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Today, we’re thankful that X-Plane 10 is NOW AVAILABLE. Grab the demo from X-Plane.com!

An X-Plane user recently wrote in to tell us that, as a resident of the KSEA area, he noticed that one of the screenshots on the News blog included his condo! He pulled the area up in Google Earth, and this is what he saw (image copyright Google 2010; click to see at full size).

Compare that to the shot from X-Plane:

Clearly, the plausible world model–that is, the auto-generated scenery–isn’t accurate (buildings in X-Plane don’t necessarily match up to buildings in the real world), but it is convincing.

At FSweekend 2011, Austin Meyer, creator of X-Plane, gave a presentation–not just any presentation, mind you, but unveiling of the first full beta of X-Plane 10. Austin discusses what sets X-Plane apart from other flight simulators, as well as what sets X-Plane 9 apart from X-Plane 10.

Other topics of the 90-minute talk include:

• the plausible scenery model,
• the ability of X-Plane 10 to use many CPU cores,
• air traffic control,
• sky, clouds, and scenery,
• lighting, and
• weather modeling.

You can watch Part 1 right here:

To watch parts 2-6, use the following links:

• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4
• Part 5 (yet to be uploaded)
• Part 6 (yet to be uploaded)

These shots show a vibrant, auto-generated city in X-Plane 10 from a bird’s eye view, to a street-level view, to a view from someone’s back yard. Note especially the intricacy of the roads, the realism of the water reflections, and the accuracy of the global shadows. Both night and day are represented here, with lighting at night hitting the nearby objects in just the way you would expect.

X-Plane has created an official Google+ page so if you’re a Google+ user, head on over and add us to your circle of friends! You can get there by clicking the badge below.

Click to enlarge…

The photos below provide a deeper look at X-Plane 10 landscapes. They prominently feature mountains and valleys, rivers and plains, even lakes and clouds. We think you’ll agree that X-Plane 10 will be the most beautiful flight simulator yet.

Below, you can see X-Plane 10′s plausible-world roads generated for a crowded city. These city shots are the complements to the “raw terrain” photos we posted last week.