It’s a niche within the flight simulation community that we don’t often hear too much about, but soaring (gliding) is to be the primary focus of third-party developers Got Friends in July as they release a new payware glider, bring MSFS 2020 models into the new sim, and issue a handful of updates to base-game models bringing enhanced gliding mechanics.
Discus-2C Update and 2024 Compatibility
Starting today, the developer team have updated their Discus-2C payware and freeware offerings for MSFS 2020. This update is free for all existing owners of either version.
The Discus has gone through a total overhaul, described by the developers as a “complete remaster”. The sailplane was one of the developer’s original projects following the company’s founding and it “needed a variety of fixes”.
Among these fixes are refined coding across the entire glider, updates to the modelling, the new LX Family avionics suite, new sounds, new flight model, new electrical system, new yawstring physics and animations, VR controller support, improved wing flex animation, state persistence, and many more.
The premium, payware version of the Discus will also be coming to MSFS 2024 in July. The 2024 version will also include the newer simulator’s walkaround functionality, door and seatbelt interactions, updated visual effects, character compatibility with Asobo’s avatar system, improved flight modelling with FES motor dynamics, and custom registration colours and font support for livery artists.
The premium version of the Discus-2C is available to purchase now from the Got Friends website and Contrail. All users who own the premium product in 2020 will be entitled to the 2024 upgrade at no additional cost.
AS 33 Me for MSFS 2020 and 2024
Also coming in July is GotFriends’ brand new sailplane offering, which they describe as an “Expert Level” product – a label the developer says “we don’t use lightly”. Visual fidelity and systems depth are at an all-time high with this product.
Two wingspan variants (15m and 18m) will be available at launch, with a uniquely customisable dashboard where the various gauges unique to a sailplane can be positioned around the cockpit according to the user’s preference. The glider comes with a fully simulated electric motor with a dedicated powerplant interface, surface contamination drag effects, a complete ballast system with refill sliders, canopy jettison, advanced soft-body animations like wing flex, yaw string and wire animations.
The MSFS 2024 version will also come with support for the newer simulator’s unique features such as walk-around preflight, compatibility with the Asobo avatar system, and further improved visual effects.
The AS 33 Me will be released initially on MSFS 2020 in the first week of July at a price point of $19.99 via the GotFriends Website and Contrail platforms. In the second week of July, the glider will come to MSFS 2024 at no additional cost for customers who bought it the week before.
Got Friends Towing Expansion for MSFS 2024
When MSFS 2024 released with 3 base game gliders, with a fourth available via a deluxe upgrade, simmers in the soaring niche were understandably excited by the choice – however the stock towplane options have made it difficult for simmers to get off the ground.
This is because with MSFS 2024, ground friction was increased as a component of the new ground surface system, which is now a lot bumpier on grass runways and not simply a flat surface with green painted on it. However with this increase in friction, there was no corresponding increase in the strength of the stock towplane options, meaning sometimes getting airborne with a tow can be challenging.
Got Friends are aiming to address this with their next product releasing in the Month of Soaring – a 100% free of charge towing expansion
In testing, the team unfortunately noticed the lackluster behaviour and lack of variety when it came to towing in MSFS. The freeware towing expansion will include the Wilga 35A aerotow, the Ford F-150 winch truck, the Tesla CyberWinch truck, a Robin DR-400 Remorquer, Savage Cub, CubCrafter XCub, and improvements to the existing Cessna 172 aerotow option.
LX Family Suite Update
Perhaps one of the most exciting updates for competitive racing with sailplanes as the new LX suite of avionics available in both the Discus-2C and AS 33 Me. Not only this, but the new avionics will also be features on the base-game Stemme S12-G and Taurus-M gliders with a future sim update.
The new avionics suite has been developed in collaboration with a well known name in the sim-gliding sphere, B21. The new suite will fully support the B21 logger and external flight plans created in the B21 task planner, as well as other very helpful features like third party maps support, new polar, sink and weight for variometer calculations, custom pop-up messages, dashboard and aircraft settings and customisation settings pages, grid overlay customisation, and full hotkey support for all buttons and knobs with external hardware.
Users interested in taking a look at the new features ahead of the release of the AS 33 Me can either check out the new Discus-2C update or take a look at a handy flight manual Got Friends have made available to the public.
In closing their forum post announcing the new updates, the Got Friends team thanked the community for their continued support and expressed pride in the work that has been done so far, and excitement for the month ahead.
