FPV drone simulator is a software that simulates flight controllers and drones, allowing users to simulate the flying experience of drones in a virtual environment, thus helping drone enthusiasts to practice their flying skills, test different controller settings, evaluate aircraft performance and test flight sites, etc.
The following are some popular FPV drone simulator:
- DRL (Drone Racing League) Simulator
- Liftoff
- Velocidrone
- FPV Freerider
- RealFlight 9
- Phoenix RC Simulator
- AeroSIM RC
- Uncrashed
- Real Drone Simulator
Most of these simulators offer different flight scenarios and vehicles, allowing users to choose different vehicles and scenarios to better practice and experience drone flight.
The following are the Pros and disadvantages of common FPV drone simulator:
DRL (Drone Racing League) Simulator:
- Pros: DRL is a racing-based FPV drone simulator with a high-quality graphics and physics simulation engine that offers a wide selection of flight scenarios and drones, allowing users to practice and compete in a variety of flights. drl also offers multiplayer online games that allow users to compete with others.
- Cons: Requires a high performance computer and may run slowly for users with lower computer performance. drl also requires a fee to unlock all features.
Liftoff:
- Pros: Liftoff is a realistic flight experience based FPV drone simulator with a realistic physics simulation engine and high quality graphics, offering a wide selection of aircraft and scenarios, as well as online multiplayer and a custom scenario editor, allowing users to have a more diverse flight experience and practice.
- Cons: Liftoff requires a high-performance computer to ensure smooth operation, and may not work properly for users with low computer performance. Also, Liftoff requires a certain fee to unlock all features.
Velocidrone:
- Pros: Velocidrone is a stable and feature-rich FPV drone simulator with a realistic physics simulation engine and high-quality graphics, offering a wide selection of aircraft and scenarios, as well as online multiplayer games that allow users to have a more diverse flight experience and practice.
- Cons: Velocidrone requires a high performance computer to ensure smooth operation, for users with low computer performance may not be able to run properly.
FPV Freerider:
- Pros: FPV Freerider is a stable, feature-rich FPV drone simulator that offers a wide selection of aircraft and scenarios, as well as online multiplayer games, allowing users to have a more diverse flight experience and practice. Meanwhile, FPV Freerider offers a free version for users to experience.
- Cons: Compared to other simulators, the graphics and physics simulation engine of FPV Freerider is relatively simple and may not be able to fully restore the real flight experience. Also, the free version has limited features and requires payment to unlock more features.
RealFlight 9.5:
- Pros: High-quality graphics and physics simulation engine, offers a wide selection of aircraft and scenarios, as well as online multiplayer games, allowing users to have a more diverse flight experience and practice. Supports flight simulation with a real remote control.
- Cons: Relative to other high-end simulators, it is more expensive and requires a fee to purchase. Requires a higher performance computer, and may not work properly for low performance computers.
Phoenix RC:
- Pros: Has a high quality graphics and physics simulation engine, offers a wide selection of aircraft and scenarios, and also offers multiplayer online play, allowing users to have a more diverse flight experience and practice. Supports flight simulation with real remote control.
- Cons: Relative to other high-end simulators, it is more expensive and requires a fee to purchase. It requires a high performance computer, and may not work properly for low performance computers. The interface is relatively simple, not as high quality graphics and scenes as other high-end simulators.
AeroSIM RC:
- Pros: High quality graphics and physics simulation engine, offers a wide selection of aircraft and scenarios, as well as online multiplayer games, allowing users to have a more diverse flight experience and practice. Supports flight simulation with real remote control.
- Cons: Relative to other high-end simulators, it is more expensive and requires a fee to purchase. It requires a high performance computer, and may not work properly for low performance computers. The interface is relatively simple, not as high quality graphics and scenes as other high-end simulators.
Real Drone Simulator：
- Pros:Realism is the key, therefore every drone and parts in the sim is based on existing products and using real life parameters to get the closest behaviours to the real.RDS has a unique physics calculator which can pre-calculate even existing custom drone setup’s flight characteristic and behaviours.We have used the brand new 3D scanning technologies for the very first time in the videogame industry to have scanned complete buildings, environments
- Cons: One man is developing RDS alone which makes development time longer than team based developments,This simulator’s development is still in progress and this next major update will be v0.8.2.0 so past Alpha but prior Beta development stage,The user interface is not very user friendly yet but it is usable after people is getting use to it
RDS is perfect for newcomers to FPV drones! Because it’s free to use.
Uncrashed：
- Pros:Uncrashed is a new FPV drone simulator that features an online multiplayer mode that allows players to race and fly with other players in the simulator, making it more interactive and fun. In addition, Uncrashed features high graphics quality and a smooth frame rate, providing players with a more realistic FPV flying experience.
- Cons: Uncrashed over other FPV simulators is its multiplayer online mode, which provides a richer gaming experience and challenge for those who want to compete with other players. But accordingly, due to the need for online connection, requires a more stable network environment, network bandwidth and latency also have certain requirements. In addition, its price is relatively high, also need to take into account the player’s financial ability. Therefore, the choice of whether to use Uncrashed should be based on personal needs and the actual situation to weigh and consider.
As a beginner in FPV, selecting a suitable simulator for training ：
Purpose and Needs：
First, you need to define your purpose and needs for using a simulator. If you want to improve your flying skills and competition, then a simulator with multiplayer online games and racing modes is more suitable. If you just want to do basic flight practice and testing, then a simulator with a good graphics and physics simulation engine is more suitable.
Features and performance：
Next, you need to consider the features and performance of the simulator. For example, whether the simulator has a wide selection of aircraft and scenarios, whether it offers multiplayer online games and racing modes, whether it has a good graphics and physics simulation engine, etc.
Operation and control：
Third, you need to consider the operation and control of the simulator. The operation and control of the simulator should be simple and easy to understand for newcomers to get started quickly. At the same time, the simulator’s controls should be similar to those of the actual flying machine, so that novices can better adapt to actual flying.
Cost and compatibility：
Finally, you need to consider the cost and compatibility of the simulator. Some simulators require a paid purchase or subscription, while others are free. Also, you need to make sure that the simulator will be compatible with your computer or controller.
In conclusion, as a newbie to FPV, when choosing a suitable simulator for training, you need to consider the simulator’s features, performance, operation, control, cost and compatibility to choose the best simulator for your needs and practical situation.
Here are the download links and prices for FPV drone simulator:
- DRL (Drone Racing League) Simulator – Steam platform download, free trial, full version for $9.99 https://store.steampowered.com/app/641780/The_Drone_Racing_League_Simulator/
- Liftoff – Steam download for $19.99 https://store.steampowered.com/app/410340/Liftoff_FPV_Drone_Racing/
- Velocidrone – Official site download, free trial, full version for $24.99 https://www.velocidrone.com/
- FPV Freerider – official website download, free trial, full version for $9.99 https://fpv-freerider.itch.io/fpv-freerider
- RealFlight 9 – official website download for $99.99 https://www.realflight.com/products/rf9
- Phoenix RC Simulator – official website download for $199.99 https://www.phoenixmodel.com/Phoenix_R_C_Pro_Flight_Simulator_5_0_Download_p/phoenixr5download.html
- AeroSIM RC – official website download for $99.95 https://www.aerosimrc.com/en/
- Uncrashed – Steam platform download, free trial, full version for $39.99 https://store.steampowered.com/app/1526190/Uncrashed/
- Real Drone Simulator https://www.realdronesimulator.com/downloads RDS is free