Simulation

Create simulations that feel (almost) like real life.

Prepare for the unexpected. Prevent life-threatening situations. And do it with a level of accuracy and realism that make it hard to believe it’s a simulation at all. With the real-time rendering power of Unreal Engine, simulation teams no longer have to compromise.

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The latest news for simulation

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June 23, 2026

Unreal Engine 5.8 is now available

Build bigger, better, more differentiated worlds in less time; easily populate them with high-fidelity animated characters and custom vegetation; and light and render them at the speed and quality your audiences demand.

News

June 17, 2026

State of Unreal 2026: Top news from the show

At State of Unreal 2026, we shared our vision for Unreal Engine 6, released Unreal Engine 5.8, open-sourced the next-generation version control system Lore, highlighted UEFN’s growing developer ecosystem, and previewed improvements to the Epic Games Store. Learn more here.

Events

Features for simulation

With Unreal Engine, everything’s included out of the box: modeling, animation, and effects tools are built right in. And when you want to go beyond the box, there’s access to the complete source code, a robust C++ API, and intuitive Blueprint visual scripting for non-programmers.

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Data handling that scales

With native support for many industry-standard 3D asset formats, virtual terrains, and communication protocols, and the ability to convert entire scenes at high fidelity through Datasmith, getting your data into UE5 is easy. Looking to build big? Nanite enables you to render massive amounts of geometric detail, while World Partition means you can easily manage and stream your levels.

Datasmith

Nanite micropolygon geometry

World Partition

Critical fidelity

When realism is essential to the success of your project, look no further than UE5: with features like real-time ray tracing and dynamic global illumination, interactive applications have never been more convincing. Plus, with built-in particle and physics systems, you can create film-quality real-time effects and simulations for everything from fire, smoke, and water, to cloth, destruction, and vehicles.

Real-time ray tracing

Lumen dynamic global illumination

Niagara VFX

Water

Physics

Multi-platform deployment

From a single UE5 project, you can deploy your simulation to anything from mobile devices and touchscreens to VR headsets and MR holograms. Deliver high-performance interactivity to any device with a web browser via Pixel Streaming, display real-time content at ultra-high resolution across multiple screens using nDisplay, or create a networked application for multiple participants—the choice is yours.

VR, AR & MR

Pixel Streaming

nDisplay multi-display rendering

Networking and multiplayer

Simulation success stories

UE5 is becoming the platform of choice for robotics simulation

See how photorealistic rendering, physics fidelity, and synthetic data are training the next generation of autonomous machines.

Industry roundup

CORYS reimagines railway simulation with Unreal Engine 5

Learn how a decades-old transportation simulator maker modernized its entire production pipeline for cross-border training.

CORYS

Entrol revolutionizes flight simulation with LED wall solution

Explore how a proprietary image generator delivers distortion-free, wide-field-of-view visuals for cockpit training.

Entrol

The world’s largest automotive simulation center, powered by UE

Uncover how photorealism and interactivity combine to produce valid, repeatable vehicle test results at BWM Group.

BMW Group

Let’s get started.

New to real-time 3D? Making the switch from another engine? Wherever you’re coming from, we’ve got onboarding, tutorials, samples, documentation, and more to help you get started.

Tutorials

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Get Started with Unreal Engine

This five-part video series takes you on a whistlestop tour of the essentials, from installing UE5 and navigating the interface to packaging your project.

Your First Hour in Unreal Engine

Follow along with this course to learn the high-level basics of UE5 by making a very simple 3D Plaformer game from start to finish.

DIY Flight Simulator

Walk through the general workflow required to create a flight simulator with state-of-the-art flight dynamics and a worldwide dataset context.

Documentation

Whether you’re an artist, a designer, or a programmer, our comprehensive documentation has you covered.

Unreal Engine for New Users

Understanding the Basics

Programming with C++

XR Development

Developing for Handheld Augmented Reality Experiences

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Sample projects

Samples are pre-built projects designed to help you quickly learn and get working in Unreal Engine without needing to start from scratch. Download, play, deconstruct, and make them your own.

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Content Examples

This project’s stations showcase specific UE5 features, including animation, audio, Blueprints, Landscapes, materials, physics, and more.

Cassini Sample

Explore the latest features of the Procedural Content Generation framework (PCG) through the creation of a space station and Saturn’s rings.

City Sample

Dissect the city scene fromThe Matrix Awakens: An Unreal Engine 5 Experience—complete with buildings, vehicles, and crowds of MetaHumans.

Electric Dreams Env

This sample uses the Procedural Content Generation framework (PCG) to construct a jungle environment from just a handful of Quixel assets.

Talks

Events like Unreal Fest bring together creators and developers from across different industries to share ideas and grow their networks. Here is a selection of simulation-related talks from recent gatherings.

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Closing the Sim-to-Real Gap with Unreal Engine | Unreal Fest Orlando 2025

Jim Piavis of Scaled Foundations shows how Open GRID utilizes Unreal Engine as the foundation for cloud-based AI model development.

Capturing Military Doctrine in Behavior Trees Using LLMs | Unreal Fest Orlando 2025

Representatives from Lockheed Martin and UCF discuss in-progress work on an interactive chat that works alongside the Behavior Tree editor.

How NASA is Using Immersive Technology for Design and Training | Unreal Fest Orlando 2025

NASA presents a deep dive into how Unreal Engine was used to create a VR simulation of the Gateway Space Station.

Generating Synthetic Data Using Unreal Engine | Unreal Fest Orlando 2025

Taylor Loper walks you through how The Boeing Company created custom tools in Unreal Engine using Editor Utility Widgets.

Licensing

We’ve streamlined our license terms to make your choices clearer. Need something designed just for you? Work with us to create a custom license. Visit our FAQ or reach out to the community if you have any questions.

Under $1 million USD in revenue?

Free

Game developers (royalties apply after $1 million USD gross product revenue)
Individuals and small businesses (with less than $1 million USD in annual gross revenue)
For educators and schools (no revenue limits)

Access to the source code
All platforms & features
Forums and documentation on the Epic Developer Community

Download now View FAQ Licensing Terms

Over $1 million USD in revenue?

Royalty-based

If you're creating a game or application that relies on engine code at runtime and will be licensed to third party end users, you'll pay royalties and won't be required to purchase seats.

Seat-based

If you're using Unreal Engine for commercial purposes, have generated more than $1 million in the past 12 months, and are not creating a game or application that relies on engine code at runtime and will be licensed to third party end users, then a seat license fee is required.

Unreal Engine is just the beginning.

Discover our collection of creative tools, content, and resources to help turn your ideas into reality.

MetaHuman

Customize and animate highly realistic digital human characters for use in your Unreal Engine projects.

Take a look

RealityScan

Produce high-fidelity 3D models from laser scans and photos that you can use in your real-time scenes.

Find out more

The Fab marketplace

Access a huge library of free and purchasable digital assets—3D models, materials, sound, VFX, digital humans, and more.

Browse now

Quixel Megascans

Browse the world’s largest library of AAA, cinema-quality assets based on real-world scan data, ready for use in your projects.

Explore now

Looking to use the Unreal Engine logo in your project? Access our brand guidelines and logos here.

Need help?

Connect with creators across industries and around the globe. Share everything from shortcuts to snippets to secret shader tricks. When you use Unreal Engine, you’re never alone—our community of hundreds of thousands of developers is here to support you as you bring your idea to life.

Dev Community Forums

Ask and answer questions; show off your work and get inspiration from others.

Unreal Source

Come hang out with us and our developer community on Discord.