VIDP Indira Gandhi International: Delhi exists, and the edges are where it thins out

On 6 July 2026, in a forum thread that had been running since January, a simmer called kmcracker56 asked a solo developer for a release date. He explained why. He has flown Chicago to Delhi every year since he was a child to visit family, and he wanted to do that route in the simulator, in an Air India 777-300ER, arriving at a Terminal 3 with an interior.

DhruvSim did not have a date. He shared new screenshots instead.

That thread is the best argument for this scenery existing at all. Indira Gandhi International is India's busiest airport and one of Asia's busiest anywhere, and until 3 August 2026 nobody had built a version of it in Microsoft Flight Simulator that matched the airport as it stands. FeelThere's dates from 2023 and never came to MSFS 2024. Delhi keeps changing underneath everyone — Terminal 2 closed in April 2025 for a five-month refit and reopened that October with six new autonomous-docking airbridges — and a scenery that is merely current is doing something no rival managed.

So the achievement is real, and the criticism is specific, and they point in opposite directions from where you would expect. In March, answering a poster who held up TaiModels' Kempegowda as the benchmark, DhruvSim wrote that he was aiming at the same quality level "but focusing more on airside realism and less on the interiors". What shipped is the reverse. The two most detailed public assessments both praise the terminal interiors and both say the airside periphery — the part you look at on final approach — is where the detail runs out.

We read fourteen sources for this review. The product is sixteen days old, so treat the score as provisional: six store reviews on simMarket, six on flightsim.to, two long forum threads carrying about 150 posts between them including a 500-word hands-on with Google Maps comparisons, four trade write-ups, three videos, and the developer answering in public throughout.

What you are actually buying

A single airport package covering MSFS 2020 and MSFS 2024, from a first-time developer working alone.

Price	€19.99 at simMarket · $22.79 at flightsim.to
Released	31 July 2026 (simMarket listing 3 August)
Current version	1.1.6, updated 14 August 2026
Simulators	MSFS 2020 and MSFS 2024
Download	762 MB at simMarket, 2.00 GB installed
GSX profile	None

The developer sells through simMarket and flightsim.to only, and said so plainly on the forums on 4 August: "price can be different on both platforms". It is — and buyers noticed the price come down slightly after launch. Contrail is "maybe in the future".

In the box: Terminals 1, 2 and 3 with modelled interiors, custom jetways, high-resolution PBR ground textures, animated buses and airside vehicles, custom GSE and clutter, static aircraft, custom day and night lighting from real references, a modelled landside, and approach surroundings covering Aerocity and parts of Dwarka. Performance is handled with LODs and instancing.

Two things are not in the box, and both are documented. There is no GSX profile — the developer's answer on 6 August was that one is not included and "anyone in the community is welcome to create one if they'd like", softening three days later to "I'll see what I can do". And the readme states that the taxiway overpasses are absent from the AI taxi network; asked about it on 5 August, DhruvSim said he had not found a solution and would try in future updates.

There is no cheaper sensible alternative. FeelThere's VIDP is MSFS 2020 only and predates the current layout; Cascadia Approach's is $9.99 with MSFS 2024 support unconfirmed. ImagineSim confirmed in April 2026 that it is building its own Delhi for MSFS and has been making this airport since the FSX days — but it has shown one preview of Terminal 1 and given no release window.

What the community consistently praises

Performance, first, and it is the least disputed claim in the whole record. LukG8843, after a long hands-on on 16 August, called it "flawless in my opinion" and reported no problems with AI traffic. vikram_kannur on flightsim.to on 8 August: "perfectly optimised (high settings, 7800X3D, 5070) and I didn't see any stutters at all". Felipe on simMarket on 11 August: "The performance its great all over the airport". amarks1 said the same on the forums the day after release. For a 2 GB scenery of a three-terminal international airport, nobody reported a frame-rate cost.

Second, the terminal modelling and the interiors — which, again, is not what the developer said he was prioritising. Luis, who has been to New Delhi, wrote on 5 August that the exterior and interior "are modeled just like I remember them from past visits". Even the two dissenting reviewers concede the point: Nico, three stars on simMarket on 6 August, says "some areas, like the interior, look great"; LukG says the interiors are "more than sufficient" for an airport this size and singles out the jetways, custom GSE, custom clutter and animated airport traffic.

Third, night lighting, built from real references. LukG likes it while wishing it were a little brighter. It is one of the few areas where nobody has a substantive objection.

Fourth — and this is the reason to be optimistic rather than a feature — the developer is present and shipping. Three updates landed in the first eleven days: v1.1 on 6 August brought "enhanced ground textures with a dirtier, more realistic appearance" and corrected PAPI light placement and alignment; v1.1.5 on 9 August fixed runway textures and markings and improved grass; v1.1.6 on 14 August corrected more ground markings. He replies to every review on flightsim.to, including the critical ones, and on 17 August a forum poster reported hearing that the weak peripheral areas "are going to be improved in the next update or two".

And fifth, the thing that is easy to miss: it exists, it is current, and Delhi has needed it for years. Tushar's simMarket review of 5 August puts it as well as anyone — it fills a gap, gives the community a very busy airport, and is "already many times better than other stuff on the market on it's first version".

What keeps coming up as a problem

The airport periphery — still open, developer says it is being worked on

This is the criticism that repeats across independent sources and it is the one that matters, because it affects the phase of flight where you are looking hardest.

Nico, simMarket, 6 August 2026, three stars: "the exterior area, where you spend most of your time flying, doesn't seem to be very well implemented". LukG8843, MSFS forums, 16 August 2026, in the most thorough public assessment written so far: landing on Runway 27 you get the beautifully modelled Terminal 1D on the left, and on the right, besides three blue hangars, "a large concrete area with no airplanes, clutter, or other details" — where Google Maps shows a great deal more. He posted side-by-side screenshots.

He is equally specific about the ground textures. They are high-resolution and generally good, but "some of them are still too clean and look too generic", most noticeably in front of Domestic Terminal 2, where the real apron is a patchwork of individually repaired concrete slabs and the scenery renders one homogeneous surface. The landside behind Terminal 1D is "a little too rudimentary".

The developer has been moving in this direction already — "dirtier, more realistic" ground textures were the headline of v1.1 — so treat this as identified and in progress rather than ignored.

No GSX profile — still open, and it was expected at launch

Four separate buyers raised this in the first week, across two shops: Paul and Aidan on simMarket on 6 August, shishir on flightsim.to the same day, Jaycee75 on 9 August. Aidan's is otherwise a five-star recommendation; Paul's review is "Really nice work, but please please please create a GSX profile to make this a 10/10!"

Jaycee75 supplies the consequence rather than the wish: "a number of stands stop points etc put you in the terminal." Without a profile, GSX's own guesses put your aircraft inside the building.

This one stings because a profile was expected. MSFS Addons, reporting the release on 5 August, noted that the developer had indicated work was underway with an experienced GSX profile creator so that a profile would be ready at launch, and flagged that simMarket's listing made no mention of one. It did not arrive.

VDGS — still open

LukG's assessment on 16 August is blunt: the VDGS system is not working, and "the VDGS is very poorly modeled compared to other payware airports". Nobody has contradicted him, and it appears third on his prioritised list of fixes.

AI taxi network gaps — still open, developer acknowledged

ironlemon666 spotted it in the readme on 5 August: the taxiway overpasses are not represented in the taxi network for AI. DhruvSim's answer the same day: "Not been able to figure out a solution right now, but I will try for the future updates." Delhi's elevated eastern cross taxiways are a defining part of how the airport moves aircraft, so this is a real gap rather than a technicality — though nobody has reported AI actually breaking because of it, and LukG specifically said AI traffic gave him no trouble.

Price — contested rather than settled

This is the argument the community had, and it did not resolve. Unic0m, 4 August: only a few dollars cheaper than iniBuilds' KORD, from a new developer, without reviews — "I just can't justify it to myself." xisumervoid, 6 August: KORD at €23 and this at €20 "feels quiet on the higher side". LukG, 16 August: "for the current price of a top-tier developer's scenery, I think it's too expensive. It has too many shortcomings for that."

Against them, A35Klove on 16 August: €20 is justified for a project this size, resources are hard to come by in India, and a solo developer needs to recoup. JakTrax78's reply the next day is the fairest summary anyone offered — the developer prices on cost, the consumer prices on the competition, and only one of those two is doing the buying.

PAPI alignment — fixed

Worth recording because it shows the loop working. xisumervoid reported on 6 August that the PAPIs read four reds crossing the threshold when he was about half a dot low. The v1.1 changelog, published that same day, lists "Corrected PAPI light placement and alignment". Reported and fixed inside a day.

Performance and stability

There is nothing to hedge here. Across six simMarket reviews, six flightsim.to reviews and two forum threads spanning 15 July to 18 August 2026, not one person reported a stutter, a crash, a long load or an AI traffic failure. The reports that do mention hardware are running high settings without trouble.

That is the direct payoff of the LOD and instancing work the marketing leads with, and for a first-time developer building a three-terminal airport with modelled interiors it is the most impressive single thing about the release. Plenty of established studios have shipped smaller airports that run worse.

Stability of the product itself is equally uneventful — three updates in eleven days, none of them a hotfix for something the previous one broke, and no installation complaints beyond a general dislike of simMarket's installer that has nothing to do with this scenery.

Who should buy it

If you fly long-haul to India, or you fly Indian domestic routes: buy it. There is no competition — this is the only Delhi that reflects the airport as it currently stands, in either simulator, and the terminals, interiors and night lighting are good. Whatever its faults on the periphery, the alternative is default scenery at India's busiest airport.

If you fly VATSIM or IVAO events into Delhi: buy it, and set your expectations about ground handling. Without a GSX profile you will need to park manually at some stands, because GSX's automatic placement puts aircraft inside the terminal.

If you have a connection to Delhi — you have flown through it, you have family there: buy it. The one reviewer in the record who has actually been there recently says the terminals are modelled as he remembers them. That is the test this scenery passes most convincingly.

If you judge sceneries on peripheral detail — cargo areas, wear on the taxiways, clutter in the corners of the field: wait. Two independent reviewers have identified exactly that as the weak point, the developer has said it is being addressed in the next update or two, and you will be happier buying in a month than arguing with yourself now.

If you already own FeelThere's VIDP and only fly MSFS 2020: the upgrade case is real but not urgent. FeelThere's does not reflect the current layout, which is the whole point of this one — but at €19.99 for the same airport twice, wait for the peripheral-detail updates first.

If you were hoping for a Pyreegue or MK Studios standard at this price: do not buy it. LukG went in knowing not to expect that and was content; several others were not, and said so. This is a first scenery from a solo developer and it reads like one — very good in the middle, thin at the edges.

Where it stands today

Sixteen days is not long enough to judge a scenery, and this one is moving fast enough that anything written about it has a short shelf life. Three updates have already landed, all of them addressing things the community raised in public, and the developer says the peripheral areas are next.

What can be said now is that the shape of the product is clear and slightly surprising. DhruvSim set out in March to prioritise airside realism over interiors, and delivered an airport whose interiors and terminal modelling draw praise from people who dislike the rest of it, and whose airside outskirts are the single thing every critic names. The middle of this airport is very good. The edges are where a first-time developer ran out of road, which is exactly where you would expect it to happen and exactly where a buyer on final approach will notice.

The store numbers are too small to carry weight and should be read as such: six reviews on simMarket showing a flat 5 against a spread of five five-star and one three-star, which averages 4.67; six on flightsim.to averaging 4.8. Twelve reviews is a launch week, not a verdict.

Our 3.8 is provisional and it is a wide spread — 4.6 for performance against 3.2 for ground detail and clutter. If the promised peripheral work lands and a GSX profile appears, this becomes a straightforward recommendation at this price and we will revisit it. Until then, Delhi finally exists properly in Microsoft Flight Simulator, built by one person who answers his own reviews, and that is worth more than the half-point we are holding back.