Since releasing earlier in the week, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 has become extremely popular as aspiring pilots take to the skies and explore the real world. Some gamers were quick to explore locations like Area 51, but those locales haven't turned up anything really interesting yet. The game pulls from Microsoft's own Bing Maps, recreating photorealistic versions of real-world locations. However, this has led to some hilariously strange things appearing in-game for many users.
Microsoft Flight Simulator is known for going the extra mile with its realism, whether it's accurate weather patterns in real-time or options that allow players to experience real-world air traffic in the game. Even the fields have individual blades of grass. It's a crazy amount of attention to detail, and it's been a selling point for the game. Despite boasting incredible graphics and a living, realistic world, MSFS 2020 has had some truly strange things appearing.
Twitter users have been quick to share their strange findings, including an impossibly-tall obelisk in Fawkner, Australia. The building, which is over 200 stories high, doesn't exist in the real world. The error occurred because Bing Maps uses data from a free mapping wiki called OpenStreetMap, where a user incorrectly entered info about the building. The mistake was fixed, but not before Bing Maps pulled the info and put it into MSFS 2020 where players were quick to check out the non-existent building for themselves. This has led to other questions, like what other weird stuff can people find in the game?
Strange Things in Microsoft Flight Simulator
Other users have found multiple strange things in Microsoft Flight Simulator. On Twitter, people reported finding an apartment complex where Buckingham Palace should be. So far, unlike the towering obelisk in Australia, no one has been able to figure out why the Queen of England's residence has been turned into a generic apartment building, but that hasn't stopped players from enjoying the hilarity of it.
Twitter users have shared other findings as well, like Danielle Alberti, who posted photos of a narrow skyscraper in Washington, DC, where the Washington Monument should be. Another MSFS user, Hayden Dingman, shared screenshots on Twitter of the game turning palm trees in California into Stonehenge-like monoliths. From trucks being glued to the sides of bridges to office buildings appearing inside football stadiums, people have found some truly strange and hilarious things.
Microsoft has been quick to try to fix these issues with Bing Maps, but that hasn't completely stopped them from occurring. In the meantime, fans of Microsoft Flight Simulator will continue to get a kick out of the weird things that keep showing up.