The Best Flight Simulator Games in 2026, Ranked

The best flight simulator game in 2026 is Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024. No other sim gives you the whole planet, a career mode, live weather and a release on PC, Xbox and PlayStation 5.

It is not the players’ favorite, though. On Steam, only 58% of its 13,424 English-language reviews are positive, the lowest score on this list, while X-Plane 12 sits at 87% and DCS World at 84%.

This ranking weighs simulation depth, breadth and current support, and it shows every game’s Steam player score beside it, checked on Oct. 27, 2026. Where players and our order disagree, we say why.

1. Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024

Asobo Studio’s Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 launched on Nov. 19, 2024, for Windows and Xbox Series X|S, and reached PlayStation 5 on Dec. 8, 2025. That makes it the only full civil flight sim on this list you can play on PC, Xbox and PlayStation.

It keeps the 2020 game’s streamed, satellite-based planet, live weather and real-world air traffic. What it adds is a reason to fly: a career mode where you earn certifications and unlock jobs such as aerial firefighting, medevac, search and rescue, cargo and airline flying.

The ground got deeper too. Rocks, gravel and grass are modeled in 3D and affect your wheels on takeoff and landing, and you can walk around the aircraft before a flight to remove covers and check doors.

It beats X-Plane 12 on breadth, not on physics. If you want one game that lets you fly a Cessna over your own house in the morning and an airliner across an ocean at night, this is it.

2. X-Plane 12

Laminar Research’s X-Plane 12 is the sim pilots reach for when the flight model matters more than the scenery. It uses blade element theory, splitting the wings, control surfaces and propellers into small pieces and calculating the forces on each, rather than leaning on fixed performance tables.

That shows up at the edges of the envelope. In a comparison with Microsoft Flight Simulator, Plane & Pilot called X-Plane’s slow flight “extremely realistic and accurate” and praised its spins, spin recovery and failures.

It is also the only civil sim here that runs on macOS and Linux as well as Windows. Combined with the right hardware, X-Plane is used in FAA-approved training devices, which is a different league of credibility from a gaming award. See how those devices fit into training in our guide to the types of flight simulators.

Players rate it 87% positive on Steam. It ranks second because Microsoft’s world, platforms and range of activities are broader.

3. DCS World

Eagle Dynamics’ DCS World is the best combat flight simulator you can buy, and the base game costs nothing. It ships free with two aircraft, the Su-25T “Frogfoot” attack jet and the TF-51D Mustang, plus two free maps.

The real game is in the paid modules: the F-16C, F/A-18C, F-14, AH-64D and A-10C Warthog are among the most popular. Each is modeled switch by switch, with a digital manual to match.

The realism is good enough for real air forces. The USAF’s 355th Training Squadron at Davis-Monthan uses DCS as an instrument and weapons-system trainer for the A-10C, and the French Air Force used it to train Mirage 2000C pilots before that jet retired in 2022.

Budget for hardware, though. Steam lists 16 GB of RAM, an 8 GB graphics card and 200 GB of storage as the minimum.

4. Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020)

The 2020 game is still worth buying, and it has the most Steam reviews of any civil sim here: 44,513, with 78% positive. It won Best Sim/Strategy Game at The Game Awards 2020.

Two things keep it relevant. Its minimum spec is lighter than the 2024 game’s (8 GB of RAM against 16 GB), and it costs $10 less at $59.99.

It lacks the 2024 career mode and the newer ground detail. Choose it over No. 1 if your PC is older or you would rather fly freely than follow a career.

5. Falcon BMS

Falcon BMS is a free, standalone community mod of Falcon 4.0, a 1998 F-16 simulator. Volunteers at Benchmark Sims have released it since 2003. The team bills it as “the best free flight simulator for military aviation.”

Where DCS gives you many aircraft, BMS gives you one done to extremes: multiple F-16 Fighting Falcon variants with authentic avionics and weapons, plus an F-15C. Its dynamic campaign runs a whole war around you, so your mission is one flight inside a battle that keeps moving.

Version 4.38 is the current release, with DirectX 11 and VR support. It is not on Steam, so it has no player score in our table.

6. IL-2 Sturmovik: Great Battles

IL-2 Sturmovik: Great Battles is the best World War II flight sim. It is a series of modules on one engine, starting with Battle of Stalingrad in 2013 and adding Moscow, Kuban, Bodenplatte and Normandy.

Because every module shares the engine, aircraft carry across them and engine upgrades apply to the older ones. There is even a World War I series, Flying Circus, for biplane fans.

Battle of Stalingrad, the entry point, scores 79% positive on Steam at $49.99. Developer 1C Game Studios is building a new engine for its next title, IL-2 Korea. For jet combat with less homework, see our list of the best games with fighter jets.

7. Aerofly FS 4

IPACS’ Aerofly FS 4 is the sim to pick if you fly in VR or your PC is midrange. Steam lists an Intel Core i5-4590, 8 GB of RAM and a 4 GB graphics card as the minimum, with SteamVR and Oculus support.

It covers airliners, helicopters, fighters, gliders and aerobatic aircraft, and IPACS advertises more than 10,000 real-world flights. Players rate it 89% positive, one of the best scores on this list.

It ranks below the big three because its systems and world are less deep. Think of it as the most comfortable sim to fly, not the most complete.

8. VTOL VR

VTOL VR has the highest player score on this list, 98% positive across 17,148 English-language reviews. Boundless Dynamics built it for virtual reality only: you reach out and flip switches, press buttons and grab the stick and throttle with your hands.

Its jets are near-future fictional designs rather than real types, which is why it sits below the study sims. That freedom is also what makes it so approachable: you learn the cockpit by touching it.

It costs $29.99 and needs a PC VR headset; it will not run without one.

9. War Thunder

Gaijin’s War Thunder is free and runs on almost everything: Windows, macOS, Linux, PlayStation and Xbox. Its air battles run in three modes, arcade, realistic and simulator, and the simulator mode is the closest to real flying.

It is the most-reviewed game here by far, with 329,696 English-language Steam reviews at 72% positive. In February 2024 it set a record of more than 250,000 concurrent players.

It is a vehicle combat game first, with tanks and ships alongside aircraft, and tech trees with premium vehicles you can buy for real money. As a free way into realistic dogfighting, though, nothing else is as easy to start.

10. Microsoft Flight Simulator X: Steam Edition

FSX first came out in October 2006, and the Steam Edition followed on Dec. 18, 2014. It still earns 86% positive reviews from 14,213 English-language players.

Its graphics are two decades old, but it costs $24.99 and was the last Microsoft sim to support Windows 7 and older. The standard edition includes 18 aircraft and more than 24,000 airports, from gliders to jumbo jets.

Buy it only if your computer cannot run anything above it. Everyone else should start at No. 4 or higher.

Best flight simulator on mobile: Infinite Flight

On a phone or tablet, the pick is Infinite Flight for iOS and Android. It has live multiplayer, real-world airliners and an option to play as air traffic control, and The New York Times called it the best flight sim on mobile devices.

You steer with the device’s tilt sensor or a joystick. The free download includes sample aircraft and regions, while multiplayer, global flight and dozens of aircraft need its Pro subscription.

How to choose the right flight sim

Pick by what you want to fly. Airliners and sightseeing point to Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024; learning to fly a light aircraft such as the Cessna 172 Skyhawk properly points to X-Plane 12; military jets point to DCS World or Falcon BMS.

Then check your hardware. A console player’s only full civil sim is Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, VR players should look at Aerofly FS 4 and VTOL VR, and a joystick or yoke makes every sim on this list better. Our flight simulator setup ideas cover rigs from a desk to a full cockpit.