Whilst there has been a lot of focus on Microsoft Flight Simulator as of late, the team at Laminar Research has been quietly working away on the future of the X-Plane platform. On YouTube, the team shared a short teaser clip of some of the new technology coming to the world of X-Plane.
Dubbed “preview one,” this new preview of the next generation of X-Plane technology revealed what they have been working on to “replace the existing lighting in X-Plane 11.” This is an entirely new, photometric lighting model which clearly enhances the current lighting engine. The short preview video shared a comparison between the current engine, followed by clips in the same place but using the next generation lighting engine. The results are clear and the improvement is obvious. You can watch the preview one above.
As stated in the video, improved lighting is one of the most requested features for the simulator platform, having received over 900 upvotes from the community.
Laminar Research has not shared any indication if this technology will be part of X-Plane 11 or will be for an entirely new platform, which presumably would be called X-Plane 12. However, Laminar Research did say that more previews and news will be coming soon. Fingers crossed we see those additional previews soon.
In the meantime, you can follow the team on Twitter.