What are people using for VR?

[Nick Hill]

I picked up a Rift a couple years back and really love it. It really changes the sim racing experience in a profound way.

At the time I got mine, VR was really a two horse race: Rift vs Vive. The consensus at the time seemed to be that the Vive was the better all-around headset, but the Rift had some specific features that made it the best choice for sim racing. So, I went with the Rift and haven't had any complaints.

In the meantime, it seems at lot of the original VR hype has cooled (or at least plateaued) in the general gaming community...but not so in the sim racing community! The tech seems to be taking steps forward, I'm just curious what newer headsets people have experience with and how they might compare to the original Rift.

 

[BrightCandle]

The market has been growing very rapidly. There was a big release with Half Life Alyx and the stats for people playing VR have never been healthier. The press likes to think the hype has cooled but gamers have been steadily buying into and playing in VR consistently. Some sim racers care a lot (myself included) as do flight simmers but there are plenty of really good VR native games too now.

 

[BrunoBæ]

My 5 cent here is that its a problem for the VR producers that the resolution and general picture quality on a normal monitor is so extremely good compared to the meh meh picture quality in even todays high end VR sets.
And this problem is even further exagerated because you need a very competent and expensive computer to run VR even if you accept todays VR quality.

 

[GagarynGaribaldi]

I use the Index and absolutely love it. Comparing flat monitor IQ with an HMD is pointless as the two are not comparable. If you want to play on a flat screen by all means compare one monitor with another monitor but for me the immersion of VR makes much more difference.

 

[BrunoBæ]

If your logic should hold then you would never see posts saying that people have given up on VR because of the lousy resolution and general picture quality.
Because when they say that what kind of "display device" are they actually comparing their VR set against?

 

[Nick Hill]

I use the Index and absolutely love it. Comparing flat monitor IQ with an HMD is pointless as the two are not comparable. If you want to play on a flat screen by all means compare one monitor with another monitor but for me the immersion of VR makes much more difference.

Did you use another HMD before the Index, or is this your first headset?

 

[GagarynGaribaldi]

If your logic should hold then you would never see posts saying that people have given up on VR because of the lousy resolution and general picture quality.
Because when they say that what kind of "display device" are they actually comparing their VR set against?

My logic is valid. VR isn't for everyone though. For some, ultimate image quality is more important than immersion.

Did you use another HMD before the Index, or is this your first headset?

I tried the PSVR first to play Dirt rally - it's the only HMD I have used apart from the Index. The PSVR does have poor resolution but even with that I found the immersion of being in a 3D world was much more important. I preordered the Index before there were reviews so it was a gamble but it has paid off. The image quality is absolutely superb. The "screen door" effect that people talk about on HMDs does exist but you really have to go out of your way to notice it.

The argument that you need a top end PC to get the best from the best VR headsets is valid though. I was lucky because I had no PC (PS4 only) so built one last year specifically for VR sim racing. And it goes without saying that next gen hardware will be better - that never changes. The best time to buy hardware is always in two years time.

 

[GeekyDeaks]

I am using the HP Reverb. Tracking is a little quirky in low light and it didn't like the plain wall to the left side of my rig so I had to put a poster up. Happy with the resolution though and the black in Elite Dangerous seems good. Not really tried the funky controllers yet though, but I really bought it for sim work only. I have a very modest PC, so I tend to run in lower quality settings, but it's an acceptable compromise for me

 

[Deleted member 197115]

VR is on a life support. Every year we wait for something big, just to get minuscule improvement here and there, nothing revolutionary or groundbreaking. Guess after Oculus acquisition we've just lost industry leader.
Too bad as it really works so well for sims, but guess it's a niche on its own to make a difference for pushing technology forward.
I am still on Odyssey+ as don't see anything considerably better on the market that worth the investment.

Who knows, may be rumored WMR 2.0 change that, but with Covid-19 affecting everyone doubt 2020 will be the year of VR, probably not even 2021.