More details surrounding the upcoming PMDG 737 for MSFS have been shared, thanks to the recent interview conducted by Sky Blue Radio over the weekend.
Perhaps the most significant piece of news to come from 1 hour and 30-minute interview is the release order for each of the variants in the Boeing 737 Next Generation series. We already knew that the 737-700 would be the first aircraft type to be released, but it wasn’t exactly confirmed which aircraft would follow. Robert said that the 737-600 will be released after the -700. This will then be followed up by the 737-800 and then finally the 737-900. We already know that there will be a six-week gap between each release, which means we’ll see the most popular flown variant, the 737-800, approximately 10-12 weeks after the initial release.
This release order was also re-confirmed over on the PMDG forums by Robert. What he also said was that even if the 737-600 was delayed, it would not have an impact on the release of the -800 model. He said, “It is substantially irrelevant if the 600 drops in-between the 700 and 800 because of the way workflow parses out between the code team and the modeling teams. We could cancel the 600 release entirely and it would not change the delivery date of the 800 relative to the 700.”
Robert said in the interview there are a few reasons behind this decision. He said that the -700 and the -600 have very similar systems, whereas the -800 requires “considerable more work” due to how the aircraft functions compared to the former types. With this amount of extra work, Robert wanted to ensure that the developers had time to rest before they burnt out after the considerable hard work they have already gone through to get the -700 into Microsoft Flight Simulator.
This week will also see the confirmation of pricing. It’s been teased already that the PMDG 737 for MSFS will be favourable to simmers and that the new release model should keep things affordable for many, whilst giving more options than before. We also know that the $99.99 USD credit for those who purchased the PMDG 737NGXu before 2020 will be applicable to any of the variants in the 737 for MSFS series. Robert did confirm that each version of the plane will vary depending on the work required.
During the interview, JT (host) and Robert spoke about how the aircraft handles in Microsoft Flight Simulator. Robert said the aircraft feels “much more real, more fluid, and more dynamic” and that simmers should expect it to feel a bit different to how it may have felt in previous simulators. Overall, the team are “really happy” with the flight model and the team can’t wait to bring the technology over to other aircraft in the future.
One point to note is that nothing from the base simulator has been used in the making of the 737 for MSFS series. The autopilot is entirely custom and that LNAV specifically works great.
In Robert’s last post, we found out that PMDG will be developing the MAX series of aircraft in the future, along with dropping regular updates for the 737 for MSFS which will improve the aircraft over time. We also now know that beta testers are likely to be released from their NDA this week with plenty of screenshots and videos to come soon. Whilst you wait, watch 5-minutes of footage from the plane right now.
