Here’s our list of the best VR flight games, covering simulators and arcade experiences on Quest 2 and beyond.
Everyone agrees that flight games work well in VR. Movement is much more immersive in a cockpit as you don’t need to feel your legs carrying you forward, and you can pretty accurately reflect a plane’s actual controls using a HOTAS or even just a basic gamepad. And, sure enough, we’ve seen some excellent flight-based games for the platform over the past few years.
This list of the best VR flight games picks from across Meta Quest 2, PSVR, and PC VR and includes both simulation and arcade titles. With that in mind, make sure you know what you’re looking for when you pick any of these games up. You’ll be able to find them on the Quest, PSVR, or Steam stores. Looking for a general list of the best VR games out there? Check out some of our rundowns.
Now, let’s dig in!
Best VR Flight Games
Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown (PSVR)
Were this to be a fully fleshed-out experience it would undoubtedly be one of the best VR games going, let alone the best VR flight games. As it stands the handful of hours available in this PSVR-exclusive spin-off campaign are a tantalizing taste of cinematic VR flight action. Prepare to be rattled by explosions and shaken by a torrent of machine-gun fire as you cut through the skies. With full HOTAS support included, it’s very possible to completely lose yourself in this captivating theater of war. A bite-sized treat that’s not to be missed.
Microsoft Flight Simulator (PC VR)
It’ll take a mighty machine to run it but, if you’ve got the hardware, you simply won’t find a more in-depth, immersive, and visually astonishing VR flight experience than the monumental Microsoft Flight Simulator. With a near-photorealistic world to soar across and completely authentic flying mechanics, this is the simmer’s ultimate dream. It isn’t an easy experience to get into and it wasn’t designed in VR first, so there are a lot of hoops to jump through, but for many people, it doesn’t get any better than this one.
Ultrawings 2 (Quest, PC VR to come)
The original Ultrawings laid the foundations for a fun set of flying missions, but the sequel goes above and beyond with an enormous amount of content and five aircraft that all feel unique. A welcome amount of objective variety keeps things fresh as you fly through courses, shoot down targets and, for the first time, engage in aerial dogfights. The virtual joystick controls take some getting used to, but once you do then Ultrawings 2 becomes a truly immersive experience that’s hard to put down.
Star Wars: Squadrons (PSVR, PC VR)
This just made too much sense not to happen at some point. A modernized Star Wars flight combat game in which you could pilot iconic ships from both the Empire and Rebel Alliance? Why wouldn’t that have VR support? And, indeed, Squadrons is a much, much better experience with a headset on, letting you feel like you’re sitting in the cockpit of an X-Wing or TIE Fighter. Plus a full single-player campaign and multiplayer modes mean this will cater to multiple preferences.
Warplanes: WW1 Fighters (Quest, PC VR)
A game that proved so popular on App Lab that it was one of the first to make the jump from Oculus App Lab over to the full Quest store. Warplanes has a huge number of aircraft, missions, and play styles, from single-player campaigns to fully co-op experiences in which players can even fight in the same planes. With a range of control styles to suit your needs, Warplanes is one of the richest and overall best VR flight games you can play today.
And that was our list of the best VR flight games! Do you agree with our picks? Let us know in the comments below.
