Learn which flight simulators let you fly over real cities, how to find exact locations, and why scenery may look different from real life.
Yes. In general-purpose flight simulators such as Microsoft Flight Simulator, X-Plane, FSX and Prepar3D, you can fly over many real cities and locations using their actual coordinates, terrain, coastlines, roads and airports. Detail varies: some areas have 3D photogrammetry, while others use generic buildings over aerial or landclass scenery.
Real-world city coverage by simulator
Most mainstream civilian flight simulators reproduce the real world, but they use different scenery systems and levels of detail.
| Simulator | Geographic coverage | What cities usually look like |
|---|---|---|
| Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 and 2024 | Near-global | Aerial imagery, generated buildings and real roads, with 3D photogrammetry or custom landmarks in supported locations. An internet connection normally provides the best detail. |
| X-Plane | Global base scenery | Real terrain, coastlines, roads and airports with generated buildings and selected landmarks. Orthophoto and custom scenery can improve individual areas. |
| FSX and Prepar3D | Global base scenery | Older landclass textures and autogen buildings. Airports and city centres can be substantially improved with installed scenery. |
| DCS | Selected regional maps | Detailed terrain and settlements inside each installed map, but no continuous worldwide coverage. |
For sightseeing straight after installation, Microsoft Flight Simulator generally provides the most recognisable global scenery. Our comparison of flight simulator scenery systems explains how aerial imagery, photogrammetry and generated buildings affect realism.
Custom scenery can make a particular city better than its default representation. Examples include additional Washington, D.C. landmarks for MSFS and enhanced Honolulu and surrounding-area scenery. Older platforms can also reproduce large areas from aerial imagery, as shown by our selection of photoreal scenery for FSX and Prepar3D.
Photoreal scenery and photogrammetry are not the same thing. Photoreal scenery normally places a flat aerial image over the terrain, while photogrammetry constructs three-dimensional buildings and objects from multiple images. Autogen then uses rules to place generic houses, offices and vegetation where detailed 3D data is unavailable.
How do I fly over a specific city or location?
The simplest method is to depart from the nearest airport, then use the city centre, landmark or exact coordinates as a waypoint.
- Search the world map. Enter the city, airport or recognised point of interest. Street-address searches are not supported consistently, so use latitude and longitude when the simulator accepts them.
- Select a suitable starting position. Choose a nearby airport, or place the aircraft at a custom map position if that feature is available. Starting airborne is useful when the location is far from an airport.
- Check the scenery options. For streamed scenery, confirm that online data and photogrammetry are enabled where available. Also verify that any optional city or regional packages have been installed.
- Plan a visible route. Daylight, clear weather and an altitude of a few thousand feet above ground normally make streets, rivers and landmarks easier to identify.
- Use large geographic features first. Coastlines, rivers, motorways, railway corridors and airport runways are usually more reliable references than a single building.
Why does the city not look like the real place?
A city usually looks wrong because detailed 3D coverage is unavailable, scenery data has not loaded, or generic buildings are being mistaken for an exact reconstruction.
- No photogrammetry coverage: The road pattern and terrain may be accurate while the buildings are generated from approximate height and footprint data.
- Streaming has fallen back: A slow or disabled connection can produce blurry ground textures, incomplete buildings or generic offline scenery. Check data settings and any bandwidth limit before changing graphics options.
- Optional content is missing: Some detailed cities and landmarks are supplied as separate regional packages. Confirm that the relevant content is installed and enabled.
- The imagery is older than the city: New estates, stadiums, towers and road layouts may be absent because the source photographs predate them.
- Detail settings are too low: Low terrain detail, object density or level-of-detail settings can remove buildings at surprisingly short distances. Increase these gradually because they can be demanding on the processor, graphics card and memory.
- Scenery packages overlap: Two add-ons covering the same area can cause duplicate towers, raised runways, sunken buildings or flickering textures.
A mistake we see constantly is leaving an older city add-on active after installing a replacement. Remove the overlapping package or adjust scenery priority where the simulator supports it, then rebuild or clear the scenery cache if necessary.
Can I fly over my house in a flight simulator?
You can usually fly over your house in a simulator with global coverage, but the building itself may not be an accurate 3D model.
Use the nearest airport and the property's coordinates rather than relying on an address search. In an aerial-image area, the roof may appear on the ground texture but be covered by a generic autogen house. Trees, image age and low-resolution source data can also make an exact property difficult to recognise.
Do real-world cities require an internet connection?
An internet connection is needed for the best streamed scenery in Microsoft Flight Simulator, while X-Plane, FSX and Prepar3D can display installed scenery offline.
Offline behaviour differs by simulator and version. Cached tiles may cover only places already viewed and can be replaced as the cache fills, so they should not be treated as a permanent regional download. Before an offline sightseeing flight, test the area and install any supported offline or regional scenery packages in advance.