When asked where VR was in the priority list, the sim’s lead responded:
Very high! Asobo and I have years of experience with VR. We know what a lazy and a good implementation look like. We want to bring a good solution, for example by cutting off the cockpit from the rest of the world. Then you can move freely in it, and the world in the background does not start to shimmer. We have started with VR, but we want to do it right.
August 18th for PC.
What a bunch of nonsense, the appeal of DCS is doing all the combat related stuff, a2a refueling, naval flying etc. You simply can’t replicate that in FS 2020. What you’re doing here is comparing apples to oranges.
Sure, FS 2020 is nice, but so far it doesn’t even have headtracking, let alone VR support. And while I do agree that DCS needs ot get an overhaul on the core engine, it is growing quite a bit.
If anything, you can argue it will put a lot of pressure on the X-Plane franchise (which also supports VR), but DCS, not so much.
Did you read my title in a YEAR.
They are working on VR Support as high priority. This game is definitely going to be less Niche than DCS and look 10x better.
If something is going for realism and VR, the best compliment it can get is actually looking real. MS FS 2020 has a really good artistic direction that looks closer to film but still very acceptable to the brain as real life.
True, which means my point about DCS being a dedicated MILITARY simulation whereas FS 2020 is a civilian simulation still stands. And that is not going to change anytime soon.
And looking real is one thing, feeling real in terms of flight is quite another. In that department, FS 2020 still has ways to go despite the underlying fluid dynamics simulation being pretty good. They just need to dial it in properly.
Sure, FS 2020 has more mass appeal because it looks shiny, but DCS is mostly beloved for the tactical aspects. It is simply not the same thing, FS 2020 is a pretty amazing sightseeing sim whereas DCS focuses on comparably small areas and tactical engagements in those theaters. As I said, apples and oranges.
Visually, FS 2020 for sure takes the cake, no doubts about that. But flight simulation’s appeal is not only about visuals. It sure looks quite real every now and then, but it is not comparable to the real thing. Trust me, I do this stuff for a living.
Agree with you - combat sim and civilian , 2 different games. They are no competitors.
Which no Flightsim without a proper motion sim cockpit could also be said not close to the real thing.
There are a lot of very nice Flightsim controls one can buy to more complete the sim experience.
When Microsoft sells a crazy no. of copies they will make MCS.
Let’s cross that bridge once we get there. I’d be willing to bet that it won’t happen within the year you claimed in this thread’s title… 
So the developers claim they have “years” of experience in VR but didn’t even consider offering a Flight Simulator with VR until the backlash from the community made them change course? Who in their right mind would offer up a simulator without VR support in this day and age? The fact that this wasn’t built from the ground up with VR in mind leaves me doubting how good their VR “port” will be.
This. Added to which, as some have pointed out, DCS is built around a lot of features that would seem much further out of scope for the MS Flight Sim than VR. Not least of these, flight models that correctly represent the relative strengths and weaknesses of a variety of aircraft under extreme (>45deg) high-alpha conditions.
Long term, I think we are not looking at outright replacement of this or that flight simulator, or even game engine, but cooperation between developers, sharing assets, so we may see the best of all these programs combined.
That long term outlook itself, may be much further than one year down the road.
I think for many people, it’s more likely the other way around and MSFS has a limited lifespan. Once the novelty of the fancy visuals and tech wears off, which it has done with every game and sim forever and this will be no exception, all that’s left is aimless flying around. Which will get boring fast.
It’s fine for people who like simming civilian planes, but dull as dishwater for everyone else. Combat sims will always have a bigger audience. I’ve never enjoyed an MSFS to date, I will check this out for the visuals but I can’t see myself playing it that much in the long haul.
This and lack of Xbox support is what tells me MS are no longer serious about supporting WMR and will kill it off some day
MS is pouring cash in AR… Vr only is common ground for them…
Someone should rewrite Flight gear with a modern up to date engine.
ArmaVR would be awesome as well.
I think this depends a lot on whether this iteration of MSFS can be used with third party radio/navigation/etc software, the way X-Plane and DCS World are, to accurately duplicate essentially all procedures from before flight to after landing on through to the next flight.
As I mentioned before, at both CES and the Roadshow, a number of IRL airline and (at least former) fighter pilots were specifically interested in this, both for professional reasons, and as a side hobby.
The reason why MSFS is actually interesting is because it manages to capture an audience that isn’t entirely comprised of Flight sims fans which let’s face it is really small audience not enough to fund a game of this scope.
As you identified, the problem with flight sims is ease of use. Shiny graphics don’t solve that. Lack of depth just precludes userbase retention.
Integrating high-quality radio/navigation/ATC software and far more thorough sane default control schemes into the game itself - as opposed to leaving it up to a patchwork of barely maintainable third-party programs - does solve the usability problem.
Which is why it makes more sense for developers of MSFS, DCS, X-Plane, and similar, to eventually convert their aircraft, flight models, flight decks, scenery, etc, into pluggable modules that work under the same application/marketplace.
Want an FA-18C with realistic radios, satellite imagery scenery, an android tablet, VirtualBox popup panel, and VoiceAttack commands? Buy the DCS FA18C module, MSFS scenery module, the free SRS module, the android emulator with Garmin module, the free VirtualBox module, and the VoiceAttack module. Choose from hundreds of community workshop HOTAS profiles or build your own from the VR friendly menus with all the features of Joystick Gremlin.
I have to agree with @mirage335. I tried Flight gear where you needed to know how to fly a plane just to take off the landing strip. There are Arcade modes or type flight games that allow you to enjoy flying a plane. But these kinds of games or Arcade modes are not real sims.
It was probably Uncle Phil’s fault.
That would be really surprising given the fact that MS just renewed the WMR standard with the 4-cam tracking tech seen in the Reverb G2. It is no secret that Xbox’ uncle Phil has no idea why VR is awesome, but thankfully, his opinion does not necessarily reflect all of MS.