Back when they were popular, flight sims needed some pretty hefty hardware to get them running. But I can't remember any of them ever having "120 dedicated graphics cards" under the "required" section on the side of the box.


But the HD World does. A custom F-16 fighter simulator, it runs off 120 dual core PCs with 120 $400 graphics cards inside them, all chained together.

All that processing power gets you 10,000 "entities" on screen at once, realistic explosion and destruction effects and "20-40 visual acuity", which is apparently as close to photo-realism as current projector technology can manage in a situation like this.


Oh, and it all comes wrapped in a 180-degree screen, along with a fully authentic replica of an F-16 cockpit.

If it didn't cost millions and millions of dollars, I'd already have one on order. You can check out a clip of the sim in action below, courtesy of the Star Telegram.

Ultra-HD Military F-16 Flight Simulator Runs on 120 PC Graphic Cards [Gizmodo]