Navigraph has recently published the results of their yearly Community Survey, with answers from 23,376 participants worldwide. From the most played flight simulator to the most popular graphics card among flight simmers, they got all our questions covered.

Microsoft Flight Simulator leads the 2023 popularity chart with 70.8% of the respondents using it as their primary flight simulator, followed by X-Plane in second with 13.1%, and Prepar3d in 3rd with 4.6%. The gap has widened compared to 2022, where Microsoft Flight Simulator already had a comfortable lead, but X-Plane 11 had 23% of the respondents playing it frequently, and 12 around 15%. While Navigraph has taken a slightly different approach to quantifying the most popular platform this time, it’s visible that X-Plane has lost a chunk of its relevance in 2023.

Regarding features most valued in an add-on aircraft, 38% of the respondents said aircraft system complexity, followed by realism and authenticity with 26.6%, and flight model accuracy with 17.4%.

The GPU results for this year were relatively surprising, with the RTX 4090 topping the charts at 14.5%, closely followed by the RTX 3080 at 11.5% and the 3080Ti at 10.3%. The only AMD card from the list is labeled “AMD Radeon,” with 4.5% of the respondents owning a GPU from the red team. Nvidia shows clear dominance in the flight sim realm, reflecting their overall lead in the global GPU market. 

According to the respondents, the best flight simulation release of the year is the PMDG 737 with 11.2%, even though it was not released in 2023, followed by the Fenix A320 with 9.7%, which also was not released this year. A2A Simulations’ Comanche 250, released in 2023, is third with 8.8%. 

The most anticipated products for 2024 are the PMDG 777 (29.2%), Fenix A319/20/21 (12.3%), and the FlyByWire A380 (11.3%). Surprisingly, MSFS 2024 sits at 6.6%. On that Flight Sim 2024 note, respondents were asked about their expectations for the upcoming simulator, and 27.9% said performance optimization, 20.2% said improved graphics and realism, and 16.8% wanted weather engine improvements. 

To check out the full results, please visit this page. 

Stay tuned to Threshold for more flight simulation news!