The next level

[stuuuj]

Hi All,

I'm sure this question may of been asked before but I always appreciate some expert advice.

Currently using a TX wheel with the 599 add on, had it about a year and really enjoyed it, but I like very strong FFB and with the tx issues and clipping its starting to let me down.

I was looking at spec'ing a fanatec setup but for a bit extra should I just go straight to DD on something like an accuforce? budget wise I'm happy to go upto ~£1000 or so

Also: I've been on a single 27" monitor + I am very tempted to upgrade to a vive, but I've noticed a lot of people say its not worth it just yet. Would I be better just getting another 2 identical monitors to hook up side by side for the time being until the tech improves/vive2 is released?

Thanks for your help!

Stu

 

[Jeremy Ford]

An OSW is cheaper for you over a Accuforce (customs and overseas shipping) if you're in the UK. I think you'll be disappointed with the Fanatec. Nothing wrong with the CSW 2.5, but if you crave strong ffb then just get a direct drive wheel.

The Vive resolution works well enough for sim racing. What holds it back more is that even the fastest GPU today is brought to it's knees by VR sim racing. To run 90fps the visuals need to be set quite low. That said Assetto Corsa still looks pretty good to me in VR at lower settings. Supersampling improves VR fidelity significantly, but you can't crank that up much or at all (depends on your setup) as it's a huge hit on the frame rates. My next upgrade will be to the GPU before Vive 2 as there's still untapped potential to be had from my Vive which my GTX 1080 can't exploit.

You could wait for the next gen VR headsets, but you'll also need a more powerful GPU that doesn't exist yet.

 

[whip]

as far as the vive, it depends on what games you play and if they support vr, once you try racing in VR its hard to go back to monitors

you can pick the rift up cheaper if you don't care about getting the hand controllers with it

 

[Jeremy Ford]

as far as the vive, it depends on what games you play and if they support vr, once you try racing in VR its hard to go back to monitors

you can pick the rift up cheaper if you don't care about getting the hand controllers with it

Yeah I agree if it's just sim racing then the Rift is by far the best option.

 

[stuuuj]

awesome - thanks a lot for the help

 

[Beef36]

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[Fucitol]

They both (comparing VR with multi-monitor setup) have their pro's and con's, VR can be cheaper (try to get a good triple screen setup for $600, including mounting options) and can offer far superior immersion, especially with side-by-side racing. The effect wears off though I've noticed. Where I was surprised often in the beginning by small details, now it's just what I expect and I spot the negatives a bit more.

Monitors offer better reusability (and you still 'need' at least one monitor for VR) for other non-gaming tasks and you can use button boxes and fancy steering wheels with displays etc. In cars with proper cockpits with informative displays this isn't a huge problem in VR, but more buttons than found on a consumer steering wheel would be nice to have and is in general just fun to tinker with.

Also, practically all racing games support multi-monitor setups while only a few (albeit the most used) games support VR (Assetto Corsa, iRacing, rfactor 2, Project Cars).

For me I found immersion and physical size more important, also the triple setup I did look into would cost about $1000,- excluding a new GPU. Now I got an Nvidia GTX 1070 with a Rift and can run a lot of settings very high, combined with super-sampling, 4xAA etc. so no complaints in that aspect.

edit in reply to the first comment; I've ran iRacing in VR for a few months on an AMD RX280 which is below minimum spec for VR but even then I could crank up some settings and actually, I don't even notice a lot of difference compared to now with everything at very high + super-sampling. So depending on your GPU, you can always first try.

 

[Jeremy Ford]

VR is great, but I'll happily just run a single ultrawide depending what I fancy. VR gives you perspective no monitor can provide. Instead of peering through a window into the game world you're transported into it. I use my Vive for room scale gaming also, for me it's not an exclusive device for racing. A higher resolution screen would be nicer for sure but it's not terrible problem either, and a non-issue for my enjoyment.

You really just need to try it for yourself, ignore everyone as you'll get very strong opinion on both sides on how right they are and any other way is terrible. Someone will say they hate VR and go with triples, and the next guy will say he sold his triples for VR. Basically there's no right or wrong answer.