New to drones and looking for an easy way to fly a drone? Or just got a drone but not confident enough in your piloting skills and want to practice how to fly a drone? you are in the right place.
The best way to practice how to fly a drone today is with a simulator.
Most drone simulators these days have graphics, physics, and mechanics that emulate the real-world flying experience, allowing you to develop the muscle memory that is important when flying a drone outdoors. .
When you think of simulators, some people think of complicated manned aircraft simulators, which can be quite frustrating for beginners. However, there are simulators that make it easy for beginners to get started.
So which drone simulator is best for beginners?
The best drone simulators for beginners include DRL Simulator, Crazy Games Drone Simulator, Zephyr, DroneSimPro and ORQA FPV SkyDive Simulator.
Continue reading for more details on these simulators and screenshots that give a glimpse of what these SIMs look like.
drone racing league
This is the simulator I started with and I think you will be hooked the moment you start playing. But why is it suitable for beginners?
If you’ve never flown a drone or seen one outside of YouTube videos, this simulator is designed with you in mind.
There is a Drone Flight Training section to learn the basic controls of the drone and use these controls to fly different loops.
The drone looks realistic and the environment you’re flying in looks natural enough to give you the confidence you need when flying outdoors.
Another reason I think starting with a DRL simulator is great is that you can use a wide range of controllers, from gamepads to customizable drone controllers like Taranis and Turnigy.
For successful drone flying, we recommend using a real drone controller instead of a gamepad with this simulator.
But don’t expect the simulator to run easily. After you learn the basics, the tests get harder and you can even choose the difficulty level.The only way to learn and stay on top of the game is to keep challenging yourself.
The selection of different scenes for flying also makes the simulator interesting. You can choose to fly over campgrounds, the US Air Force Cemetery, or the Gates of New York.
Also, if you don’t have a lot of money, this sim is great for under $10 on PC.
Besides? The DRL simulator is made by the same people as the Drone Racing League, and once you can successfully fly a drone in the simulator, he has a chance to race a real drone.
If you want to assess yourself before tryouts, you can also enter multiplayer tournaments and challenge the top pilots on the leaderboard.
Other features of this simulator include:
- A map editor for editing flying scenes.
- Physics section for testing new features.
- A community where you can interact with other players, buy and explore maps and drones made by other members.
Looking for the easiest way to learn how drone flight works? Go to your favorite browser and search for Crazy Games Drone Simulator. Or click the link in the title above.
After a few clicks, the drone will appear on your screen and you can start flying it with your keyboard. It’s very easy because you don’t need to connect a controller.
No need to adjust the controller. And you definitely don’t have to pay anything.
I came across this simulator while searching for free drone simulators and was surprised I had never heard of it.
Below is what it looks like:
1. Get a drone
2. Choose an environment
3. Start flight
When you join the game for the first time, you will receive 1,000 coins that can be used to purchase your first drone. Then collect more coins as you learn how to pilot the drone while flying. Collected coins can be used to purchase other drones within the simulator.
To fly a drone in the simulator you will need the following keys:
- W – Pitch forward.
- S – Pitch backwards
- A – roll left
- D – roll right
- J – Yaw left
- L – Yaw right
- I – rise
- J – get off
The biggest drawback of this simulator is that it’s a free simulator, so you have to deal with ads that keep popping up during your flight. However, you can always skip them and pick up where you left off.
zephyr simulator
Zephyr is another great drone simulator perfect for beginners. It takes a learning tools approach that takes players from beginner level to pro level within the simulator.
Institutions like RaD Labs and Cloud Community College use the simulator to teach students about drones.
The paid version has a platform for learners to practice flying and a platform for instructors to measure their students.
Zephyr does its best to emulate real drone flight. As a result, replicas of real drone models such as the Phantom 4, Inspire 2, Mavic Air 2, and Yuneec Typhoon are displayed within the simulator. You can also simulate weather conditions such as wind.
Below is what the list of drones currently looks like.
You can also fly in different scenarios, but the free version only gives you access to hills, gardens, and parking lots.
The graphics may not be as good as DRL and you may have to pay at least $15, but the real drone mechanics and free version are ideal options to start with.
Besides, the not-too-flashy graphics are easier to use on PC compared to detailed graphics like DRL.
drone sim pro
Priced at $10, DroneSimPro is a classic drone flight simulator that you can add to your simulator arsenal. We call it classic because it has been updated very little since it was released, but it still works.
By purchasing this simulator, you can fly 1 drone and 3 scenarios. But unlike the Zephyr simulator, where the scenarios are limited in size, DroneSimPro’s scenarios are vast and can be explored further within a single landscape.
But that’s it. After flying for a while, you might get bored quickly. However, I believe that each simulator offers a different experience, so you can always take a break and try another one.
The scenery available in this simulator is:
DroneSimPro says the best way to fly a drone is with a gamepad, but you can use a drone controller. Still, I haven’t tested it yet, so I can’t speak to how well it works.
ORQA FPV Skydive
Are you new to the FPV world? The ORQA FPV SkyDive is designed to help you learn the basics. However, while it is a beginner simulator for FPV pilots, even a simulator may be too complicated for pilots who have never flown a drone before.
Therefore, it is ideal to learn the basics of drone flight from simulators such as DRL or Zephyr, and then introduce FPV to ORQA FPV SkyDive once you are comfortable with it.
There are also training modules, so don’t worry if everything seems too difficult.
Similar to a real FPV drone, ORQA FPV simulation is fast, sometimes sensitive and the drone crashes frequently. This will prepare you for what to expect. It’s also almost entirely manual, and when you let go of the controller, the drone doesn’t hover, it mostly lands.
You can also adjust the joystick to suit your flying style and switch between different flight modes. This is essential for FPV flying.
Below is a sneak peek of what you can expect in the simulator.
Conclusion
Suppose you are passionate about flying drones and wondering how to get started. If so, the simulators mentioned in this post are beginner-friendly, affordable, and feature-rich enough to help you fly your drone well.
You can also get them all and rotate them to enjoy and challenge different scenery.
