Microsoft Flight Simulator improving Japan in first "world update" next week

Microsoft announced during their Tokyo Games Show stream today that Japan will be the next country to get touched up by hand in Microsoft Flight Simulator. The first "world update" is coming next week with six Japanese cities rebuilt using 3D photogrammetry, along with six airports, a new elevation map for the country, and loads of bridges, temples, castles, and other landmarks. The update's due next Tuesday, and you can see a bit of Japan now in the trailer below.

I particularly like the Tower of Wind, the big sci-fi structure which provides ventilation for the Tokyo Bay Aqua-Line tunnel below.

The Japan world update is due next Tuesday, the 29th of September. Microsoft's blurb explains:

"World Update I: The Japan world update features an upgraded digital elevation map across the entire country, high-resolution 3D photogrammetry for six prominent Japanese cities (Sendai, Takamatsu, Tokushima, Tokyo, Utsunomiya and Yokohama), and six handcrafted local airports (Hachijojima, Kerama, Kushiro, Nagasaki, Shimojishima, and Suwanosejima). Players will also be able to try their hand at executing a trio of exciting new Landing Challenges set at Japanese airports."

With only only 341 of the world's cities being built of fancy photogrammetry in MS Flight Sim at launch, the rest having been auto-generated based on map data (leading to some wonderful glitches), some fans have turned to ripping monuments and landmarks from Google Maps to mod into the game and fill those gaps. The world has more cities than I imagine they'll ever properly get into the game, but I'm happy to see full fancy versions of more coming.

It is wild to me that the only photogrammetric cities in the UK are Portsmouth and Southampton. No offence but, y'know, they're not high on the list of places I'd love to fly over.