In addition to the 45 high-detail airports FSX features 38 high-detail cities. The high-detail cities feature prominent landmarks and structures, as you would expect. The auto-gen scenery fills in the gaps nicely though and they really do look very good, although the computer that makes this level of detail flyable might not be built yet. Night textures are well done, particularly from mid to high elevations. Watching the ribbons of traffic lights moving through the cities is a nice touch. The Las Vegas strip features all the prominent buildings, but as you can see, once you get extremely low the textures break down in their believability. That really shouldn’t be a mark against FSX though because the amount of area they are covering is massive and I’m not sure we should expect miracles for every area we might want to fly in. Additionally, this is a flight simulator, not a bus simulator, so I don’t have any heartburn because extreme low-level textures aren’t perfect.
I’m sure I wasn’t alone in shedding a tear when I loaded up the Chicago area scenery and saw the new Mayor Daley Thug City Park. Even though it isn’t Microsoft’s fault, it just doesn’t seem like Flight Simulator without Meigs field. My little form of protest, of course, was to load up the all new Maule M7-260C Super Rocket and make the best out of a bad situation. Grass works just as well as concrete!