Microsoft Flight Simulator has made quite a splash since its release, as people have been getting to grips with just how freeing it is to be able to explore literally the entire planet.
If you’ve got a top-quality gaming PC, too, the visual fidelity that you’re able to encounter around the globe is quite jaw-dropping at times. Of course, equally impressive is the clever tech Asobo’s got running to interpret satellite imagery into 3D maps for you fly over. However, that tech does have its limits - and unsurprisingly, when it gets something a little wrong, the results can stand out.
We’ve brought together some of the funniest we’ve seen so far, right here for your delectation. Check them out!
A stadium from hell
This image of what should be a huge football stadium in Jacksonville, Florida, is a great example of where Flight Simulator can fall down.
What it’s created instead has got to be one of the most claustrophobic-looking blocks of flats we’ve ever seen conceptualised anywhere.
Chemtrails
We’re not sure exactly what’s happened here, but from the looks of it a satellite image has picked up a plane below it, superimposed on the landscape.
Flight Simulator, understandably, doesn’t have a clue what’s going on, resulting in this bit of weirdness.
These trees aren’t right
People have noticed that while a lot of forests and greenery look amazing from the air, palm trees appear to be a bit of a blind spot for Flight Simulator.
That exlains the ominous columns that seem to have replaced them around places like California, slightly killing the beach vibe they’d normally inspire.
It’s a monument, all right
Anyone who’s been to Washington D.C. has probably visited the Washington Monument, a world-famous landmark that can be seen from long distances around the city.
What they probably didn’t see was this bizarre, narrow office block that’s replaced the column in this player’s game. Hasn’t got quite the same impact, eh?
Hardly palacial
Similarly, travelling to London hoping to see the sights and do a flyover by Buckingham Palace doesn’t quite work out in the game, either.
Here, Flight Simulator isn’t sure what type of building the Palace is, so it’s played it safe and gone for… an office block. To be fair, it’s got quite a location.
Ominous in the extreme
This one’s gone viral around the world, quite rightly - a mistaken listing of an office block as having 212 floors instead of 2 lead to this absolutely terrifying column in Melbourne.
It’s physically nonsensical and vaguely threatening, and we can’t get enough of it, honestly.
A parking job
Anyone who’s tried the landing tutorial in Flight Simulator knows that getting airborne is easier than returning to earth.
This image might be a result of user error, not the game glitching out, but we still love the way it showcases something that just wouldn’t happen in real life - a player stuff up their landing, and simply rolls away in shame.
Sense of scale
The icy reaches that take up (depressingly shrinking) parts of our planet are seemingly another place where Flight Simulator’s interpretation skills can hit some roadbumps.
This user came across a bizarre ice shelf while on a long-haul flight that really is hard to compute until you see how tiny their jet-liner is lined up against it.
Greenland looks funny
We’ll hold our hands up and say we’ve never been to Greenland, but even so we’re pretty sure there’s something funky going on here.
These huge, elevated mountainous pools are a clear result of some satellite imagery confusing Flight Simulator, the poor thing.
Very spiritual
Because of Asobo having gone to the effort of carefully modelling a range of famous landmarks around the globe, whever you go somewhere really famous thatisn’tmodelled, it can be a shock.
Take Stonehenge, for example, which as this user showcases, is looking rather flat all of a sudden.
