I never knew there are highly realistic drone simulators (eg physics & flight models, etc).

I feel like this could be GREAT in MSFS when paired with appropriately detailed sceneries.

I usually do low level exploring in the Taogs OH-6, but it’s hard to fit it through most doors 😂

Seems like Career mode could open some really interesting scenarios, as well.

You can do all of that with MSFS's standard drone camera! 😄

Joking apart though, it was a good video with good visuals but I can't see what makes that specifically a drone simulation rather than just a 1st person camera moving around? Maybe I'm missing something!

I used to fly freestyle drones and I used to really enjoy practicing on a mod I had for GTA V purely because the scenery was so varied and detailed. Los Santos is massive!

3 hours ago, JYW said:

You can do all of that with MSFS's standard drone camera! 😄

Joking apart though, it was a good video with good visuals but I can't see what makes that specifically a drone simulation rather than just a 1st person camera moving around? Maybe I'm missing something!

Oh yeah! And I did consider that. 🤙

But what piques my interest is that some of these things are bringing high fidelity physics into the experience. And from the limited reading I’ve done, this is indeed how more and more IRL com/mil drone operators are being trained. It seems like it’s not nearly as automagic as we might believe…?

I.e., just as we can simulate flying IRL aircraft, we can also simulate flying IRL drones.

In a similar (and also interesting) vein, there’s an in-sim RC Aircraft addon available from vSkyLabs. When I first saw it, I was like…”WHY???”

But this kinda gelled it for me:

I’ve seen that some of those RC aircraft cost as much as a motorcycle or car! 😮!

If familiar with IRL RC aircraft, you can see that’s actually what’s being simulated (ie, not just a scaled down big plane):

So as an ADHD lover of anything that flies, the FPV Drone sim for IRL Drone training has similarly caught my eye as a form of flight sim that’s outside the norm.

Edited August 2Aug 2 by UrgentSiesta

2 hours ago, FPVSteve said:

I used to fly freestyle drones and I used to really enjoy practicing on a mod I had for GTA V purely because the scenery was so varied and detailed. Los Santos is massive!

Ha - that’s AMAZING! 😂

So you used it to practice for IRL droning?

Can pretty much use the developer cam in DevMode in a similar fashion

7 hours ago, UrgentSiesta said:

Ha - that’s AMAZING! 😂

So you used it to practice for IRL droning?

Yep, still got all of my kit - however I much prefer flying fixed wings, it's way more relaxing and far less expensive if (when) you crash 😅 Some of the guys flying freestyle have the reflexes of a cat, I was never that good 😆

17 hours ago, FPVSteve said:

Yep, still got all of my kit - however I much prefer flying fixed wings, it's way more relaxing and far less expensive if (when) you crash 😅 Some of the guys flying freestyle have the reflexes of a cat, I was never that good 😆

Okay good - so I’m not crazy! 😎

OK here's a better thread for my questions lol paging @blueshark747

I'm definitely curious about FPV, I've pretty much accepted the fact that I'll never fly a real plane or helicopter due to the costs involved, but drones and RC are more in the realm of affordability. The FPV helicopter video @FPVSteve posted in the other thread where the operator was using a flight stick and collective really opened my eyes up to the possibilities. One thing that turned my off about FPV originally was the controls - I don't care for the Xbox/PS style handheld thumbs for flying method, but seeing the flight stick connected and working was really cool.

Another thing I did not initially appreciate about RC and drones was how hard it is to see them from the ground, and therefore how hard it can be to fly them traditionally without FPV goggles. I imagine the FPV goggles are a big game changer.

Would you guys say that FPV flying is more immersive than VR flying? On the one hand, the FPV drone is really out there physically, affected by real wind, so flying should feel more realistic? But its not a real plane/helo so you are not simulating engine temp/torque/fuel etc, to me that's an argument for less immersion? Maybe its a question of - do you like the actual feeling of flying part of flight sim, or do you flight sim to try and get 1:1 with the real thing? Gauges, navigation equipment, radios, all absent from FPV flying - do you guys just fly up and do laps, patterns, 8s on pylons? Is there such a thing as flight planning for FPV drones?

Some other random q's - night vision? I imagine that would be fun and challenging to fly at night. What do you think would be the cheapest FPV entry kit while still getting the most bang for your buck?

As for the original video on the first post - this game is only 15$ seems like a steal, did you try the full version @UrgentSiesta ?
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1682970/Uncrashed__FPV_Drone_Simulator/

I didn't post that video it was someone else :)

There's honestly so many paths you can take it would be impossible to cover on a forum post but some of the best channels for learning are:

https://www.youtube.com/@CurryKitten/videos

https://www.youtube.com/@painless360

https://www.youtube.com/@Xjet/videos (although he is currently embroiled in arguments with his local council lol) - he has some superb older videos from explaining how FPV actually works (antennas / transmitter / receivers etc and the theory behind it) to making very cheap "backpack" style FPV systems that you can simply velcro onto an aircraft and get flying - plus making your own aircraft out of hobby foam for pennies (plus electronics of course).

Edited August 5Aug 5 by FPVSteve

I forgot to add there's www.diyfpv.com which has a "builder" where you can source all of the parts you might need to get started. Great community.

4 hours ago, Kristofski said:

OK here's a better thread for my questions lol paging @blueshark747

I'm definitely curious about FPV, I've pretty much accepted the fact that I'll never fly a real plane or helicopter due to the costs involved, but drones and RC are more in the realm of affordability. The FPV helicopter video @FPVSteve posted in the other thread where the operator was using a flight stick and collective really opened my eyes up to the possibilities. One thing that turned my off about FPV originally was the controls - I don't care for the Xbox/PS style handheld thumbs for flying method, but seeing the flight stick connected and working was really cool.

Another thing I did not initially appreciate about RC and drones was how hard it is to see them from the ground, and therefore how hard it can be to fly them traditionally without FPV goggles. I imagine the FPV goggles are a big game changer.

Would you guys say that FPV flying is more immersive than VR flying? On the one hand, the FPV drone is really out there physically, affected by real wind, so flying should feel more realistic? But its not a real plane/helo so you are not simulating engine temp/torque/fuel etc, to me that's an argument for less immersion? Maybe its a question of - do you like the actual feeling of flying part of flight sim, or do you flight sim to try and get 1:1 with the real thing? Gauges, navigation equipment, radios, all absent from FPV flying - do you guys just fly up and do laps, patterns, 8s on pylons? Is there such a thing as flight planning for FPV drones?

Some other random q's - night vision? I imagine that would be fun and challenging to fly at night. What do you think would be the cheapest FPV entry kit while still getting the most bang for your buck?

As for the original video on the first post - this game is only 15$ seems like a steal, did you try the full version @UrgentSiesta ?
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1682970/Uncrashed__FPV_Drone_Simulator/

I’ve only just begun looking into this. 🙂

Unfortunately for me, it seems like an entirely separate game is necessary and I’m honestly not sure yet if I’m willing to do that.

It’s more just a case of mental “space” in terms of already having multiple flight sims and a couple other games.

But, it’s definitely maintaining my attention, so we’ll see 😎