Microsoft Flight Simulator Top Gun: Maverick, let's discover the expansion dedicated to the film

Microsoft Flight Simulator Top Gun

You have surely heard of it, but in these days the sequel to one of the most famous cult of contemporary cinema is darting in the Italian cinemas, that Top Gun: Maverick which marks the return of Tom Cruise in the cockpit of a fighter jet. years since the last time. One of the records of the original film, of which not everyone is aware, concerns the effect it had on requests for enlistment in the US Navy, which grew by 500% in the period immediately following the release of the film in theaters. The armed forces, absurdly, went so far as to set up mobile recruitment centers outside the cinemas, in an attempt to make the most of the enormous success of the film directed by Tony Scott back in 1986.

Noi ci ci ci We're content to turn on our Xbox (or PC) and try the new Microsoft Flight Simulator Top Gun: Maverick DLC. action, but after going to see the new Top Gun we are convinced that the reason why everyone ran to enlist was another: after a film like this, the only thing you want to do when you grow up is to fly an F-18 .

Fortunately for everyone, today it is not necessary to join the Navy to be able to circle thousands of feet above the ground at the controls of a fighter jet. Arrived with a slight delay on the schedule, only to be published at the same time as the release of the film, the expansion of Microsoft Flight Simulator entirely dedicated to Top Gun: Maverick has just been available, which includes a handful of new content admittedly inspired by the events narrated by the new film with Tom Cruise. Ignoring the directions from the control tower, we skimmed over all the new features offered by this free update, and we can't wait to tell you about them.

Just like in the movie

A F -18 Super Hornet ready to go The most surprising thing about the Top Gun: Maverick update is that all the new contents, without exception, refer to the precise moments of the film, so it will really be possible to leave the room, turn on the PC or the Xbox and be exactly in the place of Pete Mitchell or one of his wingmen at the center of the action. For charity, the flight simulator of the Redmond house does not include combat and all the weapon systems of the two new aircraft arriving with this update will be completely deactivated, but it is to be appreciated the care that Asobo Studio has paid in elaborating the activities identical in all respects to those seen in the film directed by Joseph Kosinski. Naturally, the great protagonist of the expansion is the splendid F / A-18E / F Super Hornet, the multi-purpose twin-engine fighter produced by Boeing that constantly accompanies the cast of Top Gun: Maverick on any mission. The plane, as the most observant of you will know, had been in Microsoft Flight Simulator for some time, but now it can be equipped with a livery dedicated to the film and blasted through three different training missions that range from the fundamentals of take-off. high performance to advanced moves such as the mid-S maneuver and the crossing of a mountain ridge using the clouds to simulate the ground.

Once you have become familiar with the aircraft you can move on to the main course of the expansion, represented by five challenges dedicated to low-altitude flying. Between the peaks of the state of Washington, West Virginia, Alaska, Nevada and California, our mission will be to reach the ultimate goal by trying to maintain a particularly low average altitude, while making sure to maintain a delta negative compared to the reference time. To get a good rating, it will therefore be necessary to whiz through the valleys and canyons of these five scenarios paying close attention to any natural obstacles present on the path, also managing all the G forces to which the pilot is subject during the sudden changes of direction of the fighter. . Starting from this expansion, in fact, if you exaggerate with the joystick, the screen darkens completely for a few interminable seconds, simulating the temporary loss of consciousness to which aviators are often subject.

Welcome to the stratosphere

A view of the back of the Darkstar hypersonic prototype We mentioned it in the previous paragraph, but the F / A-18E / F Super Hornet is just one of two airplanes making their debut with the expansion Free of Top Gun: Maverick. The second is the seductive experimental prototype known as Darkstar, the hypersonic plane that Mitchell uses in the early stages of the film to attempt to reach speeds of Mach 10. The aircraft in question is a very interesting addition to the roster of aircraft. of Microsoft Flight Simulator, because just as we see in the film, the Darkstar can be used to fly in the stratosphere and reach speeds never seen before, making colossal crossings in just a few minutes.

To better understand all the peculiarities of a prototype so complex, Asobo has included in the expansion a spectacular hypersonic guided flight, in which it takes off from the heart of the Californian Mojave desert to arrive in about 30 minutes on the other side of the United States, at the base of Cape Canaveral in Florida. No other Microsoft Flight Simulator activity has been able to give us emotions comparable to this one, which leads the pilot to touch the speed of Mach 10 while flying at over 120,000 feet in height, where the celestial of the sky gives way. to the darkness of space. The Darkstar can also be chosen during free flight and our advice is to start from one of the vertices of our peninsula to admire it in its entirety from the very distant stratosphere. For a moment, you will feel like you are in Samantha Cristoforetti's shoes.

Base, this is Maverick, requesting permission for a grazing passage

A phase of landing on the aircraft carrier from inside the cockpit of an F-18 An expansion dedicated to Top Gun could not fail to include an aircraft carrier, a very small runway and a fighter ready to land on it. The latest novelty of the update is represented by a new landing challenge, indeed, of landing, in which the goal will be precisely to rejoin a moving aircraft carrier while remaining whole, which is certainly easier said than get yourself. The other landing challenges, even the most hostile, could be conquered with practice and after several attempts, but this one seemed much more complex: not only is it very difficult to hit the very short runway of the aircraft carrier with the right timing, but the classification is ruthless and in addition to asking you for a millimeter precision in contact with the ground, it will force you to follow the correct glide path for the entire duration of the descent.

For this purpose, it will be crucial to monitor the FLOLS system at all times aircraft carrier, a sort of beacon placed on the ship that indicates to the pilot the right path for the ideal "touchdown". Only by following the tips of the FLOLS with the utmost precision will you be able to express yourself in a perfect landing, and then you can feel like you are up to Maverick. We haven't done it yet.

It doesn't matter if you are a fan of the series starring Tom Cruise, or if on the contrary you have never seen even a frame taken from one of the two films, the arrival of the expansion a Top Gun: Maverick theme is the perfect opportunity to get back to Microsoft Flight Simulator, as the update packs at least a couple of memorable flight experiences that any desktop aviator should definitely not miss. Asobo Studio did a masterful job of re-proposing the atmosphere of the film, spicing it all up with the legendary soundtrack that helped make Top Gun the cult it is today.

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