Comparison

Virtual Regatta vs Boat Master

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Virtual Regatta

Experience realistic offshore sailing races against thousands of players worldwide. Manage your boat's energy, adapt to real-time weather, and compete in official virtual regattas. Choose from a vast fleet of sailboats and test your tactical skills.

Highlights
  • Real-time offshore racing
  • Realistic weather simulation
  • Energy management
  • Fleet of diverse sailboats
  • Official race partner
  • Multi-platform play
Features
Read full description

WHAT IS VIRTUAL REGATTA ? Virtual Regatta is a free sailing game, an offshore racing simulation. Virtual Regatta is not like simple sailing games, by playing Virtual Regatta you become the skipper of your boat/sailboat against the "winds of the globes". Race against hundreds of thousands of rivals in real time and compete against Vendée Globe skippers like Jérémie Beyou, Sam Davies and Alex Thomson from your computer, smartphone or tablet. ENDLESS POSSIBILITIES ON VIRTUAL REGATTA! An incomparable fleet of sailing boats: you will have more choice than in a boat rental! Indeed Virtual Regatta allows you to sail on many boats such as Class 40, Imoca, Figaro, Imoca, Ocean 50, Offshore Racer, mini 6,50, Super Maxi 100, Tara, Ultim, Caravelle... In addition, several formats of offshore races are available to delight all e-sailors. AS CLOSE TO REALITY AS POSSIBLE! Virtual Regatta innovates day after day in order to bring e-sailors closer to the real conditions experienced by skippers on their boats at sea with features such as • Energy management: Learn how to manage your energy like a strategist to stand out from your competitors, because depending on your state of fatigue, your manoeuvres are more or less fast as in reality. • The one-minute engine: The position of your boat is now calculated every minute! JOIN THE VIRTUAL REGATTA COMMUNITY! Virtual Regatta is the biggest sailing community in the world and counts more than 1 million active e-skippers. Virtual Regatta is an official partner of the FFVoile, the World Sailing Federation (World Sailing) and the Olympic Games with whom Virtual Regatta co-organizes all existing official eSailing events. Sail with the best ! Virtual Regatta is the official sailing simulation game of the biggest sailing races: Vendée Globe, Route du Rhum, Transat Jacques Vabre, Solitaire Le Figaro, and the Olympic Virtual Series. Take the helm of your boat and compete with the biggest names in offshore racing in Virtual Regatta! HOW TO PLAY VIRTUAL REGATTA ? • Give your boat a name. • Start at the same time as the real skippers on your virtual boat. • Use the real weather as a tactician. • Adapt your sails to the weather conditions. • Adjust your course according to the weather conditions. • Follow your boat on your mobile or tablet. • Track the position of other competitors. • Plan a course change. VIRTUAL REGATTA VIP MEMBERSHIP • The VIP membership is available for a period of 3, 6 or 12 months (automatically renewable). • The VIP membership gives access to bonus features of the game. • The payment will be debited from the iTunes account when the purchase is confirmed. • Subscription renews automatically unless auto-renewal is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. • The account will be billed for the renewal within 24 hours of the end of the current period, and identifies the cost of the renewal. • Subscriptions can be managed by the user and automatic renewal can be disabled by accessing the user's account settings after purchase. TERMS OF USE https://click.virtualregatta.com/?li=4952 PRIVACY POLICY https://static.virtualregatta.com/ressources/PrivacyPolicyVRApps.htm?v=201807• If the subscription is cancelled, the package will still be available until the end of the paid period

About

Boat Master

Experience realistic boat navigation and parking challenges. Master various vessels, from motorboats to superyachts, in diverse weather and marina conditions. Test your skills against time, scoring systems, and navigation rules.

Highlights
  • Navigate and berth various boat types
  • Realistic boat controls and physics
  • Dynamic weather and current conditions
  • Time-based and 3-star scoring system
  • Multiple camera modes
  • Console-quality graphics
Features
Read full description

Boat Master is a boat navigation and berthing (parking) simulation game where players have to berth different boats in varying conditions. It is designed to replicate the controls and conditions of berthing and navigating a real boat in a marina and coastal channels (rivers and bays) as closely as possible. Current Features - Drive and berth a motorboat or superyacht (see screenshots) with 2 engines and bow and stern thrusters, using either berthing controls which allow access to all thrusters and easy individual engine control or driving mode which provides a steering wheel and individual or simultaneous control of both engines. - Drive a yacht with a single engine and steering wheel, along with bow thrusters in easier levels. - Drive a speedboat with a single engine & steering wheel as well as realistic tilting when turning at speed. - Drive a dual engine control Euro Cruiser with a steering wheel but no thrusters. - Drive a Jet Ski with realistic engine-driven steering, making low speed maneuvering more difficult. - Drive any boat through a channel in various conditions where you need to obey navigation markers and signs as well as avoid AI-Controlled boats going in the opposite direction. At the end of the navigation level, you then need to berth the boat in a small marina. - Multiple difficulty levels and berthing conditions and situations, including: - A hands-on tutorial level explaining the different controls - Wind and current which vary in direction and strength in different levels - Different berth locations and widths - Randomly timed thruster failure in harder levels - Berth the boat as quickly as you can without damaging it with the built-in time-based scoring system, as well as a 3-star scoring system, which gives you a rating based on your performance. If you don't obey navigation rules, crash, or are too slow, you won't get the 3 stars for the level (specific rules for getting ratings are outlined at the start of each level on the start screen). - Realistic water physics with drag based on speed and realistic boat handling (now including prop walk on the yacht) - multiple camera modes, including views from both sides, the front, back and the top of the boat as well as a camera mode which looks at the target berth from anywhere on the map while keeping the boat in view. - Console and PC level graphics with modern post-processing effects like Bloom, Ambient Occlusion and Filmic Colour Grading (turn on in settings). You can also improve the performance of the game by reducing reflection resolution, increasing the FPS target, and more. A new battery saver mode and the new balanced mode will automatically determine the best settings for your device. DISCLAIMER: This app is not a substitute for real life boat berthing or driving training, some boats (Superyacht, Yacht, Speedboats & Jet Ski) are paid (they are behind a one-time in-app purchase that costs real money to unlock). MINIMUM HARDWARE: iPhone 6 / 6S. The iPhone 5S really struggles to run this game, as does the original iPad Air. RECOMMENDED HARDWARE: iPhone 6S / 7 / iPad Air 2 or above. When playing on these devices or above it is recommended to turn on Balanced mode for a better graphical experience. Turning on post-processing features in settings will reduce the performance of the app, with Bloom and Ambient Occlusion being the most demanding. Want to get information about upcoming updates to Boat Master and gain early access to them? looking for more progress content such as gameplay videos & progress updates? Follow us on Facebook for all of this inside info, access and more! Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/flatWombatStudios/ Website: https://flatwombatstudios.com/ Boat Master has a pending self-certified IGRS rating of 3+. Music in video previews: "Notanico Merengue" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Screenshots

Virtual Regatta4 screens
Boat Master4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Boat Master at none against Virtual Regatta's shown. Boat Master also leads on rating (4.5 vs 4.2). Virtual Regatta's advantage is update cadence (fortnightly vs every 4 months). On price, review sentiment, ratings volume and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Virtual Regatta sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $27.49 per 3 months and Boat Master sells 8 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Boat Master holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 4.2. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 756 and 1.7K respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 48% of Virtual Regatta's written reviews are positive against 52% of Boat Master's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Virtual Regatta ships an update fortnightly, Boat Master every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on October 26, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Virtual Regatta versus Boat Master: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterVirtual RegattaBoat Master
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.2 (756 ratings)4.5 (1.7K ratings) — better
Positive reviews48.4% of reviews52.5% of reviews — better
Number of ratings7561.7K — better
Update frequencyFortnightly — betterEvery 4 months
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.015.0
Further details — not scored
Size304 MB244 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperVirtual RegattaTommy Vaux

Customer experience

Virtual Regatta

All ratings752 ratings
Positive82.0%
Neutral5.1%
Negative12.9%
Written reviews754 reviews
Positive48.4%
Neutral12.6%
Negative39.0%

Boat Master

All ratings1,702 ratings
Positive87.8%
Neutral5.9%
Negative6.3%
Written reviews162 reviews
Positive52.5%
Neutral11.7%
Negative35.8%

User reviews

Virtual Regatta

From 756 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Virtual reality experience
  • 👍 Realistic sailing simulation
  • 💡 Ability to race against real-world sailors
  • 🌍 Opportunity to learn about sailing and geography

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent crashes and bugs
  • 💰 Expensive in-app purchases required to be competitive
  • 🔍 Lack of clear instructions and tutorials
  • 🕰️ Slow app performance and long loading times
  • 🔌 Drains device battery quickly

Boat Master

From 1.7K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Realistic boat controls
  • 👍 Excellent graphics
  • 🚢 Variety of boat types
  • 💡 Helpful for learning boat handling

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Glitches and crashes
  • 🔒 Limited free content, pay-to-play
  • 🔋 Performance issues on some devices
  • 🤖 Unrealistic physics and boat behavior

Bugs and requests

Virtual Regatta

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Waypoints and course changes not registering properly
  • Ranking system shows inaccurate and inconsistent positions
  • Inability to log in or access races after updates
  • Boat position and movement not syncing correctly

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add offline mode and ability to create custom races
  • Improve 3D graphics and visualization of land/water
  • Provide better support and communication from developers
  • Implement more realistic weather and current simulations
  • Allow easier customization of boat settings and controls

Boat Master

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Inability to progress past tutorial
  • Boats disappearing or controls not working
  • Docking zones not registering properly

Requested features

5 requests
  • Free play mode
  • Customizable weather and conditions
  • More boat types and scenarios
  • First-person view option
  • Ability to control individual engines

In-app purchases

10 purchases

Virtual Regatta

Subscriptions1
  • VIP Membership Subscription$27.493 Months
One-time9
  • Pack 400 credits$1.99
  • Full option pack$3.99
  • Pack 1000 credits$4.99
Show 6 more
  • Full option pack$8.99
  • Pack 2300 credits$9.99
  • Full option pack$13.99
  • Full option pack$18.99
  • Full option pack$23.99
  • Full option pack$24.99
8 purchases

Boat Master

One-time8
  • In Game Superyacht$2.49
  • In Game Yacht$2.49
  • In Game Speedboat$2.49
Show 5 more
  • Euro Cruiser$2.49
  • In Game Jet Ski$2.49
  • Everyday Pack$3.49
  • Exotic Pack$3.49
  • Unlock All$6.99

Questions

Is Virtual Regatta free?
Virtual Regatta is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Boat Master free?
Boat Master is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Virtual Regatta or Boat Master?
Boat Master is rated higher. Virtual Regatta averages 4.2 out of 5 from 756 ratings, while Boat Master averages 4.5 from 1.7K ratings.
Do Virtual Regatta or Boat Master have ads?
Virtual Regatta shows ads; Boat Master does not.
Which is updated more often, Virtual Regatta or Boat Master?
Virtual Regatta ships an update fortnightly, and Boat Master every 4 months. Most recently, Virtual Regatta was updated on October 26, 2026 and Boat Master on October 25, 2026.

Other comparisons