Both for drone enthusiasts and for those who would like to try them for the first time, the drone simulators are exciting, which are like 3D games programmed both to make driving tests of a quadcopter drone, and to get used to the commands before using the real one, so as not to destroy it with rash maneuvers. In this article we are going to discover some free and open source drone simulators for Windows PC, for Mac and Linux, very realistic, which can be used as flight simulators from PC and excellent both to learn how to drive real drones, even those that today you can now buy for a few tens of Euros also at the Supermarket or on Amazon, both to measure your flying skills with other players from all over the world.
All the best simulators also allow you to use the controller of the drone (although it will perhaps take an adapter) or the normal joypads of video games or even the keyboard and mouse.
READ ALSO: Free and realistic flight simulator to fly a plane on the computer
1) DRL Racing Simulator is the official simulator of the Drone Racing League and is the most advanced and most mature game of this series (for Windows and Mac)
Although currently in beta, the League of Drone Players could use it for the pre-qualification of the 2017 world championships.
DRL offers courses and allows you to compete in multiplayer with all the drone enthusiasts in the world, earning punt.
The outdoor maps are realistic, while the simulator becomes a very fun 3D game in the indoor mode, with races inside futuristic environments.
DRL Drone Racing Simulator is compatible with both console controls and the RC controller and also has a menu option for using keyboard controls.
2) Hotprops, a free simulator for Windows and Mac, is a beautiful 3D game that allows you to play the drone flight experience on your PC in the most realistic way possible, with advanced physics thanks to the use of the Unity plugin.
Hotprops offers fully adjustable parameters to most faithfully replicate the behavior of our drone (if we have one), with a decent explanation of all the options.
There are also courses to download so you can try out different scenarios to fly.
The simulation itself is superb, with realistic and fluid flight physics and excellent graphics, even with many maps to choose from.
We hope it will remain free even when it comes out of the beta.
3) Real Drone Simulator is a simulator for Windows, Mac and Linux, still in the pre alpha version, but which promises not only to remain free forever, but also further developments to try flying in a virtual reality and also in Google Earth.
Basically it is a game to have fun, to also play with the keyboard using a virtual drone, gaining points and coins (to improve the drone) every time you pass the various levels.
Each level has a different difficulty, depending on the size of the area and the wind.
You can play with the USB gamepad or even with the keyboard and mouse even if you need an extra hand.
In the future it could also open up to multiplayer game with online challenges among players around the world.
4) Heli-X Flight Simulator is, first of all, a helicopter simulator, but the free version also includes the possibility to drive a quadcopter drone, the DJI Phantom.
Heli-X offers a training scenario to test our skills, with missions and rewards, even if in a free version with only two airports and a single training course.
Those who want even more and are willing to pay some money can buy some of the professional drone simulator games such as:
- Drone Sim Pro (demo for Windows and Mac available)
- Realflight Drone
- Aerofly RC 7
- Liftoff
READ ALSO: Fly on Google Earth with the flight simulator, helicopter or paraglider
