Beep, beep, beep! And we're off. I'm lifted into the air, vertically at first, then levelling off as a huge forward thrust kicks in. My stomach lurches as we hit 70 kilometres per hour on the approach to the first bend. Taking a tight line through the curve, we're thrown into a hard left, turning on the spot. Then we're into the next straight, accelerating again. But at 80 km/h, disaster strikes. Banking into another turn I'm suddenly spinning so fast I'm nauseous. The ground hurtles towards me. Everything goes black. I take off the goggles. But this out-of-body experience was no virtual reality game. I'm in a damp field near Grantham, UK, riding shotgun with 32 pilots taking part in the first national drone racing championships. They are flying radio-controlled multicopters -small drones with four, six or even eight rotors - fitted with cameras that beam video from the drone's perspective directly to pilots' and spectators' headsets. The first-person view (FPV) creates the sensation of hurtling around the course in mid-air yourself.
展开▼
