Microsoft Flight Simulator has made quite a splash since its release, as people have been getting to grips with just how freeing it is to be able to explore literally the entire planet.

If you've got a top-quality gaming PC, too, the visual fidelity that you can encounter around the globe is quite jaw-dropping at times. Of course, equally impressive is the clever tech Asobo's got running to interpret satellite imagery into 3D maps for you fly over. However, that tech does have its limits - and unsurprisingly, when it gets something a little wrong, the results can stand out. 

We've brought together some of the funniest we've seen so far, right here for your delectation. Check them out!

A stadium from hell

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@617via904

This image of what should be a huge football stadium in Jacksonville, Florida, is a great example of where Flight Simulator can fall down.

What it's created instead has got to be one of the most claustrophobic-looking blocks of flats we've ever seen conceptualised anywhere. 

Chemtrails

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u/AlphaKilo11

We're not sure exactly what's happened here, but from the looks of it a satellite image has picked up a plane below it, superimposed on the landscape. 

Flight Simulator, understandably, doesn't have a clue what's going on, resulting in this bit of weirdness. 

These trees aren't right

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@haydencd

People have noticed that while a lot of forests and greenery look amazing from the air, palm trees appear to be a bit of a blind spot for Flight Simulator.

That exlains the ominous columns that seem to have replaced them around places like California, slightly killing the beach vibe they'd normally inspire. 

It's a monument, all right

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@DanielleAlberti

Anyone who's been to Washington D.C. has probably visited the Washington Monument, a world-famous landmark that can be seen from long distances around the city. 

What they probably didn't see was this bizarre, narrow office block that's replaced the column in this player's game. Hasn't got quite the same impact, eh?

Hardly palacial

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u/kraven420

Similarly, travelling to London hoping to see the sights and do a flyover by Buckingham Palace doesn't quite work out in the game, either.

Here, Flight Simulator isn't sure what type of building the Palace is, so it's played it safe and gone for... an office block. To be fair, it's got quite a location. 

Ominous in the extreme

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@alexandermuscat

This one's gone viral around the world, quite rightly - a mistaken listing of an office block as having 212 floors instead of 2 lead to this absolutely terrifying column in Melbourne.

It's physically nonsensical and vaguely threatening, and we can't get enough of it, honestly. 

A parking job

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u/KJ_Flyguy

Anyone who's tried the landing tutorial in Flight Simulator knows that getting airborne is easier than returning to earth.

This image might be a result of user error, not the game glitching out, but we still love the way it showcases something that just wouldn't happen in real life - a player stuff up their landing, and simply rolls away in shame. 

Sense of scale

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u/MyOpinionOverYours

The icy reaches that take up (depressingly shrinking) parts of our planet are seemingly another place where Flight Simulator's interpretation skills can hit some roadbumps.

This user came across a bizarre ice shelf while on a long-haul flight that really is hard to compute until you see how tiny their jet-liner is lined up against it. 

Greenland looks funny

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u/HailSatangerine

We'll hold our hands up and say we've never been to Greenland, but even so we're pretty sure there's something funky going on here. 

These huge, elevated mountainous pools are a clear result of some satellite imagery confusing Flight Simulator, the poor thing. 

Very spiritual

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u/DeltaP42

Because of Asobo having gone to the effort of carefully modelling a range of famous landmarks around the globe, whever you go somewhere really famous that isn't modelled, it can be a shock.

Take Stonehenge, for example, which as this user showcases, is looking rather flat all of a sudden. 

Rome would be proud

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u/GhostofSatan

Roman arenas are some of the most impressive ruins from older civilisations anywhere on Earth, with their beautiful designs surviving in places like Nimes, even outside Italy.

Except if you visit in Flight Simulator, of course, where the square this arena occupies finds it replaced with a giant concrete donut. 

Satellite stitching

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u/R_Prime

As anyone who's tried to zip around for a long amount of time on Google Maps knows, satellite images aren't all taken on the same day, obviously.

So there will sometimes be moments where you find obvious seams between two images, based on the lighting, and that logic translates to Flight Simulator, as it turns out. Here's on such example that a user found. 

Monumental it ain't

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u/GhostofSatan

You might not have heard of it, but India's Statue of Unity is the tallest statue anywhere in the world, a magestic sight that dominates its landscape.

Except, of course, in Flight Simulator, where it's something closer to a pedestal with no statue to speak of. Sadly it hasn't made it through the game's interpretation, so doesn't have quite the impact of its real-world counterpart. 

Something's not right

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@dippizuka

Even if you're not visiting hugely famous places and finding them wrongly modelled, you will see the odd funky glitch just in the gaps between cities, out and about.

Like these oddly mishapen bushes and trees, which look like the result of some alien civilisation's buidling efforts. 

Culturally important

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u/Salty_Nutella

Still, there's still something sad about visiting somewhere like Yangon's Shwedagon Pagoda, which we can say from exeperience is awe-inspiring, having visited in person, and finding a weird set of buildings.

We look forward to seeing how user-made data packs can fix some of these blank spaces. 

Offputting

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@haydencd

Sometimes you'll run into something that feels like a proper mistake, like this bridge that's utterly weird in how it's been created.

It's like an arch with a wallpaper stuck onto it, complete with trucks crossing over and the water behind it. 

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@EdmondTran

Perhaps our favourite images of Flight Simulator's mistakes are the ones like this, that juxtapose its brililance with its limitations.

On the left, a stunning recreation of Sydney Opera House, completely perfect. On the right, a low bridge that looks absolutely nothing like the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge. Hey, you can't have it all!