Other enhancements from the previous version included better ATC communications, GPS equipment, interactive virtual cockpits, and more variety in autogen such as barns, street lights, silos, etc.

A service update (9.1) was released on 10 June 2004, that included over 160 bridges missing or wrongly displayed in the original version, with several other corrections and performance improvements.

At the time, this led Edge to declare it the country's 19th-best-selling computer game, and best-selling Microsoft Flight Simulator title, released since January 2000.

They wrote, "All the details fall together in FS2004: A Century of Flight, the first release in this venerable series that convincingly re-creates the entire flying experience.

The editors called Flight Simulator 2004 "the best-looking and highest-flying collection of vintage and modern aircraft in this storied series".