Your flight stick and rudder pedals are dusted off, plugged in, and ready at your desk. You've downloaded and pre-installed all 127GB of the game. So now you're left wondering, "when does Microsoft Flight Simulator unlock?" The answer depends on where in the world you are, and how you're accessing the game.
If you purchased Microsoft Flight Simulator on Steam - which apparently an awful lot of you did - the answer is pretty simple: the game unlocks at 4:00 UTC August 18. For sim pilots on the US East Coast, that's midnight tonight; while our friends in the UK will be getting airborne at 5:00 BST. Players on the US West Coast can get going "early" at 21:00 PDT.
It's a different story if you've purchased Microsoft Flight Simulator through the Windows Store or are playing it on Game Pass. If that's the case, you have two options: the first is to head over to Microsoft's blog post and scour through the list of countries and times to work out when your copy will unlock.
The second option is to realise, "Oh, I get it, it's midnight local time basically everywhere."
That's right - on Windows platforms, Microsoft is running a rolling midnight release around the globe.
However, we've reprinted the countries and times list here in case you want to double check. Once you've got your time worked out, be sure to check out our Microsoft Flight Simulator review in progress - our Ben has been having a good time with it, but he's had to do a lot of waiting around on the tarmac.
AUGUST 17, 2020
10:00 UTC
Kiribati
11:00 UTC
American Samoa, The Marshall Islands, Mauru, Niue, Samoa, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, The United States Minor Outlying Islands, Wallis and Futuna
12:00 UTC
Antarctica, Fiji, New Zealand
13:00 UTC
New Caledonia, Norfolk Island, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu
14:00 UTC
Australia, Guam, Federated States of Micronesia, The Northern Mariana Islands, Papua New Guinea
15:00 UTC
Japan, Korea, Palau, Timor-Leste
16:00 UTC
Brunei Darussalam, Hong Kong SAR, Macao SAR, Malaysia, The Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan
17:00 UTC
Cambodia, Christmas Island, Indonesia, The Lao People's Democratic Republic, Mongolia, Thailand, Viet Nam
17:30 UTC
The Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Myanmar
18:00 UTC
Bangladesh, Bhutan, The British Indian Ocean Territory, Kyrgyzstan
18:15 UTC
Nepal
18:30 UTC
India, Sri Lanka
19:00 UTC
The French Southern Territories, Kazakhstan, Maldives, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan
19:30 UTC
Afghanistan
20:00 UTC
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Mauritius, Oman, Qatar, Réunion, Saint Barthélemy, Seychelles, The United Arab Emirates, Yemen
21:00 UTC
Åland Islands, Belarus, The Comoros, Cyprus, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Finland, Greece, Israel, Jordan, Kenya, Latvia, Lebanon, Libya, Lithuania, Madagascar, Mayotte, The Republic of Moldova, Palestine, Romania, The Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, United Republic of Tanzania, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine
22:00 UTC
Albania, Algeria, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burundi, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Eswatini, France, Germany, Gibraltar, The Holy See, Hungary, Italy, Lesotho, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malawi, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, Mozambique, Namibia, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Republic of North Macedonia, Rwanda, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Svalbard and Jan Mayen, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia, Zambia, Zimbabwe
23:00 UTC
Angola, Benin, Botswana, Cameroon, The Central African Republic, Chad, The Democratic Republic of the Kongo, The Congo, Equatorial Guinea, The Faroe Islands, Gabon, Isle of Man, Ireland, Morocco, The Niger, Nigeria, Portugal, Saint Helena, Ascension, and the Tristan da Cunha, The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
AUGUST 18, 2020
00:00 UTC
Bouvet Island, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Greenland, Guernsey, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Iceland, Jersey, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo
01:00 UTC
Cabo Verde, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
03:00 UTC
Anguilla, Anguilla and Barbuda, Argentina, Aruba, Barbados, Bermuda, Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba, Dominica, Brazil (BRT), The Dominican Republic, French Guiana, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guyana, Martinique, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Martin, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sint Maarten, Trinidad and Tobago, Virgin Islands (U.S.)
04:00 UTC
The Bahamas, Brazil (AMT), Plurinational State of Bolivia, Canada, The Cayman Islands, Chile, Curaçao, The Falkland Islands, Georgia, Haiti, Jamaica, Panama, Paraguay, The Turks and Caicos Islands, The United States of America (all 50 states), Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela
05:00 UTC
Belize, Brazil (ACT), Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Heard Island and McDonald Islands, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru,
07:00 UTC
Pitcairn
10:00 UTC
The Cook Islands French Polynesia
