AC VR Prep

Ryno917 · Mar 1, 2017

I'm looking to get a Rift in the next few months and I had a few questions for those of you with some VR experience.

First off, anyone have any trouble finding the gear lever while wearing their headset? I'm sure you can learn it eventually, but I'm thinking that might be tricky for a while.

Secondly, what would you guys recommend I upgrade first for the best experience? I'm running an EVGA GTX970 SSC FTW GPU, 16GB RAM (forget the speed, but I've been running the same sticks since mid 2011), and I believe an i7 4790k CPU @ 4GHz (definitely 4GHz, definitely i7 4xxx, might not be that exact chip). Alone on track I currently hover in the 150FPS range on a single 1920x1080 monitor. I can't recall where I fall in a big field of AI but that's my preferred stomping ground so I want to make sure I can still do that.

I'm leaning towards upgrading RAM as it's quite old now, and upping that to 32 would also do me well for CAD work, but if I'll get a big bang for my buck upgrading something else I'm game. I just don't want to have to reduce graphics to keep a fluid 90FPS on the Rift. What is typically more important for VR?

Cheers

Turk · Mar 3, 2017

Enagee said:
Your In luck too Oculus prices have just come down.. Only just a bit though.

Their timing is impeccable. I'm waiting on delivery.

Ryno917 · Mar 3, 2017

Turk said:
Their timing is impeccable. I'm waiting on delivery.

Pretty sure I read somewhere that if you ordered within 30 days before the drop you can get the difference back.

Tberg · Mar 3, 2017

Just joining the choir here:

No, it's actually super easy to use shifter in VR.
No, you don't need 90fps, because of ASW, but 90fps does look better.
Your current rig is actually fine, it's similar to mine, and I'm quite satisfied. It won't be till nextgen HMD that I'll be getting a new rig. I run IPD at 1.6, with ASW, no PP, lowish reflections though full AF/AA/world/shadow, I can race a full grid online no problem.
You can get a little nausea in the beginning, it took me 1-2 weeks to adapt and another couple of weeks to get used to the resolution, but that was back in the summer 2016. Improvements to both AC and Rift software has made the quality even better than what I got used to back then, so it's really not an issue anymore. In fact it's rather boring to drive on flat monitor setups, other than I sometimes forget how crisp it looks. The depth/3D, immersion, 1:1 size....it really overshadows the limitations of current VR.
But, it does take some getting used to.

Cheers!

Ryno917 · Mar 3, 2017

Tberg said:
Just joining the choir here:

No, it's actually super easy to use shifter in VR.
No, you don't need 90fps, because of ASW, but 90fps does look better.
Your current rig is actually fine, it's similar to mine, and I'm quite satisfied. It won't be till nextgen HMD that I'll be getting a new rig. I run IPD at 1.6, with ASW, no PP, lowish reflections though full AF/AA/world/shadow, I can race a full grid online no problem.
You can get a little nausea in the beginning, it took me 1-2 weeks to adapt and another couple of weeks to get used to the resolution, but that was back in the summer 2016. Improvements to both AC and Rift software has made the quality even better than what I got used to back then, so it's really not an issue anymore. In fact it's rather boring to drive on flat monitor setups, other than I sometimes forget how crisp it looks. The depth/3D, immersion, 1:1 size....it really overshadows the limitations of current VR.
But, it does take some getting used to.

Cheers!

Sounds promising

How much heavier would you say the load is in full field of AI vs online? I know the AI are quite intensive so performance will definitely be worse, but I'm curious how much.

blanes · Mar 5, 2017

yeah agree with the crowd here ... even if you feel bit woozy to begin with just stick with it and go for short drives of 10 to 15 minutes for 3 or 4 times a day spaced out over the day. It really is true that your brain and inner ear (balance) will get accustomed to the strange feeling it is not used to. I was very ill at first but was stubborn and persisted and so glad I did because the sickness just totally disappeared after about 4 days. Having said that I always have to use "lock view to horizon" in AC and similar changes in other race sims else I will get dizzy. I tried the Real Head motion app but is not for me, lock view to horizon is best.

I went the sli 970 path back in the Dk2 days but definitely recommend you do NOT go that path. Sell your 970 for whatever and go for the best single card you can afford, 1080's are dropping in price with 1080Ti launching already. My Giga 1080 overclocks beautifully and handles everything. Have fun.

Tberg · Mar 10, 2017

Ryno917 said:
Sounds promising How much heavier would you say the load is in full field of AI vs online? I know the AI are quite intensive so performance will definitely be worse, but I'm curious how much.

Sorry for overlooking this.
I have not yet tried full grid AI in VR, it's just not my thing, sorry

I'm not sure that it will be that much different, because back in the triples days, whenever my rig started slowing down on 6-10 AI cars, it would do the same on 6-10 on grid online. Could be different today, don't know and I'm too lazy to actually test it out.

cheers!

Ryno917 · Mar 10, 2017

Tberg said:
Sorry for overlooking this.
I have not yet tried full grid AI in VR, it's just not my thing, sorry
I'm not sure that it will be that much different, because back in the triples days, whenever my rig started slowing down on 6-10 AI cars, it would do the same on 6-10 on grid online. Could be different today, don't know and I'm too lazy to actually test it out.

cheers!

Thanks!

I finally got out to test the Rift last night. Resolution looks fine to me in person, didn't seem to give me any kind of motion sickness (though the demo games aren't quite the same as driving balls-out at the Ring..) so it's a go.

I might even go pick one up at lunch.

blanes · Mar 10, 2017

Let us know how you go Ryno, I think you will not regret it ! Driving balls-to-the-wall at the Nordschleife in VR is most certainly one of the best sim racing experiences you will ever have. I used to drive the Ferrari 599XX Evo relentlessly around the Ring, I just could not get enough of it in VR the raw power and feel is amazing plus using a direct drive wheel adds significantly to that feeling. The Lotus 2 Eleven GT4 for mine is another super fun car to drive in VR as I love open wheeler type cars as you get such a feeling of freedom !

Ryno917 · Mar 10, 2017

Lunch was a dud; that location doesn't carry it in stock, order only. So I'll have to go to a different store after I take my car to the shop tomorrow to pick it up. I won't get to try it until at least Sunday anyways, though.

Ryno917 · Mar 13, 2017

Bought it on Saturday and finally got to try it out with AC.

...Holy hell. I never want to do anything else ever again. This is amazing!

blanes · Mar 14, 2017

Racing is never the same again after experiencing properly setup vr ... flatscreen just feels so fake ! Wait 'til you ever try motion with it ... Super Wow

Cote Dazur · Mar 14, 2017

Ryno917 said:
Bought it on Saturday and finally got to try it out with AC.

...Holy hell. I never want to do anything else ever again. This is amazing!

Very happy for you, AC in VR is such a blast.

Ryno917 · Mar 14, 2017

I'll need to continue some tweaking to get the picture quality up some more, see if I can find a sweet spot somewhere, but the move from a monitor to the Rift is about as staggering as moving from a keyboard to a wheel. It's night and day. Totally different experience.

Is it possible to adjust the position of the HUD stuff? It all seems to close to you, I'd like to try to move it a bit further away from the viewpoint, if that makes sense?

Turk · Mar 14, 2017

Ryno917 said:
Is it possible to adjust the position of the HUD stuff? It all seems to close to you, I'd like to try to move it a bit further away from the viewpoint, if that makes sense?

Ya there seems to be a box in front of you that represents the desktop. You can make many of the apps smaller, there's a little button in the top corner. I was hoping that would give the impression that it's further away but it doesn't really.

I'm finding in general I have less reliance on apps in VR. All I keep open is the tyre app and delta and I keep them out of my eye line. The only problem is looking at them often ends with me in the wall when they're off to the side.

Ryno917 · Mar 14, 2017

How do you scale the apps? I've never noticed such a feature (though I haven't looked, either). I'd like to keep Sidekick open for sure.

Turk · Mar 14, 2017

Ryno917 said:
How do you scale the apps? I've never noticed such a feature (though I haven't looked, either). I'd like to keep Sidekick open for sure.

I'm not sure if it's available for all apps, but the standard kunos apps have arrows at the top of the app that let you make it bigger or smaller.

Ryno917 · Mar 14, 2017

Ah ok, I don't think I'm using any of the Kunos apps.

... It's really hard to work today. I just want to go home and race.

Tommi Ylén · Mar 14, 2017

High graphics are useless on VR, you can't get anything out of high resolution textures or such, because it will all look a little blurry through vr lenses anyways. Doesn't matter if its on medium or ultra. Only if you zoom in on some textures you see the difference..

tlsmikey · Mar 14, 2017

Keep in mind the resolution setting doesn't actually improve the oculus resolution, but it will mess up the size of the menus. If you want to upscale image resolution, use the oculus.ini file and change the multiplier from 1.0 to 1.5 or 1.8.

Ryno917 · Mar 15, 2017

tlsmikey said:
Keep in mind the resolution setting doesn't actually improve the oculus resolution, but it will mess up the size of the menus. If you want to upscale image resolution, use the oculus.ini file and change the multiplier from 1.0 to 1.5 or 1.8.

I've got it set to 1.5 right now and that's about as high as I can go; hovering around 45 with a full field on track. Same graphics settings as previously, but with AA and AF turned off.

Any idea why the menu seems to appear about 1/3rd of the screen high? I have to look upwards to see the 'go' button for instance, whereas the ticker on the bottom of the screen showing position is a bit up off the bottom of my normal view