If you mainly chase believable world scale, weather that looks like the METAR photographs, and a broad set of “real pilot” career-style operations (aerial firefighting, SAR, glider towing, air ambulance, corporate gigs), Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 (MSFS 2024) has the deepest bench right out of the box. If you value a clean, transparent flight model, fast iteration in aircraft design, robust failures, and you don’t mind curating your own scenery and tools, X-Plane 12 (XP12) still feels like the skunk-works trainer built by and for pilots and engineers. Both are excellent; which one you fly more often will come down to what you want to practice.

World, weather, and the “look out the window” test

In real flying, your eye is always cross-checking the instruments with the picture outside—haze layers, cloud bases, visibility slant range, sun angle. MSFS 2024’s world rendering is the strongest in the business for that “step onto the ramp” feeling. The sim leans on streamed satellite/photogrammetry data and a modern graphics engine to deliver a convincing Earth with seasonal variation, dense autogen, and global coverage. Microsoft’s own materials pitch the evolved engine, cloud and ML components, and a much smaller base install thanks to cloud streaming; in practice this means you can keep the local footprint sane while still seeing a high-fidelity world when you’ve got bandwidth.

XP12’s world is more traditional: landclass scenery with regionalized autogen, increasingly good vegetation, 3D water with real wave physics, and excellent runway/lighting visuals. It doesn’t have photogrammetry cities dropped from orbit, but the new photometric rendering, better anti-aliasing, and a long series of 12.x updates have moved its lighting and clouds a long way from the XP11 era. The 12.1.x and 12.2.x updates added bloom, improved cloud shadows, sharpening options, and other visual polish. On my rig that translated to a world that isn’t as jaw-dropping as an MSFS photo city, but is consistent, believable, and—critically—predictable in frame pacing.

Weather matters because it drives technique. MSFS 2024’s cloudscapes are striking, and the depiction of fronts, embedded layers, and towering cumulus does a good job of matching the METAR/TAF story you briefed. XP12’s volumetric clouds have matured significantly through the 12.1 and 12.2 cycle. Early XP12 builds were a mixed bag for cloud shape; the current versions create layered, well-lit volumes that cast convincing shadows on complex terrain and water. On a VFR training hop, both sims will let you read a lowering ceiling and a slant-range visibility change in a way that prompts the same “turn early” decision you’d make in the real airplane.

Bottom line: if you fly for the view, MSFS 2024 still wins on sheer world fidelity and variety. If you fly for consistent training visuals—runway lights in the soup, twilight glare, water cues on floatplanes—XP12 is now far enough along that you won’t feel you’re giving something up.

Flight dynamics and “stick and rudder”

Put bluntly: both sims model aerodynamics well enough that you can reinforce good habits—or teach bad ones if you’re sloppy.

MSFS 2024 introduced a beefed-up physics system including per-surface rigid-body elements and soft-body interactions. That translates into a more granular airflow/ground-interaction feel on certain add-ons and native aircraft, particularly with helicopters, STOL types, and anything that makes big angle-of-attack changes. The broad pitch from Microsoft and Xbox highlights the 10,000-surface approach; in practice it yields believable control power changes through flap extension and high-lift device deployment, and better “alive” behavior in crosswinds and in rotor downwash interaction with terrain and structures.

XP12’s flight model is famously open and engineer-friendly. You can see and tune airfoils, control linkages, and devices in Plane Maker, and the sim continues to expose a lot of the “why” underneath the “what.” The team even added a manual “Johnson-bar” flap mode in 12.1 for aircraft that use it, which gives you the right feel and workflow for airplanes where the flap handle is the flap position—no separate motor lag. If you care about the nitty-gritty—propwash over the tail, floatplane step/turbulence, grounding moments—XP12 remains a superb lab.

From the seat-of-the-pants perspective: stalls break where you expect, slips behave plausibly, and short-field techniques transfer in either sim if the aircraft developer took advantage of the platform. You’ll still need to treat any default airplane as a “generic” type until you’ve validated its numbers. But if you’re practicing pattern discipline, crosswind landings, and basic energy management, both platforms will reward the same setup and control discipline you use in the real airplane.

Avionics, systems, and failure practice

We all have our favorite stack—steam with a G5 rescue, dual G3X, GTN-Xi, or the airline glass zoo. What matters in the sim is twofold: (1) Are the workflows accurate so you build the right muscle memory? (2) Can you break things on purpose and handle the abnormal?

MSFS 2024’s default avionics have improved continuously since the 2020 release era. The modern G1000/G3000 paths are solid for VFR/IFR basics, and the default FMS in the airliners is good enough for “big picture” IFR practice until you graduate to study-level add-ons. Where MSFS 2024 really pushes ahead, though, is in mission-integrated systems: firefighting packages with weight shifting, sling loads, hoists, and emergency gear all show up in scenarios that stress your system management and cockpit flow. The built-in career framework lends structure—more on that in a moment.

XP12 is still my pick for purposeful failures and edge cases. Out of the box, it ships with hundreds of failure modes you can schedule, randomize, or trigger—down to obscure sensors and control runs—which is gold if you want to drill an engine-out on takeoff, vacuum loss partial-panel, or control-system degradation. Laminar keeps exposing more options and camera physics to make the cockpit feel closer to the spar—12.1.4 added a physics-based camera that gives you the right “head toss” when you stomp brakes or catch a gust. That tactile cue is surprisingly helpful for staying ahead of the airplane in taildraggers and helos.

If you fly complex IFR in the sim, both ecosystems now have excellent third-party avionics and airliners. The choice is less “which platform is capable?” and more “where is your preferred developer?” But for raw, native failure-driven procedure training, XP12 still reads like the check airman’s toolbox.

Content, missions, and how you learn

One pleasant surprise in MSFS 2024 is how well the built-in “aviation career” scaffolding works as a training aid. This isn’t gamified fluff; it’s a framework for structured flying that nudges you to fly a mission, not just “go somewhere.” Fire drops, mountain SAR, glider towing, cargo runs in weather—each has constraints that sharpen airmanship: fuel management, weight and balance, approach strategy, off-nominal landing sites. You can ignore the structure and free-fly, but if you’re a real-world pilot who wants to keep skills sharp after work, the baked-in variety keeps you from defaulting to the same three short hops around home base. Microsoft and press materials explicitly highlight this career layer as a marquee difference from the 2020 edition.

XP12 does not ship with a career ladder. What it gives you is freedom and granularity: you can construct exactly the training scenario you want, from a 600-foot strip with gusty crosswinds to a seaplane checkout on a choppy lake at nautical twilight. If you’re an instructor, XP12’s straightforward weather sliders, failures, and replay tools make it feel like setting up a sim session for a student: you decide the lesson objectives, you script the failures, you fly the profile, repeat.

So the choice is: do you want the sim to propose missions (MSFS 2024), or do you want to author them (XP12)?

Performance, hardware, and the “stutter factor”

We can’t train if we’re troubleshooting. On a mid-range PC and a 40-series GPU, MSFS 2024 is smoother than the early MSFS 2020 days and, crucially, ships with a much smaller base install thanks to cloud delivery of world data. That makes setup less of a weekend project and keeps the storage footprint under control, though you’ll still want to pre-cache heavy areas if you plan to fly them offline. Microsoft’s own FAQ positions 2024 as a standalone product that will support most 2020 marketplace content, which also helps the transition if you’re carrying an add-on hangar across.

XP12 is lean by comparison—local install sizes are straightforward, updates are incremental, and Laminar’s 12.1/12.2 updates have been aimed in part at visual quality without wrecking frame time. If you’re CPU-bound with lots of AI or complex avionics, XP12’s simplicity helps; if you’re GPU-rich and bandwidth-rich, MSFS 2024 will happily spend both to draw a better world. Neither sim is immune to add-on conflicts; both benefit from a tidy Community/Custom Scenery folder and restraint.

Default fleets and “what you get on day one”

MSFS 2024 ships with a wide spectrum of aircraft types because the career framework needs them—fixed-wing GA, bush, turboprops, helos, gliders, balloons, and specialty machines. That breadth is helpful for keeping you honest: if you’ve spent all week in a G1000, a fire-tanker drop run in a heavy twin will force you to brief speed gates, plan energy well, and fly the profile with discipline. Microsoft’s marketing also leans into non-traditional aviation experiences (aerial photography, sightseeing, etc.), which, while not “training,” do teach fine control.

XP12’s default lineup is narrower but purposeful, with a mix of GA, bizjet, and transport that covers the basics of avionics and handling. Where XP12 shines is how quickly you can go from “default” to “study level” by adding third-party aircraft with deeply modeled systems and flight models that leverage Laminar’s openness. If your learning goal is to live in one type and learn it deeply—say, an A330, a 737-classic, or a particular turboprop—XP12’s aircraft ecosystem and Plane Maker tools are still a joy for the technically curious.

ATC, traffic, and airspace realism

Native ATC in both sims is serviceable for VFR pattern work and simple IFR, but neither replaces PilotEdge/VATSIM/IVAO for realistic phraseology, traffic flow, or controller vectoring. MSFS 2024 benefits from the sheer number of users populating online networks and from the size of its third-party marketplace for traffic/ATC solutions. XP12’s ATC has improved over XP11, and the platform’s predictability makes it a favorite for serious network flyers who value stable frame time during events.

If you’re logging procedures or brushing phraseology, I recommend adding a human-run network to either sim and flying within the network’s published procedures. That’s where both platforms converge toward “this feels like a busy Saturday IFR practice.” (No citation needed here; this is practical pilot advice.)

Training value: what transfers to the real cockpit?

Here’s a checklist-style breakdown of transfer value based on common GA and light turbine tasks:

• Taxi/takeoff/landing cues.
  MSFS 2024 gives you superb peripheral scenery cues and runway environment; XP12 gives you crisp runway lights, realistic light bloom, and believable wind/turbulence interaction as you flash through the flare. Both reward proper crosswind aileron and rudder. XP12’s physics-based camera subtly reinforces deceleration or brake snatch; MSFS’s high-frequency world motion can do the same in gusts.
• Pattern work and energy management.
  Both are strong. I like XP12 for carving consistent power-pitch gates (e.g., “beam the numbers, 1500 RPM, 10° flaps…”) and repeating without distractions. MSFS 2024 helps you judge wind drift and ground track visually, which makes your base-to-final turn discipline better.
• IFR procedures.
  As long as your chosen aircraft’s avionics are modeled well, either sim will let you brief, load, and fly holds and approaches correctly. The biggest gains are in buttonology and mental flow. If you need structured tasks to stay motivated, MSFS 2024’s missions keep you coming back; if you’re designing your own IPC-style profile with multiple injected failures, XP12’s failure system is king.
• Abnormals.
  XP12 wins by volume and granularity of native failures. For prop/engine/airframe issues and partial-panel drills, it’s excellent. MSFS 2024’s edge is in complex mission abnormals (hoist malfunction, load shifts, firefighting equipment behavior) that aren’t just “an instrument died” but “the mission changed, re-plan now.”
• Helicopters and special operations.
  Both are credible; MSFS 2024’s mission set makes you use helicopters more often. XP12’s transparent flight model is great if you want to tune handling or understand control coupling.
• Floatplanes and water.
  XP12’s water physics and lighting cues make step taxi, weathervaning, and glassy-water landings feel correct. MSFS 2024’s water looks gorgeous and sells the scene; for training nuances I still lean XP12.
• Gliders.
  MSFS 2024’s visuals and weather give you the “air mass” picture that’s fun and instructive for ridge running and thermaling. XP12’s predictability is great for formal tasks.

Ecosystems and add-ons

You’ll buy scenery, weather engines, aircraft, and utilities; that’s just how this hobby works. MSFS 2024 has the biggest marketplace by headcount, with everything from hand-crafted airports to mission packs and experimental aircraft, and Microsoft has quickly rolled out Sim Updates to keep the platform moving (you’ll see frequent “SU” notes and marketplace changes in their dev updates). XP12’s ecosystem is smaller but more engineering-heavy; a lot of its marquee aircraft are unabashed “study level” projects with deep systems. If you’re the sort who reads AFMs for fun, XP12’s top-end add-ons feel like home.

A side note on novelty: MSFS 2024 has also embraced playful content and licensed expansions (some fictional). That doesn’t detract from the core sim; it just means you’ll occasionally see big, branded add-ons alongside the serious stuff. If that’s not your taste, ignore it and stick to the training stack.

Practicalities: install, updates, and life with the sim

• Installation footprint.
  MSFS 2024’s base footprint is much smaller than the 2020 edition thanks to cloud streaming, which is helpful if you’re managing SSD space. XP12 is old-school: you install what you use and add scenery as needed.
• Updates.
  Both update often. MSFS 2024’s Sim Updates can be substantial; read the notes and keep community add-ons quarantined until they’re certified for the new build. XP12’s 12.1/12.2 cadence has been steady and usually painless to apply. Microsoft publicly documents SU changes, and Laminar posts detailed change logs and “what’s new” features with each dot release.
• Compatibility.
  Microsoft states most MSFS 2020 marketplace add-ons carry into 2024; for third-party installers, check vendor notes. XP12 tends to be compatible across minor versions, and its “pro”/“home” licensing is documented if you’re considering the professional tier.

Where each sim shines—use-case by use-case

• You want to keep GA currency sharp between flights.
  Either sim works. Pick XP12 if you love constructing exact practice scenarios with planned failures and want repeatable frame pacing. Pick MSFS 2024 if the world view helps you concentrate and you’re motivated by mission variety.
• You’re prepping for a seaplane rating or tailwheel checkout.
  XP12’s water and ground handling cues make it my first choice. You can set wind and chop to precisely the conditions you fear.
• You fly for the view and travel.
  MSFS 2024, no contest. It’s the best “IFR to VFR at minimums into a famous city you’ve never flown to” simulator we’ve ever had.
• You’re building a home cockpit or teaching.
  XP12’s openness, reliable timing, and deep failure system make it easier to integrate with hardware and lesson plans.
• You want structured roles—firefighting, SAR, bush work—without hunting add-ons.
  MSFS 2024’s career framework lands you on the ramp with a purpose and a checklist.

What surprised me as a real-world pilot

• How good visual hazards feel in MSFS 2024.
  Mountain wave, convective buildup, and low-angle sunlight in haze look and feel right enough that I started planning routes like I would in the real airplane—wiggling through valleys and respecting black-hole approaches. That’s real training: you anticipate before the instruments scold you.
• How much XP12’s small touches matter.
  The physics-based cockpit camera in 12.1.4 sounds like a toy until you fly a short-field and the head-bob cues your deceleration just like your harness would. It nudges you to hold the nose off and brake properly without gluing your eyes to the ASI.
• The value of structured missions.
  I didn’t expect to like MSFS 2024’s career mode; I came to the sim to train, not play. But being tasked with a medevac to a short strip in marginal weather forced good ADM: fuel, alternates, performance margins, and a stabilized approach plan. It’s a gentle pressure cooker that keeps you honest.

Limitations to respect (so your real flying doesn’t suffer)

• Perception and vestibular cues.
  No desktop sim provides true motion cues or seat-of-the-pants feel. Don’t let simulated smoothness convince you that an unstable base-to-final is salvageable.
• Engine and systems fidelity varies by aircraft.
  Don’t assume mixture/prop/RPM behavior is perfect unless validated. Use POH targets—fuel flow, EGT splits, CHT behavior—as your truth source.
• ATC is not the FAA/Eurocontrol.
  Treat built-in ATC as a practice aid for buttonology. For realism, use live networks and SOPs.
• Airspace data and NOTAMs.
  The sims are not your primary source. Check the real publications for current frequencies, procedures, and closures.

Cost, licensing, and longevity

MSFS 2024 sells in multiple editions, with the Standard available via Game Pass and a marketplace that’s, frankly, endless. The smaller base install and cross-compatibility with most 2020 add-ons make the on-ramp easier than it used to be. XP12 is a one-time license for the home version, with optional betas you can opt into, and a separate professional license tier if you’re building commercial training devices. Both platforms are being actively developed; both have healthy user bases and roadmaps.

Recommendations by pilot profile

• New PPL or current GA pilot, one monitor, wants the world to feel real:
  Start with MSFS 2024. Add a few study-level aircraft as you’re ready. Use the career missions as motivation between real flights.
• CFI/CFII or systems nerd who writes their own lesson plans:
  Start with X-Plane 12. Build targeted profiles, use failures aggressively, and add your preferred avionics stack. Consider online ATC to keep procedures honest.
• IFR pilot focused on procedures and buttonology:
  Tie goes to the aircraft you plan to fly most. If your favorite developer’s best implementation is on MSFS, go there. If it’s on XP12, do that. Both platforms will reinforce the right flows.
• Backcountry/STOL and float operations:
  XP12 for water/ground cues and repeatability; MSFS 2024 if terrain/visual reference matters more to you than micro-handling, or you want varied mission prompts.
• Helicopters and utility flying:
  MSFS 2024 for breadth of missions; XP12 if you want to tinker with handling or you’re integrating unusual hardware.

Final approach and landing

If you’re shopping for a game, pick the prettier one. If you’re shopping for a trainer, ask: “What do I want to practice, and how do I learn best?”

• MSFS 2024 is the best “walk out to the airplane, spin a mission, and go do real pilot things in a believable world” simulator I’ve ever used. The career scaffolding and global depiction make you behave like a pilot: brief, plan, fly, debrief. It’s compelling enough that you’ll practice more often—which, in the end, is the biggest win.
• X-Plane 12 remains the engineer-pilot’s shop: transparent aerodynamics, deep failures, and a steady cadence of improvements that respect your time. It’s where I go to craft a specific lesson, hammer a technique, or test a what-if.

Most pilots I know end up with both. They tour the world and chase weather in MSFS 2024, then come back to XP12 when it’s time to tighten bolts on a skill. That’s a luxury we didn’t have ten years ago. Whichever runway you choose today, you’ll be flying a capable, modern simulator that can make your next real-world flight safer and smoother—if you use it like a pilot.