Pimax: MSFS 2024 Backcountry Getaway
- Skyward Staff
- 1 hour ago
- 6 min read
An Ultra-Wide FOV of weekend adventure
The next article in our collaboration series with Pimax takes us to Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 (MSFS 2024). This simulator is rather beautiful from high above. It keeps getting better with City, Landmark and World updates. People sometimes jokingly call it a “sightseeing simulator”.
This time around we took to the skies with the Pimax Crystal Super Ultrawide (PCS Ultrawide) with an early access version of the recently announced Pimax EVO software. Instead of looking for our houses or the nearest world famous landmark, we chose a backcountry getaway utilizing vehicles and scenery made by specialists in this field.
Pimax Mid-Summer Sale and Stacking Savings
This article comes in the middle of the Pimax Mid-Year Sale ending on July 10th, 2026. There are also some compounding savings running alongside that sale, which is genuinely pretty good.
Some of the notable things are free global shipping for all products on the website. The Crystal Super QLED maintains a $200.00 USD discount. Free DMS Headphones with any Crystal series purchase. Discounts on many of the popular product bundles.
The Upgrade Program is also still in effect. Current owners of modern VR headsets can provide proof of ownership of their current headsets (without having to let go of them) and then get a $80.00 USD credit towards purchase of a Pimax Crystal Series headset.
The Skyward Flight Media affiliate code SKY does stack with the Upgrade Program savings. Which is pretty big considering that is going to be an extra 2% discount. That number may not sound like a lot but consider this: the same Crystal Super Ultrawide VR headset we are reviewing can have its price discounted from as high as $1,799.00 USD to as low as $1,489.00 USD. That’s pretty good!
A Day at Cheat River Island
We have a decent amount of experience with bush flying games and simulators, but not too much of it in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024. With the default aircraft and scenery in the standard edition of the simulator you can get a decent short takeoff and landing (STOL) experience. We wanted to do something a bit more special this time around though. We turned to Parallel 42 to put together a bush flying getaway. They are a team that loves stunning visuals just as much as they love STOL aircraft. Our bush flying experience was made up of their FreedomFox / Fox 2 - Complete Pack, the Juice Goose UTV and 56WV Cheat River Island.
With three of our staff members flying purpose-built STOL aircraft, we launched from a nearby airport, then flew into the hills, valleys and rivers of the West Virginian Appalachian Mountain range.
When on final approach to Cheat River Island pilots are greeted with the captivating sight of a fly-in: a gathering of aircraft, pilots, friends and families spending time together. The grass strip on the river island is dotted with people, light planes, helicopters, cars, tents and other structures. Though, as soon as pilots' lower altitude into the surrounding terrain, they are buffeted by the dynamic movement of air caused by the hills that surround this nestled away airstrip. One of us even aborted approach to go around when an unexpected quadcopter drone was seen hovering near the grass runway.
While the other two Skyward staff members circled the airstrip looking for more obstructions, ‘KOSMOS’ effortlessly approached. Utilizing the 140° field of view and the headset’s high pixel density to easily avoid obstacles of all sizes and got a good look at the fly-in while performing a touch and go.
Throughout two flying sessions we did touch and goes, flew through the valleys, visited camping sights, found a zip line, attended a barn party and drove UTVs through trails and roads. For Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 this is a surprising amount of low-level, close-up detail. Definitely not a standard experience for this sim, but something Parallel 42 has made a reputation for themselves in. It was great to be able to take it all in like this.
Pimax Play: Quick Upgrades
At the start of our collaboration with Pimax we went in with very limited experience. ‘KOSMOS’ did very little tuning to the Pimax Crystal Super Ultrawide, so we could establish a default baseline performance. Shortly after the May 2026 article ‘KOSMOS’ began a series of performance adjustments using the Pimax Play software.
You can think of Pimax Play as a “game launcher” in which you can make specific performance settings for the headset for each game separately. These settings are applied to each game as they are launched via Pimax Play. This software provides access to the core components of what a virtual reality headset needs to operate. Device settings, firmware, room setup, physical IPD calibration, quad view customization, etc.
While we have officially only written about two flight games so far on our website, ‘KOSMOS’ has been using the VR headset in all sorts of virtual reality games. To give an example, he saw a 50% FPS and graphics boost in War Thunder and in VRChat about a 30% similar boost in some of the worlds we had featured in our videos about it. Taking time to customize settings per game had a worthwhile impact. A notably better experience all around beyond its default settings with minor adjustments. Do take the time to do this. It is highly recommended.
Pimax EVO: The Power of Previewing
Shortly before our MSFS 2024 article for the ongoing collaboration, a representative from Pimax gave ‘KOSMOS’ access to the recently released Pimax EVO software that is still in limited early access. Pimax EVO runs as a separate program parallel to the Pimax Play software. Imagine it as a second, specialized software that focuses on fine tuning and experimenting whereas the Play software is for faster, broad changes and to launch games with Pimax compatibility.
While this new software does have many edge case use functions which Pimax has promoted, it also has a much better user interface and easier to understand performance related adjustments compared to Pimax Play.
Example of adjustments for quality and performance sliders in Digital Combat Simulator.
For us the most useful part of the Pimax EVO software is a mixture of easy-to-understand sliders for specific headset settings paired with a visual preview for what players will see in their virtual reality device. This includes an FPS calculator of what they can generally expect using those settings.
While a Pimax VR headset is plugged into the PC and powered on, Pimax EVO will allow for adjustments of all of its settings without the user having to physically wear the device. This lets users calculate and fine tune settings before they launch a game and wear the headset. As users move the sliders and try different performance options the preview updates in real time. Certain major adjustments to settings may ask users to restart Pimax EVO if activating “Lab” or “Experimental” settings within the software.
This is hugely positive for the player’s experience. KOSMOS was able to dial in settings for MSFS 2024 in just a few minutes. Much faster than the tuning he was doing with the Pimax Play software.
More examples of Pimax EVO settings.
Next Article: Within Visual Range Combat Simulation
The next article in our Pimax collaboration series is going to be a combat simulator, where situational awareness and fast reaction times are the difference between life and death.
Collaboration and Review Information
Pimax Collaboration
Pimax provided Skyward Flight Media with one Pimax Crystal Super Ultrawide virtual reality headset with the intention to create content and review this product. A key part of this agreement is that any content created should be a fair and unbiased representation of the product. See our webpage dedicated to this collaboration for full details, all content and affiliate links.
Article Format
Skyward FM will write about one game/simulator per Pimax collaboration article. Besides the main focus of the article we will also discuss one or two Pimax hardware or software related points as a part of our long-term use case series.
Reviewer Background
"KOSMOS" is a Skyward FM staff member that has owned or used multiple virtual reality headsets since 2017. These include the Oculus CV1, Oculus Rift S, Meta Quest 2, Bigscreen Beyond 2 and Valve Index. His key PC specs include: Intel i9-14900KF CPU, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 and 64 GB of RAM. Microsoft Windows 11.
Affiliate Links
During the agreed upon review period Pimax has provided Skyward Flight Media with referral links and coupon code.
For the Pimax Website
For the Pimax Crystal Light
For the Pimax Crystal Super
For the Pimax Crystal Super Sony Micro OLED
For the Pimax Dream Air
Discount Code: SKY25 For Dream Air ($25 USD OFF)
Discount Code: SKY For All Headsets (2% OFF) with free $150 Accessories Voucher. Offer ends June 10th, 2026
