There’s no denying it, VR is the most immersive way to take part in sim racing. You might hate it, it may make you feel ill, but the feeling of occasion and speed is on another level compared to monitors.
Have you tried VR and gone back to monitors?
I first tried VR about 8 years ago at a Game of Thrones experience, my wife and I queued for over 1hr to experience traveling up a lift and looking over the ice wall. Actually it was a 4D experience where we stepped into a prop lift, had wind and sounds blasted at us - after all the hype, I was not impressed. We were using the first commercial version of the Oculus and everything looked fuzzy and out of focus.
I then tried VR in 2018, I was at a tech event and experienced the HTC Vive for the first time. Placing the headset on I was in ANOTHER lift, but this time when the doors opened there was a plank and I was at the top of a skyscraper - yes, this was Rickie’s Plank Experience and it scared me big time!! After pulling myself together, this was the first time I thought VR could be a good experience in sim racing.
The first time I tried VR was with Project Cars 2 and with all the flaws that Project Cars 2 had, it was for me the best sim racing experience I have ever had! To be able to look around inside a car, glance over your shoulder to see a fellow competitor, or move your gaze to the apex of a corner - these are things that you can’t do with monitors (not easily anyway).
After many many hours of Project Cars 2, I realized that other sims also supported VR and for almost a year I played in AC, iRacing, and RaceRoom all in VR. You can imagine how excited I was to learn that ACC was coming out and that it supported VR. I remember the sheer disappointment I had the very first time I tried ACC in VR. ACC looked terrible and it ran terribly too. Not to worry I thought, it’s early access it will get better.
Well, ACC has improved - frame rates are up and it is way more stable, but it still looks terrible. There was even a time that I tricked myself into thinking ACC looked good and I raced around for several months in VR believing just that. I kept on believing right up to the day I hopped back into Project Cars 2 and was instantly blown away.
The fact of the matter is ACC in VR isn’t very good. Whether it’s due to limitations of the Unreal Engine, or the dev team don’t have the time to make any improvements - I don’t know.
Over the last year I’ve read various comments from sim racers across various platforms, saying things like “VR is dead” “no one plays in VR” “dev teams don’t have time to accommodate 5% of the player base”.
Is VR dead? Absolutely not! Do a portion of sim racers play in VR? Absolutely yes! Are a small portion of sim racers using VR? That is true. BUT VR headsets are getting better, the resolution is improving, they're getting lighter, connectivity is better, and our computers are getting more powerful to accommodate VR.
Does this mean that VR is the future and everyone will end up playing in VR? With the Metaverse around the corner and VR being a HOT topic, perhaps we’ll all be racing around in VR sooner than you think.
Do you think VR is the future and best way to experience sim racing?
Have you tried VR and gone back to monitors?
I first tried VR about 8 years ago at a Game of Thrones experience, my wife and I queued for over 1hr to experience traveling up a lift and looking over the ice wall. Actually it was a 4D experience where we stepped into a prop lift, had wind and sounds blasted at us - after all the hype, I was not impressed. We were using the first commercial version of the Oculus and everything looked fuzzy and out of focus.
I then tried VR in 2018, I was at a tech event and experienced the HTC Vive for the first time. Placing the headset on I was in ANOTHER lift, but this time when the doors opened there was a plank and I was at the top of a skyscraper - yes, this was Rickie’s Plank Experience and it scared me big time!! After pulling myself together, this was the first time I thought VR could be a good experience in sim racing.
The first time I tried VR was with Project Cars 2 and with all the flaws that Project Cars 2 had, it was for me the best sim racing experience I have ever had! To be able to look around inside a car, glance over your shoulder to see a fellow competitor, or move your gaze to the apex of a corner - these are things that you can’t do with monitors (not easily anyway).
After many many hours of Project Cars 2, I realized that other sims also supported VR and for almost a year I played in AC, iRacing, and RaceRoom all in VR. You can imagine how excited I was to learn that ACC was coming out and that it supported VR. I remember the sheer disappointment I had the very first time I tried ACC in VR. ACC looked terrible and it ran terribly too. Not to worry I thought, it’s early access it will get better.
Well, ACC has improved - frame rates are up and it is way more stable, but it still looks terrible. There was even a time that I tricked myself into thinking ACC looked good and I raced around for several months in VR believing just that. I kept on believing right up to the day I hopped back into Project Cars 2 and was instantly blown away.
The fact of the matter is ACC in VR isn’t very good. Whether it’s due to limitations of the Unreal Engine, or the dev team don’t have the time to make any improvements - I don’t know.
Over the last year I’ve read various comments from sim racers across various platforms, saying things like “VR is dead” “no one plays in VR” “dev teams don’t have time to accommodate 5% of the player base”.
Is VR dead? Absolutely not! Do a portion of sim racers play in VR? Absolutely yes! Are a small portion of sim racers using VR? That is true. BUT VR headsets are getting better, the resolution is improving, they're getting lighter, connectivity is better, and our computers are getting more powerful to accommodate VR.
Does this mean that VR is the future and everyone will end up playing in VR? With the Metaverse around the corner and VR being a HOT topic, perhaps we’ll all be racing around in VR sooner than you think.
Do you think VR is the future and best way to experience sim racing?
