Microsoft Flight Simulator’s Reno Air Races expansion is terrifying

The new Reno Air Races are the most terrifying thing I’ve ever done in Microsoft Flight Simulator. As someone who has gone to great lengths to try dumb, dangerous stuff in-game, it’s the most white-knuckle ride I’ve had yet. Polygon was given early access to the new add-on module over the weekend, and while we haven’t been able to give it a full test with eight live human players, even the time trials and a one-on-one race were particularly harrowing.

Reno Air Races are also known as Stihl’s National Championship Air Races, Our Federal Aviation Administration allows people to do this in real life. The course is variable and can be up to 8 miles in length. Pilots fly around the course using a variety of aircrafts, from small sport biplanes to fighter jet trainers. Unlimited Class is the main event and it features World War II-era fighter aircraft at speeds of 500 miles an hour. In the real world it’s just as challenging as it sounds, and plenty dangerous for pilots and spectators alike.

Image: Asobo Studio/Xbox Game Studios

Image: Asobo Studio/Xbox Game Studios

Image: Asobo Studio/Xbox Game Studios

The in-game rules are simple: Keep your plane below 250 feet of altitude, don’t clip any pylons, and make it through eight laps faster than everyone else. The hardest thing for me is maintaining altitude. It requires lots of rudder training. At high tide, clearance is only 220 feet below the Golden Gate Bridge. A plane that is so straight and low can be maintained for an entire eight-mile loop, which should prove even harder in multiplayer.

It’s actually even more complicated than that. The trick is we’re talking about 250 feet AGL, or above ground level altitude. The terrain around Reno isn’t flat, and the course itself winds up and down Juniper Ridge to the east before leveling out on the return leg toward Reno Stead Airport. Although the elevation of the airport is at 5,050 feet the terrain on the course climbs 300-500 feet to the top as it ascends the ridge. Once you hit pylon 4 — about a third of your way out into the course — you’re heading downhill at an incredible speed. It felt like the scene in a movie, with dust from my wingtips. Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.

Turning in the fastest time isn’t just about putting the throttle down and hanging on for dear life. Pull too hard in a turn and the tail will slip right out from behind you, sending you into a spin that’s simply not recoverable that close to the ground. Messing up that bad isn’t nearly as dramatic in-game as it would be in the real world. It’s not a fiery and tumbling disaster, but it does feel more like you are falling from the Mario Kart track, where some unidentified hand rescues you from certain death, then places you back on the course. Each race took focus and concentration. My arms, legs, and feet are sore from trying to get the pylons right.

You can choose from two different flavors of the final product: Reno Air Races: Expansion Pack For $19.99, you can get the Reno Air Races: Full CollectionFor $59.99 The real attraction for aviation enthusiasts is the Complete CollectionIt includes 10 North American P-51 Mustangs and 10 North American T-6 Texans as well 10 Aero L-39 Albatross aircraft jets and 10 Aviat Pitts S1S biplanes. They’re all modeled after actual planes that have competed in Reno for years, including “Gold” champions Miss America, Strega, Voodoo, Baron’s Revenge, Radial Velocity, Six-Cat, American Spirit,And Pipsqueak.

Reno Air Races: Expansion Pack and Reno Air Races: Full CollectionOn Nov. 18, the game will make it possible to purchase them in-game. That’s the same day that Microsoft Flight Simulator – Game of the Year Edition will be available for purchase — and for free through Xbox Game Pass for console and PC. Upgrades include the VoloCity helicopter, Pilatus PC-6 Porter and Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet. Maverick is the Top Gun movie tie-in expansion. The module has been bumped out to align with the film’s delay into 2022.