Well... with the help of
radioguy6 my girlfriend surprised me with a new computer they built for me specifically for this game. "Ideal Specs" i7 9800X, 32GB memory, 2080 RTX, SSD, etc. After downloading 100GB+ of install files they game wouldn't load so I had to troubleshoot. Seems like not getting past the TBM/SFO loading screen is a common issue. I ended up having to delete my windows profile and reinstall. Crazy this game is 100GB, the previous version (FSX) fit on two DVD's
After I fixed the install issues I wanted to try out the game so I plugged in my 1998 Microsoft Sidewinder joystick and quickly realized it does not work with Windows 10. I went online to see what kind of cheapo joystick I could buy before my flight yoke comes in and realized that almost every flight yoke and joystick was out of stock and on backorder everywhere I looked. I ended up going on Facebook market place and found a Logitech 3D pro for $15. Not a bad price seeing people on eBay price gauging $100+ for the same joystick. Haven't done much experimenting with graphics settings I got it set on High/Ultra in the game and in the Nvidia "game day" driver. Its set at 60fps and seems to run smooth. I got about 10 hours into the game flying really only the 172 on true to life. I can't wait to fly with the yoke and peddles when they come in October.
I want to start out saying Microsoft really hit it out of the park with the bing maps scenery. You can legit fly around using real life ground reference points not just generic city, farm, lake, etc textures. The AI buildings, aircraft, vehicles, etc are less than impressive especially when you are on the ground. If you can look past all the bugs in the game it really looks great much more realistic than the previous version. I feel like Microsoft rushed the release of this game. (no one should have any install issues with new/current hardware and windows 10) Maybe they should have beta tested this a bit longer? But then when you think about it the amount of detail and development put into this game is mind boggling.
My biggest disappointment is all the features and aircraft that were present in previous versions that are now absent in FS2020. Maybe there are new ways to access, but I feel like this game was really developed for Xbox and not PC like the games roots. Alot of things are key combos and not menus now. Does not help that some are a new key combo. Seems alot of flight sim diehards on the forum also feel this way. I really liked configuring radio's via a menu and not buttons or knobs or keystrokes. I know its not realistic but it also would be nice if some of these navigation devices actually worked in the game like they do in the real world. Its also hard to zoom in and out and click around with your mouse while flying a plane. Want to see a instant replay of that landing you just fucked up? Maybe it looked better from the tower view? Not in FS2020. The game also has a decent selection of aircraft but I really wish they would have included a helicopter or two, Boeing 777, 737MAX, the super common flight trainer Piper Warrior, a float plane of sorts, Concorde for the heritage, and maybe a fighter jet like the F22? Are fighter jets offensive these days? I know they probably had to work with aircraft manufactures to develop each aircraft so I am not super surprised you don't have some of the same aircraft again.
Overall excited to see this game released again even if it is vastly different from previous versions. I will post some screenshots soon.