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In videogames (such as KSP or Spaceflight simulator) people put rockets in orbit with the following procedure:

• Turn on the engines and move vertically for a bit.




• Start a roll program to turn the vertical trajectory into a ballistic one.




• Keep going until the Apoapsis of the trajectory reaches the desired height.




• Turn off the engine and wait until the rocket (almost) reaches Apoapsis.




• Burn prograde to increase periapsis until orbit is achieved.

I understand the reasons behind each of this manouveurs, however I'm wondering if this is how real rockets get into orbit.

Cutting off the engine and letting the rocket loose vertical speed looks counter-intuitive to me (you basically spend a lot of fuel to accelerate and then you let the rocket slow down).

So my question is: how do real rockets go in orbit? Is there somewhere an explanation of the manouveurs and trajectory the they follow to get in orbit?

I understand the reasons behind each of this manouveurs, however I'm wondering if this is how real rockets get into orbit.

Cutting off the engine and letting the rocket loose vertical speed looks counter-intuitive to me (you basically spend a lot of fuel to accelerate and then you let the rocket slow down).

In most real launches to low Earth orbit, the burn continues from liftoff until orbital insertion, without a coasting phase. Some (like Antares) do coast between the first stage and second stage burn; the exact design of the launcher determines which approach is more efficient.

In flights to higher orbits, for example geosynchronous orbit, a coast phase is always used; this approximates a Hohmann transfer orbit.

In KSP, neither the trajectory nor the rocket design, typically, is optimal, and the planet is much smaller than Earth, so the tradeoffs are different.

That is how real rockets go into orbit, and for orbit you need to lose vertical speed or it would be a spiral. Orbit is about horizontal speed though not vertical.