trips

  • Tasmania
  • Southeastern Australia
  • Sea to Desert
  • Great Barrier Reef
  • Northwestern Kimberly Coast   

Landing Challenges 

  • Brisbane
  • Shellharbour
  • Mt Hotham
  • Katoomba
  • Mabuiag

Discovery Flights 

  • Gold Coast
  • Sydney
  • Perth
  • Darwin
  • Melbourne
  • Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park    

New Photogrammetry Cites 

  • Adelaide
  • Sydney
  • Melbourne
  • Brisbane
  • Perth
  • Hobart
  • Cairns
  • Darwin
  • Townsville
  • Bunbury
  • Mackay

Alongside the announcement of this new update, Microsoft also released a breathtaking new trailer for World Update 7 which shows off just how beautiful Australia looks from the sky. In the trailer, we get a glimpse of Byron Bay, Brisbane, The Great Barrier Reef, Perth, and many more locations in stunning real-time 4K. Whether you fancy gliding over Australia’s popular cities or its dusty outback, this new update has you covered.

Not only are players able to purchase the World Update: Australia pack today, but they can also pick up the Fokker F.VII aircraft too. The aircraft, manufactured by Fokker of the Netherlands, is hailed as one of the greats in aircraft history - according to Xbox Wire - and so it makes perfect sense why it would be implemented into the flying sim as part of the Local Legends series - a series that celebrates the history of aviation. 

Microsoft recently revealed a road map for its flying sim which said that players can expect another world update before the end of March 2022. 

Hope Bellingham
Hope Bellingham
News Writer

After studying Film Studies and Creative Writing at university, I was lucky enough to land a job as an intern at Player Two PR where I helped to release a number of indie titles. I then got even luckier when I became a Trainee News Writer at GamesRadar+ before being promoted to a fully-fledged News Writer after a year and a half of training.  My expertise lies in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, cozy indies, and The Last of Us, but especially in the Kingdom Hearts series. I'm also known to write about the odd Korean drama for the Entertainment team every now and then.