you need to realize a heli will not hover by itself like in the sim. you need to FORCE it to hover. it drifts left - push right to stop it, then left to 'level' the heli; it drifts right, you push left to stop it, then right to '*level'*

during lift off the heli will drift whichever way the tail rotor is blowing if the heli is setup correctly when it is on 2 skids.

if your heli is PERFECTLY setup, it MIGHT hover hands off on 1 skid because the heli needs to be tilted a certain way to hover at that altitude (*neutral position vs ABSOLUTE level)

this will become VERY apparent when you try nose in hover or inverted. level is no longer absolute because of the tail rotor thrust vector.