Thrustmaster teams with Airbus on new hardware for Flight Simulator

If you're patiently waiting for Microsoft's new Flight Simulator to release, then Thrustmaster has your back to drain your wallet ahead of its release.

Thrustmaster has just announced its new brand: Thrustmaster Civil Aviation (TCA) which has a slew of new hardware to ogle over. This includes a modular sidestick, dual thrust lever throttle with add-on modules, an Officer bundle, and a new metal desk clamp.

The company teamed with Airbus on the new Thrustmaster Civil Aviation range of products, where it is about as close as we've ever been to the look and feel of the Airbus A320 sidestick. The TCA Sidestick Airbus Edition mimics the look and feel of the Airbus A320's real sidestick.

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• TCA Sidestick Airbus Edition: $69.99 (June 25)
• TCA Quadrant Airbus Edition: $99.99 (September)
• TCA Officer Pack Airbus Edition: $159.99 (September)
• TM Flying Clamp: $69.99 (September)

All of the new Thrustmaster hardware is available for pre-order right now, and you can do that here.

More reading on Microsoft Flight Simulator

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What you need to run it: You will need at least 150GB of storage space to install Flight Simulator, with a 5Mbps internet connection as a bare minimum to take off. The "ideal spec" advised by Microsoft requires a 50Mbps internet connection and a much higher-end CPU and GPU to run it. Check the PC requirements for Flight Simulator here.

Adaptive Streaming: This is some of the cloud-based magic Microsoft is using on Flight Simulator, which teh company is doing special with the game. You can read more about that here.

Flight Simulator uses Bing Maps: Microsoft is tapping its in-house Bing Maps to provide Flight Simulator with real-world locations that don't just look out-of-this-world, but they are our world. More on that here.

Real-time weather, including lightning cracking inside of clouds: Yeah, I'm not kidding around -- Microsoft is injecting a gigantic 600km draw distance into Flight Simulator, so under the right weather conditions -- and granted you have the PC hardware to handle it, you're going to see storms hundreds of miles away. Not just that, but there will be lightning cracking inside of the clouds... yeah, I know.

Feature Discovery Series on Microsoft Flight Simulator

Microsoft has an awesome 'Feature Discovery Series' that goes into detail about Flight Simulator, from aerodynamics and the soundscape of the game, right through to the cockpits and the multiplayer. Check them out below: