Why is Rift so much more popular?

BenKay · Aug 21, 2018

HI guys,

I'm building up a rig at the moment (build thread to follow soon)...I'm going triples, but also interested in VR route.

Oculus Rift seems to be by far the most popular option, over HTC Vive, despite that it seems the Vive is technically a bit superior.

Is there a reason for this? Long-term comfort, weight or anything else I should consider?

sjb266 · Aug 21, 2018

Compatibility... comfort.. and ease of setup...

InsaneOzzie · Aug 21, 2018

Rift is cheaper than Vive.

RasmusP · Aug 21, 2018

Rift is sharper, cheaper and the Frame interpolation technology (AWS) seems to be quite a bit better than the equivalent from the vive. So if you can't hold constant 90 fps in your games, the rift has an advantage.

In other words: the vive might be superior overall but for sim racing the rift seems to be better. Vive is better for VR games where you are running around etc. afaik.

Dan Costa · Aug 21, 2018

RasmusP said:
Rift is sharper, cheaper and the Frame interpolation technology (AWS) seems to be quite a bit better than the equivalent from the vive. So if you can't hold constant 90 fps in your games, the rift has an advantage.

In other words: the vive might be superior overall but for sim racing the rift seems to be better. Vive is better for VR games where you are running around etc. afaik.

this.

Also, Samsung odyssey seems to be a serious contender for the sim crown.

Mark_McQ · Aug 21, 2018

I chose mine over the Vive because of the price, I got mine just after they dropped them to 400, plus the built in headphones.

RaceNut · Aug 21, 2018

The Vive has some advantages where the Head-tracking is concerned but, that's not usually an issue when used with Seated-VR (vs room-scale VR). Otherwise, it seems the Rift provides other advantages albeit, relatively small ones in most cases. The overall package just seems to work better for what most of us Sim-racer's use it for.

Comfort, ease of setup / use, price and overall image quality with a larger focal area are things I like about the Rift.

Deleted member 197115 · Aug 21, 2018

Dan Costa said:
this.

Also, Samsung odyssey seems to be a serious contender for the sim crown.

Don't understand people buying Rift today when Odyssey can be had at the similar price but sports Vive Pro resolution and better lenses. Plus inside out tracking, it's just ingenious, no fuss with stations setup, point HMD at the screen, press the button, calibration is done.

tlsmikey · Aug 21, 2018

It's the software. The asynchornous time warp (ASW) helps smooth out the frame rates if it drops below 90fps (which it will at times). The others don't have this and it can lead to a little bit of a jumpy experience. That jumpiness also makes some people sick.

Comfort is also decent as well compared to other setups. Haven't tried the odyssey but i have played with vive. The rift wins hands down for me.

GP20 · Aug 21, 2018

Samsung Odyssey is better, i had both and recommend the Odyssey now.

ears · Aug 21, 2018

Is the Odyssey availavble in Europe? I know it's not in UK.

RasmusP · Aug 21, 2018

ears said:
Is the Odyssey availavble in Europe? I know it's not in UK.

Nope for Germany...

Deleted member 197115 · Aug 21, 2018

RasmusP said:
Nope for Germany...

Measuredpath · Aug 23, 2018

A few factors, but this will different for everyone. Comfort and value for money were the two biggest contributors for me. I picked mine up around the time all this MR headsets hit the market and some at extremely low pricing. I am very happy with the experience I get with room scale and racing sims.

I opted out of out of getting the VIVE since it is a more demanding unit to push the fps. The hand held devices didn't get as much praise as the Rift's for comfort and use. Even though this is still a genre opportunity. The whole MR aka Mixed Reality headsets didn't really have everything I was looking for either. The Samsung was my only consideration, but that fell apart quickly.

As I am also not a fan of Samsung and it's quality for many tech devices. The last several years they have had issues with their whole product range in the consumer market. Didn't buy a new washer/dryer/fridge/dishwasher/TV based off other feedback and sales reps I talked to. These were all items I replaced in the last few years, some of them being Samsung.

I digress, in summary it was the value, support, comfort and thus far reliability of the unit and future growth.

Mascot · Aug 23, 2018

Andrew_WOT said:
Don't understand people buying Rift today when Odyssey can be had at the similar price but sports Vive Pro resolution and better lenses. Plus inside out tracking, it's just ingenious, no fuss with stations setup, point HMD at the screen, press the button, calibration is done.

Do you need native 90fps for an acceptable experience, or can it use some form of ASW?

Deleted member 197115 · Aug 23, 2018

Mascot said:
Do you need native 90fps for an acceptable experience, or can it use some form of ASW?

It has reprojection, you just need to enable it in ini file
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/wi...uide/using-steamvr-with-windows-mixed-reality
And the quality of this feature greatly improved in the last few releases since they added Temporal Motion Reprojection in addition to Vector based.
You can also make HMD run at 60hz in but that lowers FOV for some reason, reprojection is a better option IMO.
Don't forget to grab those if you decide to get one, much nicer to face skin than stock pleather.
https://vrcover.com/product/samsung-odyssey-foam-replacement/
Amazon sells them too.

But my recommendation, if you already have Rift or Vive, just wait for the next gen. Hopefully we'll get something new before Christmas.