So, I finally tried out VR tonight (Rift, based on sim racing specific advice)...highly unoriginal comment incoming in 5, 4, 3, 2...
It was even better than I expected!
And, pleased to report I didn't experience any nausea, eye strain, etc. Not to say that couldn't happen in a longer play session, but it felt very comfortable and natural (albeit it a little "trippy" like we used to say in HS) right off the bat.
That said, I'm still not ready to pull the trigger - I would be getting this exclusively for sim racing, but there is something I still can't get through my thick skull about how well this really works for sim racing. Full disclosure, this is far from the first time I've asked this, but I've never gotten an answer that "clicks" for me (probably because it's hard to put into words).
So, the part that troubles me. We are all well aware that, for the 99.999% of us without motion rigs, we are playing these sims without the vital seat of the pants G forces...so we have to rely on our other senses to compensate - namely, sound, feel (FFB), and sight.
Obviously, VR is going to seriously change the "sight" sense for you. It is readily apparent to me that VR is going to increase immersion ten fold, as I'm going to feel as though I'm totally ensconced in the vehicles cockpit instead of sitting in my basement with my cat!
But it's of course more than just immersion...I feel as though I've trained my eyeballs to interpret what the road is doing relative to the car (and vice versa). I feel as though a big part of this is based on my car interior and the edges of my monitor being static with each other. If I perceive the road is getting a little crooked relative to the fixed reference points of my monitor edges/car interior details...well, I must be sliding a bit, right?
Tell me, VR wizards - how does this work in VR? I feel like my instinct is with a VR helmet on, I can move my head with total freedom - left, right, up, down, tilt, rotate, etc. Have I now not completely lost my ability to visually perceive the attitude of the track relative to the car? Is this line of thinking totally nuts? I realize VR is in a totally different ballpark than TrackIR, but if I dusted off my TrackIR, would I at least get an inkling of what the VR experience would be?
It was even better than I expected!
And, pleased to report I didn't experience any nausea, eye strain, etc. Not to say that couldn't happen in a longer play session, but it felt very comfortable and natural (albeit it a little "trippy" like we used to say in HS) right off the bat.
That said, I'm still not ready to pull the trigger - I would be getting this exclusively for sim racing, but there is something I still can't get through my thick skull about how well this really works for sim racing. Full disclosure, this is far from the first time I've asked this, but I've never gotten an answer that "clicks" for me (probably because it's hard to put into words).
So, the part that troubles me. We are all well aware that, for the 99.999% of us without motion rigs, we are playing these sims without the vital seat of the pants G forces...so we have to rely on our other senses to compensate - namely, sound, feel (FFB), and sight.
Obviously, VR is going to seriously change the "sight" sense for you. It is readily apparent to me that VR is going to increase immersion ten fold, as I'm going to feel as though I'm totally ensconced in the vehicles cockpit instead of sitting in my basement with my cat!
But it's of course more than just immersion...I feel as though I've trained my eyeballs to interpret what the road is doing relative to the car (and vice versa). I feel as though a big part of this is based on my car interior and the edges of my monitor being static with each other. If I perceive the road is getting a little crooked relative to the fixed reference points of my monitor edges/car interior details...well, I must be sliding a bit, right?
Tell me, VR wizards - how does this work in VR? I feel like my instinct is with a VR helmet on, I can move my head with total freedom - left, right, up, down, tilt, rotate, etc. Have I now not completely lost my ability to visually perceive the attitude of the track relative to the car? Is this line of thinking totally nuts? I realize VR is in a totally different ballpark than TrackIR, but if I dusted off my TrackIR, would I at least get an inkling of what the VR experience would be?
