You can turn Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 'basically into an economy sim' by hiring pilots to fly your planes.

The lack of structure in the 2020 version was a major disappointment. I loved flying around the world, but without a progression system or specific missions, I never felt I was progressing. NeoFly, a mod that lets you earn money as a bushpilot, is what I liked. I could earn more money for each successful mission and eventually buy new aircraft so I could fly more missions.

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 has a similar progression system built in. There are 26 career paths ranging from aerial firefighting, to VIP charter flights, to cropdusting. These careers offer you the chance to earn money, progress through missions and eventually create your own business and become your boss.

You can go even further. When your company grows big enough, you'll have the option to hire virtual pilots who will fly missions for you. Jorg Neumann, the Head of Microsoft Flight Simulator spoke to PC Gamer about the career system, describing it as "loops."

"So, loop one. You're an employee. You would say "I want to work for that crop dusting firm somewhere in the Midwest" or whatever, Thailand, whatever you choose, right? Neumann explained that you would get increasingly more difficult missions. "And when you enter loop 2, you can do the exact same thing, but you own the plane."

Once you have earned enough money to fly your own plane, it is possible to move into a new state where you no longer pilot your planes. Neumann said that you can create a company and paint your own livery. Then you can hire pilots to fly for you. It's a basic economy sim."

Your companies can also handle flights around the world. "For instance, I own an airline in Europe, a helicopter outfit on Hawaii, and another company on the South Island of New Zealand. Neumann said that's where he is in his career.

But being the boss comes with a lot of responsibility. "So, what happens in loop 1, if you wreck the plane at landing? You're protected a bit because the company [you work with] pays for it. Once you're in loop two and own the planes you must pay the bills. So you look at your planes quite differently."

Neumann revealed that his own virtual career as a pilot had suffered a financial setback. "I remember that I wrecked my plane when I reached that stage," he said. "It was expensive."

I asked Neumann whether career mode could be tackled through multiplayer. For example, running a business with friends or hiring players to fly missions on your behalf. He replied, "Not yet." "But yes, we do want to do this. We also want to do collaborative firefighting, and other things of that nature, because there are spotter planes and actual planes which drop the chemicals. We will do this in the future. We don't see this as an "all or nothing" situation, do we? This is a service, not a game. We're going keep going."