- Primary Subject: Flight Simulators for Beginners (2026 Guide) - Key Update: Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 recently launched the detailed iniBuilds TriStar Airliner and confirmed Sim Update Five will introduce PlayStation Virtual Reality Two support. - Status: Confirmed - Last Verified: April 10, 2026 - Quick Answer: Beginners should start with Microsoft Flight Simulator via Game Pass for civilian flight or War Thunder for free combat using a standard controller or joystick. Flight simulators have this reputation for being the hobby of retired airline pilots or rich aviation geeks with $10,000 cockpit setups in their garages. And look, some of them are exactly that. Hell, I wish I could afford a setup too. But the genre is a lot more welcoming than it looks from the outside, and getting started is genuinely more accessible than it was even five years ago. If you've ever looked at a flight sim and thought "that's not for me," give this a read before writing it off entirely. What Kind of Flying Do You Actually Want to Do? Before downloading anything, it helps to figure out which side of the genre appeals to you. Flight simulation broadly splits into two camps: combat and civilian. Combat sims put you in military aircraft, often historical, and center the experience around dogfights, bombing runs, and tactical missions. Civilian sims are about the craft of flying itself, whether that's navigating real-world airways in a commercial airliner or buzzing low over mountain ranges in a Cessna. Neither is better than the other. They scratch completely different itches, and your time is better spent picking a lane early. Combat Flight Sims and Their Games If the appeal is shooting things out of the sky, the combat sim space has a few standout options worth knowing about. DCS World is the