Best PC FPV Simulator // WE TRIED THEM ALL

[@feelfreefpv]

Just buy all the ones that are often mentioned. The price is nothing compared to what you pay for spare parts anyway.

[@mooommo14]

Yup. They're all great honestly. I play DRL, liftoff, and velocidrone regularly. More for the map variety than anything.

[@hazonku]

100% agree. I have Orqa, DRL, AI Drone Sim, Uncrashed, Velocidrone, Tiny Whoop Go, and both Liftoff games. Liftoff is definitely my favorite for the physics, Velocidrone is great for racing, and Uncrashed is super pretty with decent enough physics for freestyle. Uncrashed is definitely the new kid on the block & the best looking and has me interested to see what it'll be like in a year. Tiny Whoop Go was the first one I picked up & it's a legit. Haven't fired up Liftoff Micros yet but Tiny Whoop Go will definitely be what I'm comparing it to.

[@visualdosage234]

@@hazonku liftoff micro drones is amazing, they really feel like tinywhoops and the maps look really realistic and detailed. i do hope theres gonna be more maps or workshop support for user created maps.

[@lugusstudios1328]

@@visualdosage234 more content is in the works, and the track builder is planned for sure! :D

[@RadekMacha]

Yeah man, totally. Like I probably spent more on hardware shipping than the simulators, and I'm just a noob. The price you pay for sims is nothing compared to the rest of the kit you have to get. I just bought Liftoff and DRL and practiced for like 20h+ each before even attempting to fly a real quad. One thing to mention though is that if you get a lot of stick-time behind the simulator, it ramps up your expectations. Then it can be a huge let-down once you get to the real deal you gotta travel at least an hour for and hit a weird problem like your VTX signal being borked.

[@JoshuaBardwell]

Two sims that need to be acknowledged are Liftoff: Micro Drones, which shows a lot of promise but is still in Early Access and can't really hold its own yet; and DCL sim, which is okay in a lot of ways, but at a price of $30 is just too expensive to recommend. Also, Liftoff (the original) is the only one that has Linux native support. Honorable mention goes to Accro, which has decent physics, but only a single level which is some weird procedurally-generated islands which we don't feel are very fun to freestyle around. We tried several others which didn't make the cut because they had technical issues, or because development has pretty much died.

[@calisti9308]

I enjoy Uncrashed very much.

[@jeramboo8511]

Uncrashed and velocidrone are my favorite

[@infa008]

Free rider also works on your android phone if you have micro USB to usbc

[@ecoaventurasdelistmo]

and which one was the best physics one?

[@cedricgrandseigne]

@@ecoaventurasdelistmo I have tested every single one of them, and FPV Air 2 remains the best in terms of sim engine: the graphics aren't top, but that's not important to my eyes. DCL is the only sim I don't regret putting money in, if compared to DRL(the worst sim...), Liftoff (drones can't be tuned not to drift), velocydrones.

[@TrueSecretpolitics]

Hi Joshua, I just started FPV because of you ! Spent about 100 hours in the sim before flying because YOU ! Shout out to you !!

[@ChainsawFPV]

Velocidrone is my favorite for racing. Uncrashed, with their outstanding graphics, gets my vote for freestyle flippy floppy cruizen around. Of course Tiny Whoop Go was my fav whoop but now have been doing that on Velocidrone as well. I started on FPV Freerider because it was free. The rest of them I have tried and just did not like for one reason or another.

[@racerat]

Totally agree. The uncrashed tracks are pretty dull at the moment, but will hopefully improve and the drift cars in the untracked container port are excellent. Love the Velocidrone racing and community though. Anyone who flies planes or Helis should have Heli-X as well. I do also really like the new scenes in Velocidrone for freestyle.

[@fpv_boi]

One huge advantage that Liftoff has since today's 1.4.0 update is the implementation of Actual rates. The only reason I fly with Betaflight rates on my real quad instead of Actual rates is that the sim always feels a bit different even if I try to match the Betaflight and Actual rate curves as much as possible. The addition of Actual rates definetly puts it on top of any of the other sims in my opinion.

[@vicewize]

Truth

[@oddeman3489]

Thank you Bardwell and Blunty for the year going to its end, looking forward to the next. and happy new year to everybody.

[@cinewhoop]

The way Blunty says "Fairly popular video game where you go out and do various crimes and activities..." at 13:36 makes it sound like a nice family friendly game lmao.

[@licensetodrive9930]

Many years ago I used FPV Freerider to learn the muscle memory of acro mode, it really worked, I even got an Android version so I can plug my TX into my phone to sim fly, but after learning acro the sim just didn't have the same kind of feel anymore, prefer to fly the real thing, but I probably do need to go back and learn some of the tricks all the kids these days are doing ;)

[@kurtzFPV]

Joshua's Playlist training acro with FPV Freerider that he did 5 or 6 years ago helped me a lot when I learned just over a year ago. I still like playing it once in a while even though I have most of the others as well.

[@ufopilotFPV]

I still use both versions of freerider. The first one has a random track generator which is priceless and the reloaded version has a full level/track editor to build your own. Both versions run perfectly on my phone.

[@verdi6092]

Yup agree.. n u can practice anywhere anytime with ur android

[@Keltrunner]

This has been one of the most helpful videos ever. I've felt I should log more sim hours. And this was the precise information I was looking for in regards to what sims are good for respective activities. I'm really keen on trying Velocidrone now, specifically for the game mod, as I'm a fan of gamification in order to learn. Keep up the excellent work Guys!

[@racerat]

Velocidrone has been a game changer in my flying.

[@stasgershkovich360]

DRL is the first simulator I have ever used that's how I learned to fly! But then after trying out the real world and after kinda putting this hobby to the side for a while I decided to go back to the simulators to dust my skill off alittle and DRL has this spacey feel to it... like the drone is hovering too much in air when you at 0 throttle... Physicwise it feels like Velocidrone have a better physics but it's seems boring for me.. (I never did the multiplayer so that's important to mention) I gues i'll try the Uncrashed that looks interesting Thank you for the info great video as always!

[@Przemo-c]

For me it's AI DroneSim all the way. The environments could use some work and I'm not into racing/multiplayer. But It's the one that clicked with me flying like my real quads. And the difference in physics department is rather big to the biggest players like liftoff and velocidrone. Works well for my 3 5 and 7 inch quads. Haven't tried whoops on it. But I barely launch any other drone "sim".

[@MaxRovensky]

Velocidrone is the least susceptible to moon gravity issue and DRL is the most fun. I usually recommend Velocidrone for learning and DRL for entertainment

[@bendixtrinity]

havent tried velocidrone yet. i have liftoff and DRL.. which has the best physics for you?

[@PeterPetermann]

i'll take liftoffs physics over uncrasheds flashy graphics any day

[@afkcnd2395]

Liftoffs physics are awefull, back then it was good but not nowadays. For example if you increase your speed the collision bouncing is increased even if go at the exact same speed, even if you are horizontally iddle Confirmation bias, that's what you're experiencing

[@FreshPanda97]

@@afkcnd2395 so what is the best for freestyle in your opinion?

[@dangerous8333]

@@afkcnd2395 I disagree... It's as simple as this... The drone I built in liftoff performs exactly as my Roma F5 does in real life. That's all the proof I need.

[@furhamsnikta6757]

@@dangerous8333 thats not much proof physics is not if your drone in game flys like the one in real life

[@furhamsnikta6757]

@@dangerous8333 you need a bit more proof than that

[@redogg2749]

LIFTOFF will always be my personal fav. JB's House is a bonus.!"

[@nigelolympia]

When your house makes it into a game, you've made it. That's so rad.

[@MASTERSAIS]

Just wondering if drones just magically appear every time they're playing in a simulator in your backyard

[@nijon438]

The ending was the best. You're a genuine guy.

[@xymaryai8283]

i was very curious if you were gonna mention mods for other games, and you included GTA but i feel like the 2 Minecraft mods are very worth trying, even if you think the graphics aren't good enough. the ability to super intuitively build literally anything to fly around is too great to pass on, so you should 100% try it if you have Minecraft, which is way more likely than having GTA5.

[@xymaryai8283]

you can keep flying for hundreds of kilometers and get so much variety with hills and plateaus, trees and covered forests, jungles and temples, with continuously generating variations. go for amplified terrain and you can get even more insane formations to matty flip, trippy spin or race through and around.

[@TheSpiritOverSky]

Ok which mod?

[@dangerous8333]

Most people doing this don't care about graphics or anything that you're talking about. They just want to achieve muscle memory for when they do it in real life.

[@sebby_d_fpv]

Thanks! you should do a yearly follow-up to that video with the new simulators that came out.

[@caputo116]

I have literally been trying to figure this out ALL DAY LONG! Cant wait to finish this video, thanks!!

[@gokartmozart9430]

You guys forgot about consoles! Well for those who care ; DCL (not drl) is my preference on PS4. It supports using a proper Tx. Tracks are fun and some good freestyle environments. Physics are good but a lil floaty. Liftoff on PS4 also has Tx support now so it’s actually worth playing now too

[@dangerous8333]

Because most people into FPV have computers. Does betaflight run on consoles?

[@Fabs0816]

giving huge credits to both of you guys. i am new to FPV and your vids are helping out a ton, even before even buying the first piece of equipment (which makes most sense, obviously) Save some money and spend it on affiliates or patreon to you.

[@rocheuro]

I was waiting for comparison and wrapup on drone sims like this! thanks Joshua

[@hdryden7652]

I'm just now going to get into freestyle with a drone and this was a very informative video. What really made it worthwhile though was the song at the end! LoL

[@Lex1uth3r]

Got uncrashed and really like it, mainly to practice chasing cars since I've been shooting drifting for over 10 years and just got into flying last year. Also got FPV.Skydive which has also helped but the graphics aren't as good. Latest purchase, mainly due to its big update and having a gaming pc that can handle it, is TRYP and the UE5 graphics are just insane. Hard to go back to the others after getting spoiled by it.

[@MatthewRayFlicks]

This is the best SIM review/roundup I've ever seen. Also, I agree with all of it. I use all of the sims and try to get as diverse of a flying experience, but you guys did an excellent job describing why.

[@imothy]

also you forgot to mention, TW-GO has seasonal competitions hosted by Jesse P. and it gets super competitive and fun. Its all run through discord voice chat.

[@dontecaul8890]

Purchased most of these Velocidrone just feels so much better. DRL physics are too tailored to 7inch when flying a 5 inch with the same beta flight settings it floats so much! So much more throttle needed to power out of corners. Finally flew my GEPRC Mk5 build and it was spot on to Velocidrone.

[@RGMGFitness]

Just got done playing UNCRASHED (The Dock map) this weekend where you chase “drift cars” 🚗 around…..what a blast! Highly recommend! 👍👍

[@stevesmcfpv2614]

Awesome contend guys. All you need to know /or wanna know about sims. In one video. I fly Liftoff and Fpvskydive. Gotta try the others thoa. Thanks 😊

[@Real_Game]

This is EXACTLY the video I was looking for!!!😂❤️❤️❤️Thanks!😉😉😉😁😁😁 (Left a Sub!)

[@sergentum]

My tip for the very beginning - gta v + drone mod. It gives huge, beautiful, alive map to explore and learn very basics of acro mode. I can't fly on those small maps for a long time time because it's super-boring. You can find videos on youtube to check how cool that is. About accuracy - yes it might be not the best, but there a lot of settings so if you know how it actually feels - you can set it up more or less correct.

[@tq64to4]

Not surprised you guys did a way better job than I did coming up with this list 😂 but I also am not surprised I had about the same option y’all did on some

[@falconaz]

Just watched video. Thank you Gents! Long ago used to run Freerider. Wasn't really aware what was out there. Downloaded Velocidrone and it blew my mind. This is a game changer sim and its going to take my flying up a notch. Many thanks for bringing this video and info on sims out!!

[@alexdefelice2448]

Great roundup. Personally I think AIDroneSim is vastly underrated. Sure it's missing a lot of the features the other ones have, but IMO that flight feel is head and shoulders above the rest. It feels like the real thing.

[@Do..on..astic_s]

Thanks for the Info! F.Y.I -> The Drone Racing League Simulator at STEAM is -50% off until 13 juli 2023 4,09€

[@MrVasmikey]

You two rock! Thx so much for doing the research. This is great value to us all.

[@NickMaovich]

My personal favorites are: 1. Liftoff/DRL/Uncrashed. All good, all solid. 2. DCL/Liftoff: MicroDrones 3.TRYP Don't have velocidrone because they are not on Steam lmao

[@ARagedTaco]

Have you tried the GtaV fpv redux

[@schtinerbock4570]

I use liftoff via steam in a somewhat crummy laptop. It has integrated graphics instead of a graphics card. At first I thought it wouldn’t run but I just turned down the screen resolution a bit and then it suddenly worked 100%. My recommendation is if you wanna try a sim but are unsure of your computer then just get the sim. It’ll probably work. If it doesn’t then you now have a $20 game that will be there for you till you get a better PC. It’s actually not a loss.

[@djbis]

this video was worth it just for the EdgeTX fix alone. Thank you guys!

[@marcoreviews]

Happy 2022!!! Thanks for your epic content!!

[@lolipopsandfancypants7257]

Liftoff offers the unique ability to virtually creep on JB. Fly around his yard, peek in his windows,... without getting shot or arrested.

[@scottdrummond1190]

Thanks so much. i work so much. needed more drone time flying.

[@hspeed3656]

Great stuff, thanks. from a plane guy, just need to find a video similar to this for plane Sim's but love your channel and all you share. Currently using Phoenix. I know mostly Quad stuff here. LOL. Happy New Year to all.

[@a.thiren2459]

Thanks for this review! This is need to know for pilots in weather-exposed areas.

[@hazonku]

I appreciate you guys going through all of these.

[@scottjackson1812]

Great video and totally awesome of you both to take time to give us this content and your opinions. Happy New Year to you both.

[@willsintheair]

I personally love the maps on the DCL sim because they feel alive and have things to chase. DCL is the best cinematic-style practice, IMO.

[@deadringerfpv6412]

Dcl is my favorite racer

[@MurdersFPV]

Great work you guys. I've been toying with the idea of making a video to point new pilots to who always ask which SIM they should try. This is perfect and I absolutely agree with everything you guys said about these options. 💯

[@kwcnasa]

This is a good fpv sim software introduction video.

[@knowyourjoe8826]

Thanks for sharing this!

[@MCsCreations]

Awesome list, guys! Thanks! 😃 Happy new year! And stay safe there with your families! 🖖😊

[@baggszilla]

Thanks guys I'm going to try these other SIMs. Happy New Year!

[@duckcluckcluck1384]

i dont even ever owned an fpv but i still love this channel

[@absoloodle37]

Kudos for getting some exercise outside, Joshua. Looking fit, brother! 👍

[@adamvaughn2648]

New to FPV, got DRL sim and learned all the beginner onboarding lessons fast, however jumping up to intermediate there isn't as much guidance and its a much larger learning curve without the elevation lock or stability control on.

[@user-ny6sm7eg1z]

I downloaded them all for free, uncrashed is the best

[@FiorixF1]

Other less known simulators which deserve to be tried are FlowState (extremely realistic for racing and free on Steam, but it is still quite basic) and Real Drone Simulator, another free sim by Hungarian developers.

[@WornUp]

I love Flowstate, looks like analog feed and very realistic "dirty prop" feel.!

[@WornUp]

Good name too 🤣

[@krystoffpv9328]

Happy New year and happy Flying . Thanks for all the great content

[@giangulli]

Thanks heaps for this vid! I both learnt something new as well as cemented my love for velocidrone :)

[@GerritADHS]

It would be amazing if you could do a roundup part II for MacOS ❤️

[@shearfury147]

love you blunty and bardwell. happy new year

[@Ripen3]

Construction Site in FPV Skydive is awesome, beginners should give it a go!

[@Trust.theWord]

Thanks Joshua! Appreciate your videos. Do you happen to know which of the simulators supports fixed wing flyers?

[@JoshuaBardwell]

That would be a totally different group of programs like RealFlight.

[@Trust.theWord]

@@JoshuaBardwell Thanks!

[@bama3dr608]

Great wrap up guys. Nice work!

[@JorgeJimenez2020]

Good roundup, thanks for all that info!

[@USSRxespectro]

Great work Joshua! Happy New Year!

[@davincimachen5517]

I like that liftoff: drone racing on PS4, I'll play that in-between a downed drone and getting a new drone lol

[@justainchoe6141]

9:13 love the comparison. I wonder what percentage of your audience will understand the comparison to cdrom game graphics.

[@raymondblanchard2213]

Flying outside Joshua's house, classic. They forgot to include you standing in your kossack : )

[@ImperialArmour]

That's great and here are a bunch of positive words, good, great, relevant, happy, amazing, perfect video that I need to decide on a sim. I actually bought 2 on this list.

[@SXSFURY]

Joshua Bardwell. You should point out that fpv freerider can be download on your phone and you can still use your drone controller to fly.

[@AndrewB_NNA]

I've been playing the DCL game because it came ""free"" with the new PS+ and have loads of fun. I'm really glad I decided to try it. Thinking about getting a real drone now. You can only use the PS controller for that version though obviously.

[@someoneonly]

I think its worth noting that liftoff and drl sim both have sales at time which drops the cost further unlike velocidrone

[@droneboyswales8605]

Fpv freerider is awesome for mobile i use a bluetooth controller with modified sticks (just did it yesterday) i still suck balls but atleast im crashing on q sim lol. DRL Sim is really good too i got it for 4.79 on sale on PS5, obviously you have to use your ps5 controller but it doesnt take long to get used to it (Fyi the DRL Sim crashes on PS5 if you try to build a quad, ive reported it to the devs already and theyve forwarded the info to their dev team, its not end of world but worth notingif youre gonna buy it on console.) Cheers for the list guys, I'm buying a decent flight controller so I can learn properly on my pc.

[@papapun]

just wanted to point out that freerider sim lets you setup specs for your drone as well. not as robust as the ai drone sim, but you can at least dial in the floatiness of your quad if you have any experience with it. Also something you glossed over in the freerider recharged was that it offers a level builder as well as the ability to import other peoples maps. this helps keep things fresh or allows you to build specific things you want to get good at in freestyle.

[@sierpus]

What about Tryp FPV? This looks awesome but i wonder how physics compares to e.g. liftoff

[@YuriAchermann]

It was released after the video... I've seen some bad reviews on the physics, but for the graphics I want to try it out one day

[@justadude8716]

Huh, view of matlab but stayed for the fun. Now I'm curios about drone fpv racing!

[@strikerFPV]

Liftoff still has the most realistic feel to me. All the other sims feel off. I can't but a point on it but only in Liftoff the quads behave correctly with 0 throttle applied. Also the multiplayer is really nice and it's fun to fly with others.

[@olafschermann1592]

Great comparison! Thank you!

[@obscure2854]

Thank you, this is really helpful! Saved me a lot of time.

[@MontyX-21]

Take a look at uncrashed‘s new updates. They reworked the whole interface and added Multiplayer.

[@kerwinfernandes9583]

Thank you for this video. Compliments of the season, God bless you and your families 🙂🙏🏼❤️

[@derqatarzan4207]

Tryp Fpv came out not long ago, gotta admit, it's my fav so far. We can chase things! :D

[@camtron0]

Thanks for the tip for edge tx! I will install this

[@davideitner7164]

Hey Josh, I love what you do and all the knowledge you share and enjoy watching all your videos. Ive been debating this for a few weeks personally what backpack do you actually like better ? I’m really torn between the torvol Pitstop pro and the iflight quad backpack. Would love a response but don’t expect one haha since your practically famous. Thank you for all you do

[@JoshuaBardwell]

I use the iFlight as my daily now.

[@davideitner7164]

@@JoshuaBardwell awesome thank you for the response :) I’ll give it a shot

[@hypnosfpv]

I made it in the video :D flying in liftoff with JB and Blunty.

[@paulbehrens5842]

Great video guys. Very helpful.

[@Llegando_Tarde]

Out of the sims I own here is my best to worst Drl, velocidrone, uncrashed, liftoff. But I do agree the drl racer 4 is clunky and I dont fly tournaments because they make you use it.

[@JAfonsoNunesMartins10]

How is liftoff worse than DRL? I always heard that DRL was very floaty with the quads

[@raymondblanchard2213]

Might be fun to have inside of your house course as well, if contained all floors. Just make sure dogs are outside before sim can start :) But maybe lots of prep before mapping for vid, or use your footage from woops. I've seen 3 big layouts of pilots flying in their 3 story houses, cool.

[@jeff.pitts.]

Bookmarks for my future reference: 5:06 - freestyle sim to try

[@brennanlarnder7692]

I love that it'sblunty is in your videos!

[@akapoop06]

analytics comment bc jb is an awesome guy.

[@ominousred]

This has been most helpful. Thanks!

[@marc_frank]

i have freerider on my phone then i moved to drl, it's amazing and after just ~300h i felt quite competent

[@flipugotthis]

Thx a lut! What about DCL? Helps me a lot getting into fpv from my xbox tho. I know, the real struggle u will have is getting a feeling for a real radio. Becourse xbox controllers got their sticks centered. But the next step was buying a real radio, buying dcl for pc, getting comfortable with it and bought a real drone to rip the real world. My personal favorit is uncrashed for freestyle

[@Bruno-cb5gk]

One more that is fun but not the most realistic is Worlds Adrift Island Creator, SyncFPV is one of the devs and he added an FPV mode. You can make some cool environments in it.

[@kritikhabib4887]

That RAP at the end of the video 😂😂😂😂

[@wrstew1272]

Analytics! The bane of creators!!!

[@misterascher8758]

thanks for all the links and timestamps. nice👍